Cassidy (song)

{{Infobox song|type=|artist=Bob Weir|album=Ace|released=May 1972|recorded=January–March 1972|genre=Folk rock, Country rock|length={{Duration|m=3|s=41}}|label=Warner Bros. Records|writer=|composer=Bob Weir|lyricist=John Perry Barlow}}

"Cassidy" is a song written by John Barlow and Bob Weir{{cite book |last=Brightman |first=Carol |title=Sweet Chaos: The Grateful Dead's American Adventure |publisher=Pocket Books |location=New York |year=1998 |pages=175–176 |isbn=0-671-01117-0 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SRqkcty3lB4C&pg=PA175 |accessdate=17 January 2010}} and performed by the Grateful Dead, Ratdog, and Phil Lesh & Friends.{{cite web |url=http://www3.clearlight.com/~acsa/introjs.htm?/~acsa/songfile/CASSIDY.HTM |title=Grateful Dead Lyric and Song Finder: Cassidy |accessdate=18 January 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110708164336/http://www3.clearlight.com/~acsa/introjs.htm?%2F~acsa%2Fsongfile%2FCASSIDY.HTM |archive-date=8 July 2011 |url-status=dead }} The song appeared on Bob Weir's Ace, and the Grateful Dead's Reckoning and Without a Net albums.{{cite web |url=http://artsites.ucsc.edu/GDead/agdl/cassidy.html |title=The Annotated 'Cassidy' |last=Dodd |first=David |work=The Annotated Grateful Dead Lyrics |publisher=University of California at Santa Cruz |accessdate=18 January 2010}}

The song was named after Cassidy Law, who was born in 1970 and was the daughter of Grateful Dead crew member Rex Jackson and Weir's former housemate Eileen Law. The lyrics also allude to Neal Cassady, who was associated with the Beats in the 1950s{{cite web|url=http://www.dead.net/features/greatest-stories-ever-told/greatest-stories-ever-told-cassidy|author=Dodd, David|title=Greatest Stories Ever Told : Cassidy|website=Dead.net|access-date=2 October 2018}} and the Acid Test scene that spawned the Grateful Dead in the 1960s. Some of the lyrics in the song were also inspired by the death of Barlow's father.Barlow, John Perry. [http://www.litkicks.com/Topics/BarlowOnNeal.html "Cassidy's Tale"], Literary Kicks

The song was quoted in the admiring and admirable obituary of Barlow in The Economist.

The song was first performed on March 23, 1974 at the Cow Palace in Daly City, California.

It is usually sung in two part harmony. On the Ace studio album version, Donna Jean Godchaux joins Weir on vocals. On the Reckoning and Without a Net versions, Weir sings with Brent Mydland.