"Death Don't Have No Mercy" is a song by the American

gospel blues Gospel blues (or holy blues) is a form of blues-based gospel music that has been around since the inception of blues music. It combines evangelistic lyrics with blues instrumentation, often blues guitar accompaniment. According to musician and ...

singer-guitarist Blind Gary Davis. It was first recorded on August 24, 1960, for the album ''

Harlem Street Singer ''Harlem Street Singer'' is a studio album by the American gospel blues singer-guitarist Blind Gary Davis, recorded in 1960 and released on the Bluesville label in December of that year. It features perhaps his best-known song " Death Don't Ha ...

'' (1960), released by Prestige Records' Bluesville label during a career rebirth for Davis in the American folk music revival. The recording was engineered by

Rudy Van Gelder Rudolph Van Gelder (November 2, 1924 – August 25, 2016) was an American recording engineer who specialized in jazz. Over more than half a century, he recorded several thousand sessions, with musicians including John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Theloni ...

at his studio in

Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey Englewood Cliffs is a borough in Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, whose population at the 2010 United States census was 5,281.Kenneth S. Goldstein, who had pursued Davis in Prestige's effort to capitalize on the revival. "Death Don't Have No Mercy" features Davis' characteristically lively yet simple style of blues guitar alongside arrangement techniques and themes from gospel music, in what has since been considered a work of the " holy blues" genre. Unusual for traditional blues players, Davis performed the

chord progression In a musical composition, a chord progression or harmonic progression (informally chord changes, used as a plural) is a succession of chords. Chord progressions are the foundation of harmony in Western musical tradition from the common practice ...

in the key of

G-flat major G-flat major (or the key of G-flat) is a major scale based on G, consisting of the pitches G, A, B, C, D, E, and F. Its key signature has six flats. Its relative minor is E-flat minor (or enharmonically D-sharp minor), and its parallel ...

with guitar fills in the

relative minor In music, relative keys are the major and minor scales that have the same key signatures (enharmonically equivalent), meaning that they share all the same notes but are arranged in a different order of whole steps and half steps. A pair of major an ...

of E, lending the song a heightened sense of

tension Tension may refer to: Science * Psychological stress * Tension (physics), a force related to the stretching of an object (the opposite of compression) * Tension (geology), a stress which stretches rocks in two opposite directions * Voltage or el ...

and emotional appeal. The lyrics, based on traditional

spirituals Spirituals (also known as Negro spirituals, African American spirituals, Black spirituals, or spiritual music) is a genre of Christian music that is associated with Black Americans, which merged sub-Saharan African cultural heritage with the ex ...

, are a lament of death's periodic inevitability and reflect events from the bluesman's early life in the American South, such as the loss of his mother and the premature deaths of his seven siblings. One of Davis' most well-known songs, "Death Don't Have No Mercy" was covered by

Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...

, the Grateful Dead, and Hot Tuna in the 1960s, reaching the era's young white

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

audience. Its performance also took on political significance as the decade ensued with growing opposition to U.S. involvement in the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vietnam a ...

. The song was one of the last Davis performed before his death, playing a fierce rendition of it at a Northport, Long Island church concert in April 1972, organized in part by the future photographer

Doug Menuez Doug Menuez (born 1957) is an American photographer. His career encompasses photojournalism, documentary, commercial, and commissioned photography. He has traveled to the North Pole, the Amazon, Vietnam, Africa, Dubai, Japan, and other regions of ...

Background

Gary Davis was born in 1896 in impoverished

Laurens County, South Carolina Laurens County is a county located in the U.S. state of South Carolina. As of the 2020 census, its population was 67,539. Its county seat is Laurens. Laurens County is included in the Greenville- Anderson- Mauldin, SC Metropolitan Statistic ...

