At Mountain Jam 2016, Warren Haynes and wife Stef Scamardo sat down with SiriusXM JamON’s Ari Fink for an interview. During the chat, Haynes discussed writing the song “Patchwork Quilt” upon hearing about the passing of Jerry Garcia on August 9th, 1995. Haynes had been at Jones Beach Amphitheater on Long Island for an Allman Brothers Band show, along with Chris Robinson and The Black Crowes.

Related: Warren Haynes Leads Jerry Garcia Birthday Celebration At Red Rocks [Video/Setlist]

Discussing the sullen mood, Haynes expounded, “We were standing backstage at Jones Beach… and seeing Chris Robinson from the Black Crowes walking across the stage, we had done a lot of playing and touring together, and Chris is a very animated person. And he was so low-key and sad, but everyone was like that. There is a line in the song ‘We all feel old and in the way’ and that’s what it was.”

“Patchwork Quilt”

Scamardo explained that when the two got home, Haynes had told her that he wrote a song about Garcia. Haynes said, “I had written these few lines when we played in Telluride, I had written ‘There is a banjo moon in a tie-dyed sky…Hippies dancing, babies cry,’ which I had written in my book.” The connection was made, and thus, we now have “Patchwork Quilt.”

Take a listen to the interview below:

Warren Haynes on Writing “Patchwork Quilt”

[Video: SiriusXM]

Warren Haynes “Patchwork Quilt” Lyrics

I never knew you
But then who really did?
If you were at all like me
You managed to keep yourself hid
A patchwork quilt of a life
Memories embroidered
On your soul

So please forgive me
For putting you in my song
But the spirit she moves me
In fact she pushes me along
It’s a patchwork quilt of a life
Can’t stop the river
Just let it roll

We were at Jones Beach
When we got the word
Saddest sound that I ever heard
The bluest note that nobody could play
Ravens sang with us that night on the stage
Tears of sadness, tears of rage
But nobody spoke, we all felt old
And in the way

So walk beside me
Or above me, I don’t know
These days it sure seems
I’m lost where ever I go

God, how could you, I heard someone say
And what do we do with our lives now anyway?
Now that our North Star can no longer be found
But there’s a banjo moon in a tie-dyed sky
Hippies dance and babies cry
Church bells ring as a silver-haired angel look down
And the blood of his music runs through the veins of our guitars
Bright lights, Dark Star

I never knew you
But then who really did
If you were at all like me
You managed to keep yourself hid

View 'Patchwork Quilt' Lyrics

[Originally published 6/5/16]