Eric
Clapton | Grateful Dead | GD
Impressions | Jerry Garcia Allman Brothers
Band | Dylan and the Dead
"Hide Away"
is a catchy melodic blues instrumental song that was written by the
late Blues great Freddie King. It was originally
released in 1961 on the B-Side of "I Love a Woman."
"Hide Away" is perhaps Freddie King's most influential song and it reached
number five on the rhythm and blues charts, and number 29 on the pop
charts.
Freddie
King: L ive At The Electric Ballroom, 1974:
The classic recording was remastered and reissued in 2006 by
Shout! Factory. Press
release.
If you'd like to
sample a Freddie King album, his single disc twenty track re-mastered
compilation, Hide
Away: The Very Best of Freddie King, is a great starting point. Additional albums can be
viewed at Amazon.
A
brief bio of Freddie King is provided courtesy of Djangomusic.
I first heard "Hide
Away" performed by Eric Clapton from the album Bluesbreakers
with Eric Clapton when I was in high school. It immediately
became one of my favorite blues instrumentals and remains there
today. During those years I played guitar and had my
instructor teach me the song. While it was fun to play, I did
not master of the song. However, I did learn the melody and changes
inside out, and can recognize it's phrases instantly.
The Grateful Dead
performed "Hide Away" twice. But in addition, they had
unmistakable sprinklings of the song laced throughout their sets,
particularly in the summer of 1974 during their song
"Truckin'". It's obvious that Jerry Garcia was influenced by
the song. I have noted several Garcia led "Hide
Away" teases below. A tribute to Garcia's talent as a
guitar player is how different each hint of the song appears.
The portion of "Hide Away" copied is never the same, and the locations within where
it appears, usually in "Truckin'," are never exactly the
same. Garcia's ability to effortlessly not play a song exactly the
same way twice is a big reason that fans kept coming year after year,
and this is a perfect example.
The Grateful Dead's first
appearance of "Hide Away" was on November 7, 1971, at the Harding Theater, and the final appearance was on June 21, 1989, at
Shoreline Amphitheater. Interestingly, both times they played the
song was during mechanical difficulties, as the song appears while
the technicians were fixing things. I was fortunate to witness
the later version live and I seemed to be one of the few in the
audience who
recognized the song. I recall buying an old version Deadbase
years ago and "Hide Away" was not listed in the set list,
but of course this was corrected in later editions.
In addition to
performing the whole song twice there are several teases of the
"Hide Away" melody. One of the most obvious is on Dick's
Picks Volume 12 from their June 26, 1974, Providence Civic
Center performance during "Truckin'" at the 4:53 - 5:07
mark. Clearly Jerry Garcia was a big fan of the song. Some others examples of "Hide
Away" teases are
noted below. He must of taken the album on the Grateful Dead's
1974 summer tour.
09/21/73 - The Spectrum -
Philadelphia, PA
Between songs. During set one, right after "Black
Peter," the first ten seconds or so of "Hide Away"
are played. Mostly it is Jerry and Billy playing.
06/16/74 - Iowa State
Fairgrounds - Des Moines, IA
Truckin' - 3:35 - 3:45
06/20/74 - Atlanta
Municipal Auditorium - Atlanta, GA
Truckin' - subtle hints at :23 and 4:47
06/26/74 -Providence
Civic Center - Providence, RI
Truckin' - Perhaps the most obvious sprinklings of
"Hideaway" are found on this version, briefly at 2:18, and
again right after the vocals at the 4:53 - 5:07 mark. This show is available
commercially as Dick's
Picks Volume 12
07/31/74 - Dillon Stadium - Hartford, CT
Truckin' - Very subtle impressions at the 2:20 and 4:10 track
points.
??/??/75 - Blues For All
Outtakes
I have some tapes of the Blues For Allah outtakes. One
tape labeled 1975 part 2 has on side A after "Blues for
Allah" a song called "Jam" where they play the bass
theme of "Hide Away," but they do not perform the melody,
rather they perform their own creation.
I expect that there are
many other "Hide Away" impressions. If you have any to add then
please email me
with the details.
Dylan
and the Dead
During the rehearsals for their 1987
tour, see View
From the Vault IV, there are some more "Hide Away"
moments. First, during "C.C Rider," Garcia plays the
"Hide Away" instrumental, while Bob Dylan sings.
Also, during the track "Blues Stay Away From Me" Garcia's
soloing is certainly influenced by "Hide Away" and has indisputable
traces.
Jerry
Garcia Band
The Jerry Garcia box set All Good
Things: Jerry Garcia Studio Sessions includes "Hey Bo Diddley/Hide Away (Studio Jam)"
in the disc entitled
Allman
Brothers Band
An appearance of "Hide
Away" was performed by the Allman Brothers Band at their 1973
New Years Eve performance. The performance includes Jerry
Garcia, Bill Kreutzmann & Boz Scaggs as guests for this song, and
several others. This interpretation of Freddie King's classic
is a long improvisational based version; unlike the short versions
noted above. I much prefer the shorter versions. The
show below circulates in trading circles. As of this writing,
it is available as a download from GDLive
under the SHN archives miscellaneous section.
12/31/73 - Cow Palace - San Francisco CA
Hide Away-> You Upset Me, 15:21
By Barry Small ©
