![]() ![]() One dedicated songwriter in the band was enough. In any event, a fellow named Dave Torbert showed up about that time. Either that or I misread the signs and wasn’t inclined to push. For one reason or another I never quite fathomed, though I have my suspicions, I got shut out. Although I learned all the tunes, I never did play a gig with the NRPS, who were doing strictly club dates at the time. He’d played the tape, liked it, and faster than you can say dog my cats it was in the Grateful Dead repertoire. He was not in the least apologetic about it. Danged if it wasn’t “Friend of the Devil.” With a dandy bridge on the “sweet Anne Marie” verse. Next morning I heard earlybird Garcia (who hadn’t been at the rehearsal – had a gig, you know) wanging away something familiar sounding on the peddle steel. I took the tape home and left it on the kitchen table. Suddenly Dawson’s eyes lit up and he crowed “How about “a friend of the devil is a friend of mine.” Bingo, not only the right line but a memorable title as well! We ran back upstairs to Nelson’s room and recorded the tune. We got to talking about the tune and John said the verses were nifty except for “it looks like water but it tastes like wine” which I had to admit fell flat. “We all went down to the kitchen to have espresso made in Dawson’s new machine. INSPIRED BY A VINTAGE FIT - EACH PIECE IS UNISEX AND TRUE TO. Friend of the Devil is a quintessential Grateful Dead song, and one of the most popular songs in their entire discography. ![]() “I’d changed the fourth verse, about parlaying the twenty dollars into five thousand and, except for the all important Friend of the Devil hook, the lyrics were pretty much as they stand today minus a fifth verse which goes: It looks like water but it tastes like wine The “Sweet Anne Marie” verse which was later to become a bridge was only one of the verses, not yet a bridge. So I worked up that song on bass, added a few verses plus a chorus and went over to where David Nelson and John Dawson were living in Kentfield and taught them the tune. ![]() The NRPS had asked me if I wanted to play bass with them and it seemed like a good idea at the time. “I was living in Madrone canyon with the Garcias. First off I wrote these four verses one afternoon back in 1969. “I was just remembering how Friend of the Devil got written. Hunter co-wrote the vast majority of the songs on Dylan’s 2009 LP Together Through Life, and. Pat, In his journal for 23 February 2006 Robert Hunter gave this account of writing the song: The Friend of the Devil lyrics were written by Robert Hunter, another longtime friend of Dylan. ![]()
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