, to unfit parents who were among the county's few black sharecroppers. His 17-year-old mother Evelina was promiscuous and bore seven more children, while his father John left during Gary's childhood and was gunned down by authorities in Alabama after he allegedly murdered a lover. Without adequate health care services available to African Americans, Davis began to go blind as an infant after improper treatment of an eye problem, while six of his siblings died in infancy. Evelina soon gave guardianship of him over to her own mother and, though still present in his life, refused any emotional connection with him, another event that profoundly impacted Gary and the themes he would explore in his career. Despite this, she purchased an inexpensive guitar for Davis after he turned seven and had demonstrated a curiosity and talent for music, being exposed to instruments through family connections and to local sounds from plantation field

work song A work song is a piece of music closely connected to a form of work, either sung while conducting a task (usually to coordinate timing) or a song linked to a task which might be a connected narrative, description, or protest song. Definitions and ...

s, informal rural gatherings, traveling

tent show Tent shows have been an important part of American history since the mid-to-late nineteenth century. In 1927, Don Carle Gillette gave "statistical evidence that the tented drama constituted 'a more extensive business than Broadway and all the rest ...

s, and

sung in the black Baptist church, which served as a communal safe haven from the rising threat of racial violence. By the 1930s, Davis was performing the blues and

ragtime Ragtime, also spelled rag-time or rag time, is a musical style that flourished from the 1890s to 1910s. Its cardinal trait is its syncopated or "ragged" rhythm. Ragtime was popularized during the early 20th century by composers such as Scott J ...

guitar professionally, appearing on recordings by the prominent Piedmont blues singer-guitarist

Blind Boy Fuller Blind Boy Fuller (born Fulton Allen, July 10, 1904February 13, 1941) was an American blues guitarist and singer. Fuller was one of the most popular of the recorded Piedmont blues artists, rural African Americans, along with Blind Blake, Josh Whi ...

. He also recorded some of his own under the stage name Blind Gary, although they sold poorly. Davis gave up playing the blues publicly upon converting to Christianity and being ordained a minister in 1937, before moving to New York in the early 1940s. There, he lived with his wife Annie in a modest

East Bronx The East Bronx is the part of the New York City borough of the Bronx which lies east of the Bronx River; this roughly corresponds to the eastern half of the borough. Neighborhoods include: Baychester, Castle Hill, City Island, Co-op City, ...

apartment, surviving on welfare checks, offerings from churches where he preached, and gratuities from his street performances in neighborhoods like

Harlem Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and Central Park North on the south. The greater Ha ...

. The following decade, he began giving guitar lessons to young, white blues players of the city's burgeoning folk music revival. His weekly performances at the Lower East Side apartment of Tiny Ledbetter ( Lead Belly's niece), a

gathering place A gathering place is any place where people are able to congregate. Gathering places may be public; for example, city streets, town squares, and parks; or private; for example, churches, coffee shops, stadiums, and theaters. Examples of gatherin ...

for revivalists, also greatly influenced many young guitarists and enhanced his stature as a musician. By 1960, Davis was receiving supporting notices in publications like ''

Sing Out! ''Sing Out!'' was a quarterly journal of folk music and folk songs that was published from May 1950 through spring 2014. It was originally based in New York City, with a national circulation of approximately 10,000 by 1960. Background ''Sing Out ...

'' and ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'', while a network of local fans helped the 60-plus-year-old working minister navigate his musical career, leading to regular concert work in and around New York, membership in the musicians union, and a return to recording. Davis played both blues and gospel music throughout his career, in a repertoire that also included ragtime piano compositions,

Sousa marches John Philip Sousa was an American composer and conductor of the late Romantic era known primarily for American military marches. He composed 136 marches from 1873 until his death in 1932. He derived few of his marches from his other musical ...

, and

parlor A parlour (or parlor) is a reception room or public space. In medieval Christian Europe, the "outer parlour" was the room where the monks or nuns conducted business with those outside the monastery and the "inner parlour" was used for necess ...

songs from the turn of the 20th century. According to the musician and author

Dick Weissman Richard Weissman (born January 21, 1935) is an American singer, composer, banjo player, author and teacher. Life and career He was born in Philadelphia, and studied at Goddard College in Vermont. After learning to play banjo, he moved to New Y ...

