I knew there was a reason I liked this piece of Sixties doggerel: our very own Mrs. Donna Jean is on backup vocals!
Musings on the Most Ridiculous Band I Can't Stop Listening To
Tag: donna godchaux (Page 5 of 7)
“Weir?”
“Yeah, Jer?”
“What the hell did we take?”
“You talking about the whole universe-getting-sliced up thing that’s going on?”
“Yeah.”
“I’m just rolling with it.”
“Well, you know: me too, man, but I’m just trying to put a name to the situation.”
“Ah. Hey, uh, Mrs. Donna Jean. Everything copacetic?”
“WHOOOOOOAAAA–AAAHAHH-yeaaaahhhYEEEAAHHHH.”
“I’ll take that as a ‘yes.'”
Never sleep again.
Corry from Lost Live Dead (where there is a spectacular post about the San Francisco Whiskey-A-Go-Go for you to gobble down) also notes that, in addition to sharing a drummer, Neil Diamond also shared a Mrs. Donna Jean with the Dead.
She’s on the left in your headphones, with a couple of other singers, and makes her entrance around 35 seconds in; the song hit #22 on the Billboard charts and, while all of the success can’t be attributed to Mrs. Donna Jean’s backing vocals, I think most of it can.
Hey, Mrs. Donna Jean. Whatcha doing?
“I’m a panda.”
Okay.
Following the long-overdue, much-needed, and instantly-canonical Lost Live Dead article on Mrs. Donna Jean, some alchemical archivist rummaged through old Alabama yearbooks until some gems popped up: here is Young Donna Jean (née Thatcher) before…well, let’s just leave it at “before.”
If you’ve read the article, then you’ll know that Mrs. Donna Jean was already singing professionally when this picture was taken, most likely; she looks about 17. If you haven’t read the article–written by Comment Section stalwart Corry342–then you must, immediately, and if you choose to stay over there scrolling through page after page of arcane delight, then I fully understand.
On the other hand, if you haven’t read the article and don’t plan to, then you can’t come here anymore, either.
Fun fact: that’s not an “S” on the cheer sweaters, it’s the Alabamian symbol for “hope.”
There is more reading to do today, Enthusiasts, but you will snarf up these words with dispatch and joy: a new post by my friend and yours Corry over on Lost Live Dead. This issue from the previously-unplumbed depths of Dead history concerns Mrs. Donna Jean. It starts with her precocious (a theme today, it seems) and serendipitous beginnings and her illustrious career in the Muscle Shoals studio scene (singing on two number one hits) and then pivots to ask a good question about the so-called “magical” way that Keith and Mrs. Donna Jean became Grateful Deads. (Spoiler: Garcia was trying to get laid.)
Anything else I wrote would just keep you from it: go read.
Precarious Lee
Was in New Jersey;
He called for his hammer and rope.
He piled things up
And refilled his cup;
“This job could be done by a dope!”
…
…
…
Chewbacca?
“No, it’s me. Bill Walton.”
Oh, thank God. I thought someone had shaved a Wookiee.
“No, this is how I look. Y’know, I auditioned for that part, Chewie, for the original film.”
Really? Why didn’t you get it?
“Shattered my left tibia putting on the costume.”
You truly were hampered by injuries.
“I’m more machine than man, now.”
Sure. Mrs. Donna Jean, you look lovely.
“A woman’s beauty is God’s gift to the world.”
What about ugly women?
“They are the Devil’s bear trap.”
Good talk. Hi, Trix–
“Restraining order says you can’t have conversations with photographs of me.”
Seems kind of meta to put in a legal document.
“And, yet: here we are.”
“Fuckin’ typical.”
Preach.
“That was my whole argument.”
All you needed, Mrs. Donna Jean.
“Swee’tea?”
Yes, ma’am, please.
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