Elizabeth Cotten

Have a little song, Won’t take long, Sing it right, Once or twice….

One of the great things about music is you can never predict where or when it’s going to hit you. How and why we are drawn to certain songs or artists is a mystery, but the result is always the same – that pure escape we feel when listening to a song that speaks to us.

This brings us to Elizabeth Cotten and her influence on one of rock’s greatest guitarists, Jerry Garcia of The Grateful Dead. Cotten was born in North Carolina on January 5, 1893. She was a self-taught guitarist who was left-handed but played a guitar strung for a right-handed player. Her music was a mix of folk and blues, and she wrote and performed many of her own songs. Her style of fingerpicking was unique and is now known as Cotten picking. And it was this style of picking that caught the attention of one Jerry Garcia.

To list all of the artists that influenced Jerry Garcia would be a very long and eclectic list. He drew on many artists and musical genres for inspiration. What stands out about Elizabeth Cotten, however, is that Jerry Garcia has said that she was a huge influence on how he approached playing the guitar. For an artist who was known for his distinctive tone and style of playing, that’s saying something. One of the wonderful things about Garcia’s playing is that when he soloed he incorporated the melody of the song into his solos – it always reminds me of a vine swirling up and around a tree, ever circling, soaring, reaching new places before dropping back into the song. 

You can hear that in Elizabeth Cotten’s playing, and I believe that is what captured Garcia’s attention. Below are two songs – Elizabeth Cotten’s ‘Shake Sugaree’, and Jerry Garcia’s ‘Sugaree’, which sings the refrain ‘Shake it, Shake it Sugaree’. 

There is a story that when Elizabeth Cotten was almost 90 her manager asked her if she had received royalties from Jerry Garcia’s publishing company for his song ‘Sugaree’, cowritten with Garcia’s lifelong lyricist Robert Hunter. She replied that she had not, and when he inquired with the publishing company he was rebuffed. 

However, word got back to Jerry Garcia, and in response he offered to cover one of her songs and release it on a live Grateful Dead album fully credited to Ms. Cotten so that she would receive royalties from the song. She agreed, and the song the Grateful Dead played was ‘Oh Babe It Ain’t No Lie’, a song Elizabeth Cotten wrote as a child. The song is about a woman who watched Elizabeth while her mom was at work. This woman would tell her mom stories about Elizabeth misbehaving which would lead to her being punished, even though Elizabeth swore that the stories weren’t true. Take a listen. 

This is such a sad song, and in this version later in her life you can still hear the pain as she sings the song. One of the great things about music are the stories that are often told. You get snapshots into how people lived. Often times the song can reveal a hard life that most people don’t want to look at. Like a picture, a song can paint a portrait that is both moving and unforgettable. Perhaps this is what moved Jerry Garcia and The Grateful Dead to cover ‘Oh Babe It Ain’t No Lie’.

Elizabeth Cotten did receive her royalties for this song. She was living with her daughter at the time, late in her life. She took the money and went out and bought the biggest most expensive refrigerator that she could find. When her friends asked her where is all this money coming from, she said “ I just tell everybody it come to me as a gift from some dead people in California!'” 

Elizabeth Cotten died in 1987. Up until his death in 1995, Jerry Garcia continued to play ‘Oh Babe It Ain’t No Lie’ during his solo concerts. Garcia rarely spoke to the audience during his concerts, but after her passing he would always dedicate this song to her before playing it – showing her the ultimate respect from one who was profoundly influenced by her.

I hope you enjoyed this week’s Musical Family Tree. Stay tuned next week for another addition. Feel free to leave suggestions for future artists in the comments. Until then, follow your passion, stay happy, and be thankful for whatever inspires you.