John Fahey - Beverly

[zapwai]

I can't like this enough.

[1368beverly]

Beverly's my name!

[guruguruponchan27]

Kind of hilarious he shows up at a concert looking like that lol

[easepleaseme]

Beverly is simply stunning - one his very very best compositions - it's got everything.

[specialrider54]

It's a Martin D-35.

[stefaanido]

Great stuff. Anybody know what guitar he's playing?

[546bananaman]

its annoying that this sort of talent doesnt get the recognition it deserves

[shizarking]

Where could I find this dvd? Better yet what is it called?

[xXAjaxXx]

I hear a little Nick Drake creeping in around 3:18....sounds nice. I love this song.

[tubby6411]

John gave me a signed copy of " God , Time and Casualty ". He was proud of that album and told me Down Beat magazine gave it 4 stars. and I'm not joking.

[ABCvitaminD]

that was awesome. I love his melodic side.

[porkytard]

The secret of this song, what makes it so hard to play well, is the tempo manipulation. He pulls everything out of this tune with subtle and not so subtle speed ups and slow downs. It's amazing.

Ladies and gentlemen: GOD, TIME AND CAUSALITY.

[hkfortytwo]

haha, a subtle reference to the critique of pure reason. fahey is awesome.

[tempestlag]

@porkytard haha except for the little hiccup at 1:24. unless that is in the recording? I'm not terribly familiar with it. But i agree the tempo tears me apart every time

[tempestlag]

this is one of my favorite fahey tunes. when the chorus gains steam..

[combate]

I've been having a difficult time learning the part from from 4:00 minutes on, if anyone can help with the tuning or any tabs that would be great, thanks.

[nikit1127]

learning that myself now, just at the beggining. it's a standard tuning. the part starting from 4:00 follows the same pattern earlier in the composition 1:05. i dont know the chord names but it basicly goes around C chord.

[nikit1127]

combate, there's a tab for beverly (not this concert version but just about the same) in ultimate-guitar. you need guitar pro to read it, but if you want i could send you in pdf.

[tierbiter]

It's in drop D. I have the Mel Bay Fahey songbook.

[hkfortytwo]

no no it's definitely in standard tuning.

[tierbiter]

I admit there is some discrepancy here. I've noted on the Johnfahey webpage the link to the Grossman Songbook and the Primitive Guitar video. I never saw the video but if Fahey is playing Beverly in standard tuning, well, who am I to argue. But all I know is that in the Guitar of John Fahey (Grossman editor), Indian Pacific Railroad Blues is definitely DADGBE.

[tierbiter]

@tierbiter I have to amend my own comment here. I never bothered to play the song until tonight. I just glanced at the notation on the sheet music for the last post without actually looking at the notes. The tuning does indeed say drop-D but the notes on the sixth string are all for a standard tuning of E. So much for Grossman's transcriptions. LOL. Sorry if I screwed anyone up.

[tierbiter]

@tierbiter I have to amend my own comment here. I never bothered to play the song until tonight. I just glanced at the notation on the sheet music for the last post without actually looking at the notes. The tuning does indeed say drop-D but the notes on the sixth string are all for a standard tuning of E. So much for Grossman's transcriptions. LOL. Sorry if I screwed anyone up.

[ray141]

took me ages to learn this one, but well worth it, i play it everyday, and sometimes two or three times straight after each other , amazing video. great tune.

[harrymason]

@ray141 yeah, my goto tune whenever i pick up the guitar, amazing song.

[FBuilding]

as said in the tags, we can recognize the pattern of "I'll see you in my dreams" beginning around 1:15 and again at the end. I love this little song, i can't stop listening to the version at the beginning of the video entitled "take a look at that baby".

[Krittikas]

Play on, John!!

[poopies474]

he looks like he is schizophrenic or insane a little bit... but damn he can play

[legbider]

He liked snorting "china white". It certainly did'nt effect him in a negative way. I ought to know. I was with him in "71". H has got a lot of bad press. It can be used beneficially.

[patsaretherealchumps]

Didn't hurt him? Right. John was a complete wreck from the mid '70s until his death. He never could handle life in any "normal" fashion. He was living a right-brained existence in a left-brained world.

