THERE IS A MOUNTAIN
“There Is a Mountain” is a song and single by British singer/songwriter Donovan, released in 1967. It charted in the USA (Billboard: No.11) and UK (No.8). Featured musicians are Donovan (vocals and acoustic guitar), Tony Carr on percussion, Harold McNair on flute and arrangement, and Danny Thompson on bass. The Allman Brothers Band’s “Mountain Jam” (from Eat a Peach, 1972) is a long, improvised jam song based on this song. The Grateful Dead also sometimes incorporated it. (More from Wikipedia)
You might notice at the very end of “Whipping Post” the opening notes of the next song that they play at the concert, “Mountain Jam”, an improvised jam that is based on a Donovan song, “There Is a Mountain”. If you want a real treat, and you also own a copy of the band’s next album, Eat a Peach (originally a double LP), you should play the side-long “Whipping Post” from At Fillmore East, followed by “Mountain Jam”, which takes up two album sides of Eat a Peach. Those three album sides constitute nearly an hour of top-notch live rock and roll where there is not a single wasted note or pointless solo. This is evidently how the Allman Brothers Band closed their set at Fillmore East that night, and what a show it must have been!
(February 2013)