, "Davis had a sort of unique bounce to his guitar work, and his gruff, impassioned singing was highly emotional." While his recorded work was ultimately religious music for the most part, he would be considered, alongside Blind Willie Johnson, to be the dominant performer of the " holy blues", a genre coined to describe Davis' style of traditional blues playing with lyrics conveying a religious message. Recurring themes in both his music and sermons included abandonment, lost children, the wilderness, death, and reuniting with his mother.

Recording

RogerDawsonSeptet (cropped - Rudy Van Gelder)

As a recording artist, Davis was pursued by Prestige Records producer Kenneth S. Goldstein, who first recorded him in 1956 for the Riverside

record label A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the produ ...

. By 1960, Goldstein had become the top producer of folk music in the U.S. and was working with

, who himself had earned renown as a meticulous

sound engineer An audio engineer (also known as a sound engineer or recording engineer) helps to produce a recording or a live performance, balancing and adjusting sound sources using equalization, dynamics processing and audio effects, mixing, reproductio ...

for major

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

musicians and labels. The previous year, Gelder had his own studio built on a wooded lot in the suburb of

Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey Englewood Cliffs is a borough in Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, whose population at the 2010 United States census was 5,281.acoustics. On August 24, 1960, Davis was driven from his apartment to the studio for a recording session that would produce songs for his prospective LP album ''

'', among them "Death Don't Have No Mercy". Before reaching the studio, he stopped in Harlem and was photographed playing his guitar on a sidewalk for the album cover. Under Goldstein's supervision, and with Van Gelder engineering the studio session, Davis played a weather-worn

Gibson J-200 The Gibson J-200 (formerly the Gibson SJ-200 or Super Jumbo 200), is an acoustic guitar model produced by the Gibson Guitar Corporation. History Gibson entered into production of this model in 1937 as its top-of-the-line flat top guitar, ini ...

guitar and recorded 20 songs in the span of three hours, the last of which was "Death Don't Have No Mercy". He refused to take a break or redo a

take A take is a single continuous recorded performance. The term is used in film and music to denote and track the stages of production. Film In cinematography, a take refers to each filmed "version" of a particular shot or "setup". Takes of each s ...

through the session, following his penchant for playing songs "by the spirit" (in his words), often ignoring the timekeeping of record producers or concert managers. This resulted in performances that often exceeded the three-minute song length typical in

popular music Popular music is music with wide appeal that is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. These forms and styles can be enjoyed and performed by people with little or no musical training.Popular Music. (2015). ''Fu ...

Although Davis initially felt happy to be recording again, the session was filled with tension between him and Goldstein due to their clashing approaches and personalities. The producer, by his own account, did not object to Davis' insistence on recording single takes. "Every song was done in one take, which meant ... a helluva lot of editing", Goldstein later explained. "Okay a bad uitar

break Break or Breaks or The Break may refer to: Time off from duties * Recess (break), time in which a group of people is temporarily dismissed from its duties * Break (work), time off during a shift/recess ** Coffee break, a short mid-morning res ...

that was better between two later verses I could copy that over, splice that back into ... where the first verse was." According to the journalist and Davis biographer Ian Zack, Goldstein's comments on Davis may not be entirely reliable, as the bluesman was still performing at a peak level, while Goldstein was reputedly unfriendly with his recording artists. In his own defense, the producer argued that Davis had a poor working relationship in the folk industry. Davis' contract with Prestige earned him a $309 advance for the recording session – three times his previous payment from Riverside – and a twenty-cent

royalty payment A royalty payment is a payment made by one party to another that owns a particular asset, for the right to ongoing use of that asset. Royalties are typically agreed upon as a percentage of gross or net revenues derived from the use of an asset o ...

for each copy that ''Harlem Street Singer'' would sell in the U.S. It also gave Prestige an option to record him again through 1961.