And even with all that, his genius is undeniable.

[rss313]

Been working on playing "Beverly" myself - man this vid is great! He's totally tearing into it at the end. I only wish they'd have taken a close shot at his fingerwork so I could maybe pick up a method of playing this easier. Great vid though!

[folksinging]

It's just unreal, he's such a crazy genius, and so happy at the end, ain't much guitar out there that feels so good. I mean, don't stop playing that John, I wish I could have seen him.

[mradamcooley]

when it gets fast near the end..... easily my favorite part of any fahey song.

[evad6832]

I agree whole heartedly

[NardDogz]

Thanks so much for posting this. It's great to see him at his best! Unbelievable. I got to see him play in 1995 at Key Largo in Portland, before he went electric and then a few times afterwards. Something I'll never forget. There are better guitarists out there technically, yet their music sounds sterile and forgettable. Somehow John could tap directly into his subconscious and screen out everything else, for a product of pure genius. The timing, the patience, the importance of every note...

[russelsheartinacage]

I have a Fahey album called "Live from Tasmania", and this track is on there entitled Indian Pacific R R Blues. Don't know if that is an early performance of this, or whether he had already recorded it before that. Check that album out though because it's brilliant

[OspreyD40]

The "Beverly" or "Indian Pacific Railroad Blues" track on Live In Tasmania (he renamed the song from Beverly to IPRRB)is the same track that was released on Fahey's After The Ball recording. A fake audience applause and ambience were put onto it to make it sound like part of the Tasmania concert. You can tell this easily by listening to the clean original, and some CD re-release editors have aluded to the Tasmania track fakery. So, treasure this Rockpalast performance!!

[StickyDirtwood]

wooops. it starts as St. James, then changes into I guess is beverly or brenda blues. I know Brenda blues is on Transfiguration of Blind Joe Death. but not not sure about the other title.

[nabatat]

Can someone tell me what album this song was originally on?

[StickyDirtwood]

I dont think this particular song he plays here was on any album of his...It says Beverly and Brenda Blues but this sounds an awfully lot like St. James Infirmary. Im 100% percent it is actually. But if this is on any of his albums, please let us know! its a cool version of st. james.

[brent3270]

which Fahey album is St James Infimary on?

[teddybwarm]

Beverly is from the After the Ball album.. my fave Fahey tune.

[miasm]

walterneff is my new best friend

[subdivisions86]

john fahey is a legend, a true pioneer, these videos display his legacy

[reedrattler]

The velocity of his beard?Ha,ha-I love that!

[ColinCashin]

I have just discovered this mans music, he is a madman on guitar! Really great, intense compositions. I love how you include 'combover' in the tags haha.

[astronaut7scum]

The velocity of his beard is impressive. Fahey is like a beautiful twenty foot jellyfish radiating colors in the deep sea.

Yea, that's right, I said velocity.

[savagerabbit]

I just thought you should know that you just made THE quotable remark of 2008.

[evad6832]

I think Im gonne try improve the velocity of my beard

[bentnosewp]

speechless. I'm stealing this whole line.

[user192021]

I'm stealing this line as well. Describing a man's beard in terms of speed is both elequent and senseless.

[bad4b4ng]

Fuck, why can't I vote this comment up one thousand times?

[szano]

has anyone found out how to obtain the dvd of the entire Rockpalast performance? would pay

[evad6832]

Beautiful stuff. And what a fuckin beard!

[TAschemeyer]

God damn. I love this man.

[sweetlaw]

John Fahey is bloody brilliant

[RyelandMoonshine]

"How might I obtain a copy of the entire Rockpalast performance for myself?"

I was asking myself the same question... really, how?

[walterneff]

yeah your right, this is definetly not brenda's blues, now that i listen to the transfiguration version, the song labeling gets really screwy towards the end of this dvd

[25395464]

This song is actually called "Beverly", also known as (I'm pretty sure about this) "Indiana Pacific Railroad Blues".

It's a great song, and I'm glad you uploaded it.

How might I obtain a copy of the entire Rockpalast performance for myself?