Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Scarlet sans Fire, and Fire free of Scarlet


As I wrote yesterday, on March 18, 1977 (36 years ago to the day),’Scarlet Begonias’ and ‘Fire on the Mountain‘ were played together for the first time ever. After their initial coupling they were played together a total of 254 times, and the song combo wormed its way into every good Head’s subconscious.

What interests me now, however, is the relatively rare occasions after the initial coupling on which Scarlet was played alone, or Fire was played alone.

SCARLETS SANS FIRE
Prior to their coupling, Scarlet was of course played by itself a lot (48 times to be exact), but I’m on focusing on the odd post-coupling singularities. Here’s a list of all the solo Scarlets post-3/18/77 (26 in all):

Date of Show
The Situation
3/20/77
A couple days after the initial coupling, Scarlet appears by itself again for a brief moment, tucked away at the end of the first set
4/29/77
At the Palladium in NYC, the boys decide to throw NYC a curveball, and go from Scarlet into ‘Going Down the Road Feeling Bad’
4/18/78
After faking a Fire transition, Jerry decides to go into an alternate “Mutron” special: ‘Dancing in the Streets’
5/8/84
It’s been 6 years since the last time Scarlet hasn’t lead into Fire, but tonight Jerry decides to go into ‘Touch of Grey’
6/12/84
Again into Touch
6/29/84
This is becoming a habit – again into Touch
3/22/85
After faithfully going back into Fire for the rest of 84 (well actually, there were a couple Scarlet->Touch->Fire sandwiches in late 84, but at least they end up back at Fire’s house, if you know what I mean), in this early 85 show, they decide to go from Scarlet into ‘Hell in a Bucket’
4/27/85
Whoa, Scarlet into Eyes
8/30/85
Scarlet -> Touch
10/28/85
Scarlet -> Touch
3/25/86
Scarlet -> Touch
7/24/87
Bob Dylan’s presence threw them off, and they went from Bucket into Scarlet
9/16/87
At MSG, now Touch into Scarlet
11/6/87
Scarlet -> Bucket
12/30/87
Scarlet into Samson and Delilah
4/7/88
At treat for Philly fans at the Spectrum: Sugar Mag -> Scarlet -> Estimated
6/22/88
Scarlet -> I will Take You Home (Ironic, because Fire would like you to come home)
2/6/89
Bucket>Scarlet->Looks Like Rain
6/21/89
Scarlet->Bucket
7/18/89
Sugar Mag -> Scarlet -> Women Are Smarter
10/1/89
Bucket -> Scarlet -> Women Are Smarter
10/14/89
In one of the true gems of a late 80’s show: Scarlet->Truckin’
12/6/89
Scarlet -> Sugar Mag
3/16/90
Scarlet -> Estimated
4/3/90
Estimated->Scarlet->Crazy Fingers
7/16/90
Sugar Mag -> Scarlet -> Women Are Smarter

FIRE FREE OF SCARLET
The less independent of the two, Fire only came out on it’s own a total of 12 times:

Date of Show
The Situation
9/16/78 Egypt messes with the Boys’ heads, and for the first time they play Fire with no Scarlet. Officially it’s Ollin Arrageed -> Fire
11/24/78 Back in the States, but with a guest musician from Egypt, the boys do Shakedown -> Drums -> Ollin Arrageed -> Fire
10/31/80 Trick or Treat! Al Franken freaks everyone out, the boys do Franklins->Drums-> Fire, which appears on Dead Set
7/13/85 A rare weekend evening alone: One More Saturday Night -> Fire
6/22/86 At the Greek, treating the faithful: the second set opens with Fire and goes into Samson and Delilah
7/4/86 Happy Bday America! Cold Rain & Snow -> Fire -> Samson and Delilah
9/8/87 Bucket -> Fire
9/24/87 Bucket -> Fire -> Drums
5/27/89 Bucket -> Fire
9/20/91 Whoa! Help->Slip->Fire
5/27/93 Please spare me: Picasso Moon -> Fire -> Wave to the Wind
7/3/94 The last time Scarlet and Fire were separated: Eyes -> Fire


And for those of you who just can’t bear to think of this magical couple being separated, here’s one very deadicated website's list of top ten Scarlet->Fires: http://gratefuldeadprojects.com/Scarlet_Begonias_Fire.html

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