Grateful Dead Family Discography: It Ain't No Use

It Ain't No Use

Composer: Jerry Williams / Gary Bonds / Don Hollinger

On the Keystone LP this song is called It's No Use and is credited to Gene Clark and Roger McGuinn. However the song on the LP is not the Clark/McGuinn song. On the Absolute Mary bonus CD the song is listed as a traditional song with the title It's No Use. On the Let It Rock CD it is also traditional with the title Ain't No Use. Given this information the true identity of the song remained a mystery.

However in 2011 Eric Levy identified the song as It Ain't No Use written by Williams, Bonds and Hollinger. Jerry Williams, who is known to the music world as Swamp Dogg, produced the first recording of the song by Z.Z. Hill

Z.Z. Hill

The Brand New Z.Z. Hill, Z.Z. Hill, 1971
no info It Ain't No Use / Ha Ha (Laughing Song), Z.Z. Hill, 1972
no info Soul Patrol, Vol. 4: 18 Southern Soul Classics, Various Artists (Z.Z. Hill), 1996
no info A Man Needs a Woman, Z.Z. Hill, 2001
The Brand New Z.Z. Hill / Friend, Z.Z. Hill/Freddie North, 2002
no info It Ain't No Use, Z.Z. Hill, 2008

Jerry Garcia

Live At Keystone, Merl Saunders / Jerry Garcia / John Kahn / Bill Vitt, 1973
Live At Keystone Volume 1, Merl Saunders / Jerry Garcia / John Kahn / Bill Vitt, 1988
Absolute Mary, Legion Of Mary, 2005
Let It Rock: The Jerry Garcia Collection, Vol. 2: Keystone Berkeley '75, Jerry Garcia Band, 2009
Keystone Companions: The Complete 1973 Fantasy Recordings, Merl Saunders & Jerry Garcia, 2012
Garcia Live: Vol Three, Legion Of Mary, 2013
Garcia Live: Vol Five, Jerry Garcia Band, 2014
Garcia Live: Vol Nine: 8/11/1974, Garcia / Saunders, 2017

Other recordings

no info Fitchburg Street, Doyle Bramhall, 2003