however, the cover of the book gives a shout out to a different lyricist: jerry garcia. look at the cover of this book! that's definitely jer bear, complete with glasses, big white beard, and rainbow guitar strap. and is that bob weir bear to his left, holding a banjo? additionally, there is an illustration of an all-teddy-bear band jamming in the woods with an apparent jimi hendrix bear on lead guitar.
the grateful dead teddy bears on the book's cover
jerry garcia
bob weir
who is this bruce whatley? a grateful dead fan, to be sure. according to the internets, the grateful dead played this song many times during tuning and delays. jerry garcia has also recorded it a few times, including the following recording from a childrens' album in 1993. thanks to bruce whatley's illustrations (and her parents' impeccable musical taste), ramona will develop an early fondness for the jer bear himself.
5 comments:
years ago, i attended the teddy bear picnic in graps grand marshaled by none other than miranda. we'll have to get that book. love the song.
That's great. Eloise has a teddy bear that she named Garcia. I suggested about 100 names and she said no to each one until I said Garcia.
Also, the other day I was watching a Dead video on youtube and asked Eloise who was singing. She said "I don't know, maybe Bob Weir?" I was proud even though it was Jerry...
my mom made us a personalized "book on tape" to take to Grandmas house once, complete with a little "ding" to turn the page as we read along...and she sang the "teddybear picnic" song... good memories : )
do you remember dressing up your teddy bear and going to the MN Zoo? I thought that was important. this has been a favorite song ever since. thank you for sharing.
Jim and I first heard it on Big John and Sparky "No school today" on Saturday mornings on the radio. I've always sung it to my children, then grandchildren. I gave that book to Rachel who passed it on to Ramona.
All this time I did't see the Dead elements in the book, but the Dead was just a bit after my carefree youth.
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