Composition and lyrics

"Death Don't Have No Mercy" is composed with words and music by Davis. It features techniques of arrangement and performance from his gospel songs, alongside his style of blues guitar. Davis' guitar accompaniment for the song is a relatively simple

, performed in the key of

. It is strummed with occasional

variations Variation or Variations may refer to: Science and mathematics * Variation (astronomy), any perturbation of the mean motion or orbit of a planet or satellite, particularly of the moon * Genetic variation, the difference in DNA among individua ...

on a fill (played in

E-flat minor E-flat minor is a minor scale based on E, consisting of the pitches E, F, G, A, B, C, and D. Its key signature consists of six flats. Its relative key is G-flat major (or enharmonically F-sharp major) and its parallel key is E-flat major. ...

with the upper bass

strings String or strings may refer to: *String (structure), a long flexible structure made from threads twisted together, which is used to tie, bind, or hang other objects Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Strings'' (1991 film), a Canadian anim ...

) and a guitar break, wherein the melody is played on the lower treble strings. During the break section, Davis speaks the phrase "talk to me ...", which he often said in reference to his guitar. Commenting on his guitar playing, Zack says Davis demonstrates improvisation and a strong sense of chords while utilizing "the entire

fretboard The fingerboard (also known as a fretboard on fretted instruments) is an important component of most stringed instruments. It is a thin, long strip of material, usually wood, that is laminated to the front of the neck of an instrument. The st ...

" in a way that deviates from the more conventional twelve-bar, three-chord blues of

Robert Johnson Robert Leroy Johnson (May 8, 1911August 16, 1938) was an American blues musician and songwriter. His landmark recordings in 1936 and 1937 display a combination of singing, guitar skills, and songwriting talent that has influenced later generati ...

and other recording acts in the genre. Gustave Dore - Death on the Pale Horse

The lyrics of the song are a lament of death, portrayed as an inevitable and recurring visitor. Among them are the verses, "Well death will go in any family in this land / Well it come to your house and it won't stay long / Well you look in the bed and one of the family be gone". They resemble refrains and other text found in traditional spirituals such as "Death Come to My House, He Didn't Stay Long" (collected by

James Weldon Johnson James Weldon Johnson (June 17, 1871June 26, 1938) was an American writer and civil rights activist. He was married to civil rights activist Grace Nail Johnson. Johnson was a leader of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored Peop ...

in 1926) and "Death Ain't Nothin' but a Robber" (collected by

John Wesley Work III John Wesley Work III (July 15, 1901 – May 17, 1967) was a composer, educator, choral director, musicologist and scholar of African-American folklore and music. Biography He was born on July 15, 1901, in Tullahoma, Tennessee, to a family of ...

in 1940), both of which feature a variation of the following lyrics: "Death come to my house, he didn't stay long / I looked in the bed an' my mother r father or sister or brotherwas gone". While based on traditional spirituals, "Death Don't Have No Mercy" has "a strong autobiographical element" for Davis as "the only surviving child of eight", according to Zack. According to the musicologist David Malvinni, the song "presents a terrifying personification of the instant, sudden possibility fdeath at any moment that could have come from the medieval era's confrontation with the plague". In an analysis of the composition, the scholar and author Brent Wood writes:

Release and reception

"Death Don't Have No Mercy" was first featured on ''Harlem Street Singer'', released in December 1960 on

Bluesville Records Bluesville Records was an American record label subsidiary of Prestige Records, launched in 1959, with the primary purpose of documenting the work of the older classic bluesmen passed over by the changing audience. Such bluesmen as Roosevelt Sykes, ...

(a Prestige

imprint label A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the produ ...

) to critical acclaim. Davis was billed as Blind Gary Davis for the album. According to

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...

, the song "became a folk hit in the '60s". The composition was later published in ''Rev. Gary Davis: The Holy Blues'' (1970), a collection of sheet music and lyrics that gave Davis copyright protection for 80 of his original compositions and arrangements. The book was edited by the musician, historian, and Kicking Mule Records co-founder Stefan Grossman, who studied under Davis in the 1950s and went on to write a biography of him. The recording later appeared on the Davis compilation albums ''When I Die I'll Live Again'' (released in 1972 by

Fantasy Records Fantasy Records is an American independent record label company founded by brothers Max and Sol Stanley Weiss in 1949. The early years of the company were dedicated to issuing recordings by jazz pianist Dave Brubeck, who was also one of its invest ...

