Hahaha - hold on man don't playpen me this is a legit Allman Brothers post. so am listening to Captn Skippers Warehouse March something 1970. Great mix btw, active vine right now, SO, IMOER gets introduced as "I've Got Peanut Butter Stuck In My Pubic Hair".
So, at first I thought well it's just off-color stage banter, but then checked and found that Idlewild South didn't come out until 6 months later, in September 1970.
Which means it is entirely possible that song wasn't even named yet so they were just calling it whatever came to mind.
So technically it is possible that "I've Got Peanut Butter Stuck In My Pubic Hair" is the first officially announced name of the song.
Who was Elizabeth Reed anyway?
There is a tombstone in Rose Hill Cemetery in Macon that has the name Elizabeth Reed Napier. Dickey supposedly had relations with a girl in Rose Hill, wrote the tune for her, but decided not to name it with her name, so he used the name on a tombstone.
That's the condensed version. Perhaps one of the other regulars can elaborate or correct my account of the legend.
If TanDan were still with us, the truth would be told for sure.
There is a tombstone in Rose Hill Cemetery in Macon that has the name Elizabeth Reed Napier. Dickey supposedly had relations with a girl in Rose Hill, wrote the tune for her, but decided not to name it with her name, so he used the name on a tombstone.
Dickey has angrily denied the Rose Hill rumors for many years
Dickey has angrily denied the Rose Hill rumors for many years
The question was, "Who was Elizabeth Reed?" The answer IS that is a name on a tombstone at Rose Hill where the brothers used to hang out. Not a rumor just a fact. Now, Why he named the song after a name on a tombstone IS the subject of a rumor started by Duane Allman himself in a radio interview.
https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=1473
Elizabeth Jones Reed Napier
Original name: Elizabeth Napier
Birth: Nov. 9, 1845
Madison County
Georgia, USA
Death: May 3, 1935
Macon
Bibb County
Georgia, USA
Folk Figure. She is distinguished as being the inspiration for the Allman Brothers Band song, "In Memory of Elizabeth Reed". In the early days of the Allman Brothers Band, the members would frequent Rose Hill Cemetery to relax and write songs. In 1970, guitarist Dickie Betts composed "In Memory of Elizabeth Reed" which was the first instrumental for the group. The original studio version appeared on the band's album, "Idelwild South" (1970) and on the live album, "At Fillmore East" (1971). In 2007, Rolling Stone Magazine named "In Memory of Elizabeth Reed" one of its Fifty Best Songs Over Seven Minutes Long. Born Elizabeth Jones Reed, she was a young Southern belle when she came to Macon, Georgia to attend Wesleyan College. She was married to Confederate Army Captain Briggs Hopson Napier on April 26, 1865 and they had 12 children of which 3 died before reaching adulthood. It was known the couple were farmers, Briggs Napier served for a period as the Editor for the Monroe County Newspaper, plus together they ran and operated a local pub in Macon, in the early 1900s. Also of note, Reed's grave in Rose Hill Cemetery is located not far from the graves of Allman Brothers Band members Berry Oakley and Duane Allman. (bio by: John "J-Cat" Griffith)
Family links:
Spouse:
Briggs Hopson Napier (1838 - 1895)
Children:
Maud Napier Brown (1868 - 1892)*
Edward Dankey Napier (1871 - 1910)*
Bessie Napier Bonner (1877 - 1955)*
Louise Margaret Napier Bowen (1881 - 1925)*
Dickey In OWO, being a bit diplomatic.
"I wrote this instrumental in Rose Hill Park for a woman I was involved with. I finished it and loved it but I didn’t know what to call it and it couldn’t have anything to do with her name, because it was all cloak and dagger, as she was Boz Scaggs’ girlfriend. She was Hispanic and somewhat dark and mysterious — and she really used it to her advantage and played it to the hilt. I thought, “Well, where did the song come from? And there was a grave right by “my spot” that said, "In Memory of Elizabeth Reed Napier, mother of...” and listed all of her children. The spot had provided me with so much peace and inspiration that I decided to name the song after her. Duane told some crazy shit about that graveyard. I don't wanna tell all—but that's the part that matters. "
"Supposedly".
