Celebrating Elizabeth Cotten who was born over 129 years ago this week (January 5, 1893 – June 29,
Celebrating Elizabeth Cotten who was born over 129 years ago this week (January 5, 1893 – June 29, 1987) Jerry Garcia was a big fan of Cotten's, so much so, that he did his own rendition to her song 'Shake
Sugaree'. Although the Grateful Dead played their version 'Sugaree' for years and recorded it on a few different albums, Miss Cotton never received royalties for her work. In Miss Cotton's later years she worked as an in-house maid and nanny for a man who was a dead head. When the man figured out just who Miss Cotton was, he did everything possible to try to get Miss Cotton royalties for her work. The man wrote the record companies, the Grateful Dead organization and anyone else who could possibly help get Miss Cotton some royalties for 'Sugaree'. He finally wrote Jerry Garcia. To the man's surprise, he received a response from Garcia within days. In the letter Garcia was delighted to hear that Miss Cotton was still alive and he explained what an influence she had been on him and his guitar style. Garcia went on to explain that the royalties for "Sugaree" were under the record label's control so it was out of his hands but if Miss Cotton would allow him to record 'Oh Babe it Ain't No Lie' he would make sure that she received 100% of the royalties. From then until the end of her life she received a monthly check. One of Miss Cotton's friend asked her 'How you getting this money to buy all this new stuff?' Elizabeth Cotton replied, 'Some dead people out of San Francisco send it to me.'
Anytime Jerry performed 'Oh Babe It Ain't No Lie', he deadicated it to her.
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