) and ''Let Us Get Together'' (released in 1974 by Kicking Mule). "Death Don't Have No Mercy" is among the most popular of Davis' holy blues recordings. Zack says it is "perhaps his most famous song" while calling the line "death don't have no mercy in this land" a "signature lament". He contends that the original spirituals adapted for the song have survived in the public memory because of Davis' genius as an arranger, as his performance "in both the key of G and its

(E) ..was then almost unheard of among traditional blues-based guitarists", and his use of "dazzling single-string runs" served to "heighten the song's tension and pathos". Grossman describes it as "a beautiful, haunting piece of music". Referencing Davis' "gruff, shouting voice", Michael Ullman of '' Fanfare'' calls his performance "hair-chilling".

Performances

A rendition of "Death Don't Have No Mercy" by Davis featured in the 1963 documentary short film ''Blind Gary Davis'' by

Harold Becker Harold Becker (born September 25, 1928) is an American film and television director, producer, and photographer from New York City, associated with the New Hollywood movement and best known for his work in the thriller genre. His body of work ...

, who juxtaposed the music against scenes of pedestrians on a cold day in Harlem. "Their weary visages, paired with Davis' mournful shouting and brilliant fingerpicking, provided the film's emotional finale", according to Zack. Davis was also recorded performing the song live in his set for the 1965

Newport Folk Festival Newport Folk Festival is an annual American folk-oriented music festival in Newport, Rhode Island, which began in 1959 as a counterpart to the Newport Jazz Festival. It was one of the first modern music festivals in America, and remains a foca ...

in Newport,

Rhode Island Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the smallest U.S. state by area and the seventh-least populous, with slightly fewer than 1.1 million residents as of 2020, but it ...

, which

Vanguard The vanguard (also called the advance guard) is the leading part of an advancing military formation. It has a number of functions, including seeking out the enemy and securing ground in advance of the main force. History The vanguard derives fr ...

released in 1968 as ''The Reverend Gary Davis at Newport''. Zack calls the LP his "best-recorded live album", as it "captures him in fabulous form" and is made unique by his "shouting out spirituals" like "Death Don't Have No Mercy". On October 16, 1965, Davis performed "Death Don't Have No Mercy" at a protest rally outside of Hunter College in New York, held in opposition to U.S. involvement in the

. While not politically outspoken, Davis had frequently performed concerts benefiting causes of the

Civil Rights Movement The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional racial segregation, discrimination, and disenfranchisement throughout the Unite ...

and played a " sing-in for peace" at Carnegie Hall a month earlier in response to the war. However, with anti-war sentiment beginning to intensify around the country, the rally proved an atypically turbulent event for the bluesman, whose performance accompanied speeches by the pacifist clergyman

A. J. Muste Abraham Johannes Muste ( ; January 8, 1885 – February 11, 1967) was a Dutch-born American clergyman and political activist. He is best remembered for his work in the labor movement, pacifist movement, antiwar movement, and civil rights movemen ...

and the journalist I. F. Stone while more than ten thousand protesters and counterprotesters clashed violently in nearby streets. Davis later played a seething, woeful rendition of the song for the 1970 documentary film '' Black Roots'', which featured discussions on family and

race relations Race relations is a sociological concept that emerged in Chicago in connection with the work of sociologist Robert E. Park and the Chicago race riot of 1919. Race relations designates a paradigm or field in sociology and a legal concept in the ...

among several prominent black figures, including

Florynce Kennedy Florynce Rae Kennedy (February 11, 1916 – December 21, 2000) was an American lawyer, radical feminist, civil rights advocate, lecturer and activist. Early life Kennedy was born in Kansas City, Missouri, to an African-American family. Her ...

, who was shown in tears during the song.

