Dear Editor,

I could not agree more with my friend and great guy whom I’m proud to call a colleague, Mark Cohen.  As he rightly points out in his column, “Diversions: John Denver – The First Rap Musician”], “And if that don’t prove that ‘life ain’t nothing but a funny, funny riddle,” I don’t know what will.” Well, me neither, except sumthin’ that might prove life might not be just a “funny, funny riddle” but also “a funny, funny, crazier riddle” than we thought!

The Honor of the First Rap Musician as turns out wasn’t our own good ole and beloved, John Denver, whose tunes I am not ashamed to admit I like – a lot of ‘em, at least . . . (I think). That honor is bestowed by history upon a cat who personifies that fantastic truism: Mickey Hart – good ole Grateful Dead drummer/percussionist extraordinaire (putting it mildly) and philanthropist, who, oddly enough, busted out the first rap tune, “Fire on the Mountain,” (something we’re all too familiar with in the literal sense in these parts) as a solo project in 1972, “beating” (pun intended) Mr. Denver by a couple of years or so.

Crafted during his 4 year-or-so hiatus from the fellas from 1970/71-ish to ‘74-ish (and, then back on board full time/full throttle from then on all the way through the end – 1995 and still to this day with his hand in a million different cookie jars – he is still “channeling the muse” as he always has – a really fascinating (and “way more than just a few fries short of a happy meal” – And I don’t mean that in a bad way – on the contrary, in an ADMIRABLE way!).

Yes, I digress, and my writing’s a mess! The bottom line is that Mr. Denver and Mr. Cohen are correct – even more correct than I think they even thought they were! . . . “life [just might be more than just] a funny, funny riddle,” [it might even be a funnier, funnier, crazier riddle, than we ever imagined]! Thank God I’m a [Gilpin] Boy!”

Here’s a link from which I plagiarized most of the above, as well as a YouTube of, (unless one counts Cowboy Neal’s raps) the first (to my knowledge) recorded rap song: Mickey Hart (and an unbelievable conglomeration of musical “who’s-whos” and as of yet, Hall of Famers) performing “Fire on the Mountain” as a rap tune in 1972: http://www.jambase.com/Articles/122697/Happy-Birthday-Mickey-Hart-Fire-On-The-Mountain

Franz Frechette

Nederland