Thanks for the clarification, Alan.
I also heard the peanut butter intro for Liz Reed. I remember Dickey trying to clear that up in the mid 80s when he was managed by Charlie Daniels manager. It didn't want to go public in the 1970s because the beautiful girl was Boz Scaggs' girl. But when Boz was on the road, if Dickey was in town, she would get with him. I remember Dickey said the song should have been named Carmella. I wonder what she looked like? Must have been a beauty. So Dickey said her Latin beauty is what inspired the song but not wanting to blow her thing with Boz, he noticed Elizabeth Reed on the grave marker he was sitting on and used that. If you see it, it says Elizabeth Reed at the top with her married name Napier further down.
Then Dickey told the interviewer that Duane Allman almost blew his cover with Boz when a guy with Rolling Stone ask him how the tune came to be know as In Memory of Elizabeth Reed and Duane said " Oh Dickey Betts f***** some girl across that tombstone and that is why".
Some other stage banter I like is Duane saying " We're going to take a little break and go back here and drink some more of this electric wine we have then come back and finish up for you".
Berry Oakley asking the audience " Is everyone here tonight?" And " We want to thank the lovely ladies traveling with us right now for providing such wonderful immoral support".
The way he plays Elizabeth Reed anyone can tell, that woman was one of the great loves of his life. I also think he wrote Tombstone Eyes for her, with his band Great Southern.
From 1997
The 2001 studio version
[Edited on 7/20/2017 by gina]
In a weird way (through adoption of an orphan in the 1800's) I am related to Liz Reed. When I told my father years ago about the Liz Reed story he immediately called the Napiers. They knew...
It would appear that affair also caused Boz to write the songs "Look what i got" on the same album. Check out the lyrics.
JNB
[Edited on 7/20/2017 by JNB]
RIP Carmella Scaggs she passed away February 2017. (Carmella & Boz's son Austin writes for Rolling Stone).
http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Carmella-Scaggs-socialite-and-ex-wife-of-singer-10932897.php
Here's the 2014 interview where Dickey talks about Carmella & her influence on IMOER.
“In Memory of Elizabeth Reed”
from “At Fillmore East” (1971)
“I was thinking of Benny Goodman. I was thinking of how he used melody and then I got all these Western swing influences from my buddy Dave Liles, who passed away about four years ago. But the thing came about, see, I was dating, I was slipping around, back-dooring Boz Scaggs’ girlfriend, live-in girlfriend, they weren’t married, but. She was a beautiful Italian girl. I wrote this song and I wanted to call it ‘Carmella’ but couldn’t (laughs). So the place we would meet, in this old 1800s graveyard, Rose Hill, there was this old tombstone that said on it ‘In Memory of Elizabeth Reed.’ What I love about that song is if you have a bunch of top-shelf players they can express themselves beautifully in that song, once they learn it. I don’t have a favorite version but my least favorite is the studio version that we did. It was real stock and we cut it real short. I’m sure there are some good versions on that box set (‘The 1971 Fillmore East Recordings.’)”
I also heard the peanut butter intro for Liz Reed. I remember Dickey trying to clear that up in the mid 80s when he was managed by Charlie Daniels manager. It didn't want to go public in the 1970s because the beautiful girl was Boz Scaggs' girl. But when Boz was on the road, if Dickey was in town, she would get with him. I remember Dickey said the song should have been named Carmella. I wonder what she looked like? Must have been a beauty. So Dickey said her Latin beauty is what inspired the song but not wanting to blow her thing with Boz, he noticed Elizabeth Reed on the grave marker he was sitting on and used that. If you see it, it says Elizabeth Reed at the top with her married name Napier further down.