Cover versions

While Davis continued releasing more studio recordings in the early 1960s, many folk musicians rerecorded or performed his material live, particularly in the clubs of New York's

Greenwich Village Greenwich Village ( , , ) is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street to the north, Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the south, and the Hudson River to the west. Greenwich Village ...

and Boston's own folk scene, where venues like

Club 47 Club Passim is an American folk music club in the Harvard Square area of Cambridge, Massachusetts. It was opened by Joyce Kalina (now Joyce Chopra, Chopra) and Paula Kelley in 1958, when it was known as Club 47 (based on its then address, 47 Moun ...

and Cafe Yana attracted collegiate crowds from nearby universities. "At the hoots of Cafe Yana and the Unicorn, people were playing 'Twelve Gates to the City' and 'Death Don't Have No Mercy,'" recalled David Wilson, who founded the Boston-based folk magazine ''

Broadside Broadside or broadsides may refer to: Naval * Broadside (naval), terminology for the side of a ship, the battery of cannon on one side of a warship, or their near simultaneous fire on naval warfare Printing and literature * Broadside (comic ...

'' in 1962. "It was pretty funny hearing some people trying to do that with the Gary Davis growl." After seeing Davis play the 1961 Indian Neck Folk Festival in Branford,

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its capita ...

, the then-novice folk singer

returned home to

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

and performed "Death Don't Have No Mercy", among other Davis and

Woody Guthrie Woodrow Wilson Guthrie (; July 14, 1912 – October 3, 1967) was an American singer-songwriter, one of the most significant figures in American folk music. His work focused on themes of American socialism and anti-fascism. He has inspired ...

songs, at a party for

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public land-grant research university in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. ...

students. This performance was recorded and bootlegged as '' The Minneapolis Party Tape'', which was appraised the following year in the local folk fanzine ''Little Sandy Review'' as "hectic and shaky, but ontainingall the elements of the now-perfected performing style". Dylan opened for Davis in late 1961 at a

Bennington College Bennington College is a private liberal arts college in Bennington, Vermont. Founded in 1932 as a women's college, it became co-educational in 1969. It claims to be the first college to include visual and performing arts as an equal partner in ...

concert in

Vermont Vermont () is a state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to ...

and would go on to cover the bluesman's songs occasionally throughout his own recording career. Grateful Dead - Jerry Garcia

Jerry Garcia, a vocalist-guitarist for the Grateful Dead, first heard "Death Don't Have No Mercy" on ''Harlem Street Singer'' and incorporated it into the band's live repertoire in the late 1960s, transforming the song into a slow-moving, impassioned performance. The Grateful Dead debuted their rendition on January 8, 1966, during an Acid Test party held at the

Fillmore West The Fillmore West was a historic rock and roll music venue in San Francisco, California, US which became famous under the direction of concert promoter Bill Graham from 1968 to 1971. Named after The Fillmore at the intersection of Fillmore Str ...

in San Francisco, in what was also Garcia's debut solo-vocal performance and "first instrumental exploration of the pathos inherent in melody and chord progression", as Wood describes. Nicholas G. Meriwether, a Grateful Dead archivist for

UC Santa Cruz The University of California, Santa Cruz (UC Santa Cruz or UCSC) is a public land-grant research university in Santa Cruz, California. It is one of the ten campuses in the University of California system. Located on Monterey Bay, on the edge ...

, later reviewed a bootleg recording of the show and found their rendition to be either "terrifying" or "a magnificent catharsis" while observing "spooky, gentle" and "eerie" qualities in

Ron "Pigpen" McKernan Ronald Charles McKernan (September 8, 1945 – March 8, 1973), known as Pigpen, was an American musician. He was a founding member of the San Francisco band the Grateful Dead and played in the group from 1965 to 1972. McKernan grew up he ...

's organ work. On March 2, 1969, the Grateful Dead played "Death Don't Have No Mercy" again at the Fillmore West as a "sprawling, electrified ten-minute-plus version", as described by Zack. In this performance, the band plays an extended instrumental improvisation before Garcia sings in a livelier, more demonstrative manner. "As the lyrics become repetitive, death is more present, oxymoronically more 'alive'", says Malvinni, who notes that death is "personified as a live being, alive, stalking the living, the mother, sister, and brother (in this version, not the father)." This version was recorded and released later that year on the Grateful Dead album ''

Live/Dead ''Live/Dead'' is the first official live album released by the rock band Grateful Dead. Recorded over a series of concerts in early 1969 and released later the same year, it was the first live rock album to use 16-track recording. In 2005 the tr ...

