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Bob Weir died earlier this month at 78. The San Fransisco-born guitarist was best known for co-founding the Grateful Dead, but he also played with a few of its offshoot groups including Dead & Company, whose lineup includes John Mayer. (Weir’s final live performances, in fact, were a three-night run with Dead & Company last August at Golden Gate Park.) Over the past decade, the Grateful Dead’s “Ripple” has been a staple of Dead & Company’s live shows, and Mayer has also performed the 1970 song a few times during his own shows. Last night at Weir’s public hometown memorial, Mayer performed an acoustic rendition of “Ripple.” He did the song solo, but there was a whole group of friends, family, and admirers up on stage with him.
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Joan Baez, the Dead’s Mickey Hart, Mayor Daniel Lurie, and Nancy Pelosi (who began her political career in San Fransisco) were just some of the other speakers in attendance at Weir’s memorial. Mayer also gave a eulogy
Bobby and I were born on the same day exactly 30 years apart. Libras. While the astrology checks out, three decades is a pretty wide chasm between any two people whether they share a birthday or not. In the 30 years that preceded me, Bob had become a countercultural icon. I was a child of the 1980s. I come from a world of structural thinking, the concept, the theorizing, the reassessing, the perfecting. Bob learned early on that spirit, heart, soul, curiosity, and fearlessness was the path to glory. We both found success with each of our templates, and then we found each other… We were unlikely partners, and that was part of our magic.
Over the course of a decade, we came to trust each other. He taught me, among many other things, to trust in the moment, and I’d like to think I taught him a little bit to rely on a plan, not as a substitute for the divine moments, but as a way to lure them in a little closer. I guess maybe what I was really doing was showing him he could rely on me. Bob took a chance on me. He staked his entire reputation on my joining a band with him. He gave me musical community. He gave me this community.
After directly thanking the Deadheads in the audience, Mayer closed out his eulogy:
There are a lot of Grateful Dead lyrics that give comfort at a time like this, but the line I find myself thinking about the most is from a Leon Russell song called ‘A Song for You.’ I’d like to think I can hear Bobby saying these words to us all this afternoon: ‘But now I’m so much better, so if my words don’t come together, listen to the melody because my love is in there hiding.’ And so we will all keep listening together. 300 years, Bobby. Now that’s a plan I can get behind. So here’s something I know would make Bobby go “eugh!“: Thank you, maestro. You changed my life. I will love you forever.
See that below.
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