Then Dickey told the interviewer that Duane Allman almost blew his cover with Boz when a guy with Rolling Stone ask him how the tune came to be know as In Memory of Elizabeth Reed and Duane said " Oh Dickey Betts f***** some girl across that tombstone and that is why".
Some other stage banter I like is Duane saying " We're going to take a little break and go back here and drink some more of this electric wine we have then come back and finish up for you".
Berry Oakley asking the audience " Is everyone here tonight?" And " We want to thank the lovely ladies traveling with us right now for providing such wonderful immoral support".
Ironic in a way because someone near and dear to us all, who grew up with Jimmy Ibbotson of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, told me that when Dickey was away, Jimmy used to hookup with Sandy.
Don't suppose any of that truely matters now.
"There is no mechanical problem so difficult that it cannot be solved by brute force and ignorance"
Oh I'm sorry to discover she passed away just earlier this year. And I didn't know she eventually married Boz. And she was an Italian beauty rather than Latin. Elizabeth Reed became memorialised in the Allman Brothers world because of playing the double shuffle:) But Boz got the girl. In 1970 she was about 24 and a Fox and knew it and played that card as slick as the Cincinnati Kid playing poker.
Hey Old Coot. Maybe that is why when Dickey wrote Southbound, a song about being on the road in a band, and the tour is coming to an end, he sends word to his girl that he's been playing every night and traveling every day but soon I'm Southbound so better tell that OTHER MAN that your sweet daddy is on his way!!!!
I always thought those lyrics were less than optimistic but I guess those guitar picking singer songwriters knew first hand how the thing worked in real time:) 
What a great thread!
....And she was an Italian beauty rather than Latin.....
You can't get any more Latin than Italian! 😉
"In Memory of Peanut-Butter Pubic Hair" just doesn't have the same ring to it as IMOER.
For sure, probably would have hurt sales to stick with that name.
Crunchy peanut butter at that! 😮
For sure, probably would have hurt sales to stick with that name.
Who knows? It could have done for the ABB what Dinah Moe Hum did for Zappa....whatever that was
Some other stage banter I like is Duane saying " We're going to take a little break and go back here and drink some more of this electric wine we have then come back and finish up for you".
Berry Oakley asking the audience " Is everyone here tonight?" And " We want to thank the lovely ladies traveling with us right now for providing such wonderful immoral support".
Paraphrasing,
Duane..How ya'll doing tonight.?
(Relatively silent response..)
Duane..Geez ya'll awful quiet tonight... Hmm To high i guess.
Just a stunning and epic piece of instrumental music, nothing I can say could do justice, by the way, I do remember around 1970 or so, I can remember the wierd peanut butter fad thing. My hippie parents loaded my hair up with to remove a whole bunch of gum I had stuck in it one time, all we had was chuncky! Just an absolute and complete mess...........Peace.........joe
Jif or Skippy?
A cool thread...
About 15-20 yeas ago I had a lawyer at work representing us.
Her name was Elizabeth Reed.
No joke...it really was her name.
A great lawyer too...won our case.
Every time we spoke I couldn't resist.
I'd start every conversation singing the opening of the song,followed by my always startled,"I can't believe that's really your name"!
She wasn't a Brothers fan and had no clue why I was so excited.
No peanut butter was involved.
No peanut butter was involved.
We'll just have to take your word on that. What about peach jam?
Ok, weird name synchro here also: A couple times when I went to P.O. to send off packets of ABB vines, the gal at the register (one of three or four other registers) name tag read "Rebel Betts". And here I am with a bunch of ABB in my hands. Had to ask if she was related to or listened to Dickey Betts. She said folks ask her that on occasion, but no, that's just her given name, she liked the few Allman Brothers songs she heard on radio but no particular obsession. Parents ABB fans? Nope. From Georgia? Nope, born and raised in Oregon.
To further synch the strangeness, I went to another post office, not my usual post office, the second time this happened, again sending off ABB vines, there she is again, Rebel Betts. Again random shuffle from four registers. What are the odds?
