A mawkish teenage letter titled "Kathy" Pigpen wrote in 1961 surfaced a few years ago, and can be seen here: http://www.christies.com/lotfinder/memorabilia/ron-pigpen-mckernan-50956...
The info states, "The poem was written to McKernan's classmate at Palo Alto High School, shortly before he dropped out of school. Within a few months he had hooked up with Jerry Garcia..."
Hard to say whether it was a prose poem, a bit of "blues character" writing, or a distillation of a mood he was in, but I'll quote it - not to bring up any teenage flashbacks that might occur to readers, but since on a historical level, this shows an early version of the Pigpen persona that we later saw in songs like Two Souls and No Tomorrow:
KATHY
She makes me feel so warm in the cold, November motorcycle afternoon when she asks me what's wrong. She looks at me from across the warm little room and speaks so soft and low - "Ron - what's wrong?" When she asks, it hurts me, down deep, I have a sad and lonley time trying to tell her how I feel, I can't let her know how bad I need her, but I can't stop myself from feeling the way I do. And when I howl into the freezing dusk, I feel bitter towards myself, I hate myself for ever loving anyone. 90 M.P.H. in piercing fog, I feel tears whipping my cheeks, why am I crying? I can't cry unless I'm on the lonesome highway with roars and howls wailing in my ears. And sometimes when I feel like dying, I see her face floating before me, so soft and warm, and I feel like crying. Maybe because I've never had anyone care for me much before. And sometimes I feel a little lonley, and sometimes I feel like riding all night back to my home town, but I can't, no one is there to love me, no warmth in that little town, just foggy hills and lonesome roads, and someone who died a long time ago. And when I ride, and when I cry, and when the whole world turns back on me, I feel like saying a little quiet prayer of thanks. And when I'm bloody, climbing a hill, or laying in a barbed-wire ditch I feel like holding a baby's hand. Lord I feel like to die, but I know someone cares.
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: I rang a silent bell
It's a beautiful thing.
It's a beautiful thing.
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: long live the dead
A mawkish teenage letter
A mawkish teenage letter titled "Kathy" Pigpen wrote in 1961 surfaced a few years ago, and can be seen here:
http://www.christies.com/lotfinder/memorabilia/ron-pigpen-mckernan-50956...
The info states, "The poem was written to McKernan's classmate at Palo Alto High School, shortly before he dropped out of school. Within a few months he had hooked up with Jerry Garcia..."
Hard to say whether it was a prose poem, a bit of "blues character" writing, or a distillation of a mood he was in, but I'll quote it - not to bring up any teenage flashbacks that might occur to readers, but since on a historical level, this shows an early version of the Pigpen persona that we later saw in songs like Two Souls and No Tomorrow:
KATHY
She makes me feel so warm in the cold, November motorcycle afternoon when she asks me what's wrong. She looks at me from across the warm little room and speaks so soft and low - "Ron - what's wrong?" When she asks, it hurts me, down deep, I have a sad and lonley time trying to tell her how I feel, I can't let her know how bad I need her, but I can't stop myself from feeling the way I do. And when I howl into the freezing dusk, I feel bitter towards myself, I hate myself for ever loving anyone. 90 M.P.H. in piercing fog, I feel tears whipping my cheeks, why am I crying? I can't cry unless I'm on the lonesome highway with roars and howls wailing in my ears. And sometimes when I feel like dying, I see her face floating before me, so soft and warm, and I feel like crying. Maybe because I've never had anyone care for me much before. And sometimes I feel a little lonley, and sometimes I feel like riding all night back to my home town, but I can't, no one is there to love me, no warmth in that little town, just foggy hills and lonesome roads, and someone who died a long time ago. And when I ride, and when I cry, and when the whole world turns back on me, I feel like saying a little quiet prayer of thanks. And when I'm bloody, climbing a hill, or laying in a barbed-wire ditch I feel like holding a baby's hand. Lord I feel like to die, but I know someone cares.
R.C. McKernan
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: long live the dead
cool and warm
cool and warm
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: long live the dead
been looikin for a striped
been lookin for a striped shirt lol