'', which credited Davis for the song and earned him a royalty. The band's guitarist Bob Weir took lessons from the bluesman the following year at the suggestion of Jefferson Airplane guitarist and Davis fan

Jorma Kaukonen Jorma Ludwik Kaukonen, Jr. (; ; born December 23, 1940) is an American blues, folk, and rock guitarist. Kaukonen performed with Jefferson Airplane and still performs regularly on tour with Hot Tuna, which started as a side project with bass ...

, while the Grateful Dead in general drew influence from Davis' improvisational, broad-based style of blues guitar playing. Kaukonen was also influenced by Davis and performed the bluesman's songs with his acoustic blues-rock band Hot Tuna. Kaukonen's rendition of "Death Don't Have No Mercy", which resembled the original, featured on the band's self-titled album, recorded in late 1969 at the New Orleans House in

Berkeley Berkeley most often refers to: *Berkeley, California, a city in the United States **University of California, Berkeley, a public university in Berkeley, California * George Berkeley (1685–1753), Anglo-Irish philosopher Berkeley may also refer ...

and released the following year.; . Davis, usually unimpressed by other guitarists, expressed approval of Kaukonen's playing on hearing the album, saying, "That boy sure can play!" According to Zack, the Grateful Dead and Hot Tuna's cover versions in the late 1960s and early 1970s played a significant role in making Davis best known for "Death Don't Have No Mercy". Hot Tuna would later revisit the song as part of an acoustic blues set at the 2019

FloydFest FloydFest is a Music and arts festival held annually near Floyd, Virginia, in the Blue Ridge Mountains History The event began in 2002, and spans five days each year with on-site camping and multiple stages featuring rock, bluegrass, reggae, f ...

in Floyd, Virginia. Reporting on the festival for ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...

'', Garret K. Woodward said that the rendition's "spooky atmosphere enefitedfrom a venue that borders a nearby cemetery and the rolling hills of Floyd County".

Davis' final rendition

"Death Don't Have No Mercy" proved to be one of the last songs Davis would perform before his death in 1972. In March of that year, while recuperating at a hospital from a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which ma ...

, Davis received a letter from the teenage blues fans

and Seth Fahey, inviting him to play a concert in their Long Island village of Northport. The community, like many others at the time, was beset by alienation and acts of protest in response to the Vietnam War. Despite his severely weakened and underweight condition, and against the plea of his wife, Davis agreed to perform on a fee of $200. He visited Menuez and Fahey on April 24 to play the concert in Northport's First Presbyterian Church later that evening. Menuez and Fahey escorted Davis down the aisle across a sellout audience of more than 250 people on the church's basement level. Upon reaching the stage, he shakingly tuned his guitar before opening with an intense performance of "Death Don't Have No Mercy". "He just came to life and just ripped the shit out of that guitar", Menuez recalled. "It was amazing. Everyone was blown away." Larry Conklin, a then-21-year-old Northport native and army dischargee sitting in the front row, later said of the performance that "all that shaking was gone and the fire came out and, boy, everybody was riveted. And I tell ya, I think it was a great moment for everybody there that night." In ascribing Davis' fierce rendition of the song that night, Zack says that, "maybe it was being back in church, albeit not a Baptist one, or maybe it was adrenaline or the realization that he might not get another chance to perform." A few weeks later, on May 5, 1972, Davis died of a massive heart attack at the age of 76.

Notes

References

Notes Bibliography * * * * * * * * *

External links

"Death Don't Have No Mercy"
at Dead.net (lyrics to the Grateful Dead version) * {{Grateful Dead 1960 songs African-American spiritual songs Blues songs Bob Dylan songs Gospel blues Grateful Dead songs