"Remember The Mountain Bed" - An Amalgam of Beauty

Cafe Society
1

Words by Woody Guthrie, 1944; music by Bennett/Tweedy 1999 - released on Mermaid Avenue, Vol 2, in 2000. For those not familiar with the project, info here:

Wiki Entry for Mermaid Avenue

Video - YouTube video link

Lyrics - Remember The Mountain Bed

This song didn’t jump out at me at first; I thought it was too long, a bit monotonous, had no bridge, etc. Now, it gets me every time I hear it. I am always impressed by lyrics that stand like poetry on their own (as these did for 50+ years). Kudos to Jay Bennett and Jeff Tweedy for finding the right way to deliver them to the masses.

Lines like:

*Trees held us in on all four sides so thick we could not see
I could not see any wrong in you, and you saw none in me
*
and

There on our mountain bed of leaves we learned life’s reason why
The people laugh and love and dream, they fight, they hate to die

This was Woody’s special place…and he puts us there as if we were experiencing and re-experiencing the smells, sights, and sounds ourselves. If you’ve never heard the song before, please take some time, give a good listen, and see if you concur - thanks.

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How on Earth did you write that entire OP and not mention that it’s performed by Wilco? Billy Bragg is listed on the YT link but he and Tweedy split up the songs on the Mermaid Avenue albums and Wilco acted as Bragg’s backing band on his tracks.

And I love this song. I’ve seen Tweedy perform it solo on just an acoustic guitar and it’s absolutely gorgeous.
And ETA: RIP Jay Bennett. Huge loss when he died, even if he wasn’t with Wilco anymore at the time.

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:smack:

(Well, the Mermaid Ave Wiki page mentions Wilco, and the current personnel is different, but you’re 100% right…they are always deserving of more attention that they get. Why doesn’t everyone know about Wilco? And Uncle Tupelo, for that matter?)