Grateful Dead lyricist John Perry Barlow has passed away, aged 70.
Barlow penned numerous songs for the legendary California band from 1971 to 1995, including Cassidy, Mexicali Blues and Black-Throated Wind.
Former Grateful Dead guitarist Bob Weir Tweeted a tribute to his old bandmate, saying: “John had a way of taking life’s most difficult things and framing them as challenges, therefore adventures… he’ll live on in the songs we wrote“.
This life is fleeting, as we all know – the Muse we serve is not. John had a way of taking life’s most difficult things and framing them as challenges, therefore adventures. He was to be admired for that, even emulated. He’ll live on in the songs we wrote… pic.twitter.com/E29drq80du
— Bobby Weir (@BobWeir) February 8, 2018
Barlow was also a co-founder and for many years a director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), which campaigns on digital rights issues. Cindy Cohn, current EFF Director, said in a statement, “It is no exaggeration to say that major parts of the internet we all know and love today exist and thrive because of Barlow’s vision and leadership… Barlow knew that new technology could create and empower evil as much as it could create and empower good. He made a conscious decision to focus on the latter”.
