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Bartender is one of Virginia jam band Dave Matthews Band's most popular live songs featured on their studio album Busted Stuff. The song was one of the many that carried over from the near-abandoned project that is The Lillywhite Sessions. The song is about a man, while talking to a bartender, dealing with thoughts of his own death. The man talks to his family, telling them not to having certain feelings about him if he goes before his time. If you count The Lillywhite Sessions album as a Dave Matthews Band studio album, then Bartender is the longest Dave Matthews Band song ever recorded, the only one over ten minutes. Structurally, the song starts with a single note introduction before moving into the lyrical section with march-style drumming by Carter Beauford. After the lyrics finish, the song begins an extended jam session featuring emotional, improvised vocals by Dave Matthews. The jam builds into a loud climax before decrescendoing into a flute outro by LeRoi Moore. When performed live, the song becomes much longer (sometimes 15+ minutes) and certain songs are interplorated into it, such as If I Only Had a Brain (as can be seen on Live Trax Vol. 6).
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