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NOTE: Anyone wishing to wait until the album drops to listen to any new Dave Matthews Band material should ignore the rest of this post. Of course, if you’re that interested in DMB, then sharing of a live set isn’t new and you’ve already heard this.

Big Whiskey & the Groogrux King is far from a typical album name. The album, as I’ve mentioned in previous posts, is a tribute to the late LeRoi Moore who passed away after a freak ATV accident last August. That fall marked the first time the band played without all original members since 1993, only two years after the band’s founding. Everything about this album is a tribute to the monster woodwind member of an unusual band consisting of electric and acoustic instruments varying from guitars, a violin, and a horn section – and that was just the base lineup. Guests could come in on anything from banjos to tribal chanting. The live Dave Matthews Band experience is a major part of the success of the band, and as such I give you what I feel will probably be the most emotional song on the album. From the Madison Square Gardens show on April 14TH, here’s Why I Am performed live by the Dave Matthews Band. The audience at the end of the song? They’re chanting LeRoi. I will probably not make it through this album or the show I’m hitting next September without crying. Don’t give me any shit about it.

Dave Matthews Band – Why I Am (Live 4/14/09)

I grew from monkey into man
Then I crossed fifteen million with the wave of my hand
I grew drunk on water, turned into wine
’til I was slave and master at the same damn time

But it’s why I am
It’s why I am

Why
I
Am
Still here dancing with the Groogrux

Out of my head and into you
Well hello

A king of men, it makes no sense
And I bow to the priest while I worship the witch

But it’s why I am
The only one to make you smile
Why I am
A snake in the wood pile
Why
I
Am

Still here dancing with the Groogrux King

Out of my head and into the world
So when my ghost takes me from you
You can remember the fool I am
Don’t cry baby, don’t cry

It’s the flute and the wind of the world
Wrong and right, us and them of the world
It’s the you and the me of the world
Only one way out of the world
It’s the flute and the wind of the world
Wrong and right, us and them of the world
It’s the you and the me of the world
Only one way out of the world

It’s why I am
Unlikely to agree
Why I am
Climb out of my monkey tree

Why
I
Am

Still here dancing with the Groogrux King
I’ll be drinking big whiskey while we dance and sing
When my story ends it’s gonna end with him
Heaven or hell, I’m going there with the Groogrux King

Why I am
The apple of your pretty eye
Why I am
A snake in the wood pile

Why
I
Am

Still here dancing with the Groogrux King

Out of my head and into the world
So when my ghost takes me from you
You can remember the fool I am
Don’t cry baby, don’t cry