I was definitely among the haters of Corrina when the Dead did it in general and saw a bunch of them. I used to think the only redeeming part of the song with the Dead was at the beginning and on the outro (sometimes) Jerry got to go off and play with his relatively new Digitech Whammy, sometimes to reasonable ends but like most things of the 92 -95 era with varying sluggish tempos, erratic playing and then that god awful thin tone Jerry opted for throughout most of the final 2 years. I stopped going to shows pretty consciously in 93 after Palace Summer Tour 93 due to the number of aforementioned shifts in the music post 91 as well as the decaying scene.
Anyhow, not here to malign the overly easy target of Corrina from that era, rather on a more positive note, I am shockingly here to say I have actually warmed to Corrina a bit more thanks to finally getting my hands on the excellent Ratdog studio version. Corrina comes charging full -> out of the even hipper Two Djinn's from Evening Moods. Naturally, I got to warming to Corrina in that somewhat roundabout way given it segues so seamlessly from Two Djinn straight into the former, so out of inertia, I got in the habit of it just showing up in my speakers and as such have come around a bit to it given this context.
On a side note, I have to profess my love and respect for Two Djinn. I feel it is probably Bob's best, most fully realized actual Bob type song since Lost Sailor. Throwing Stones and Bucket I liked initially quite a bit but they seem somewhat a bit more straight-laced and not as full-on Bobby songs (Weather Report Suite, Sage & Spirit, Sailor -> Saint) in terms of chord choices, but maybe that is me. Obviously, both Throwin and Bucket were overplayed to death in the late 80s and throughout 90s but we all know this.
Essau and Victim I like too somewhat at times, but I cannot say I go out of my way to put either of them on ever, they just kind of show up and depending on mood will remain or get >>. Both of these songs perhaps lean more towards older Bobby, but for me, Sailor is the last tune I can think of where the chord choices are a little more out there and numerous and make for a tune that is pure Weir.
Two Djinn for me runs in a similar vein at least throughout the intro and verses. All the niceties of a good complex Weir tune especially the harmony, chord choices and the voicings. You can argue that the chorus is perhaps somewhat derivative but overall it fits, is catchy and makes for a fun jam - to paraphrase the inimitable Jeffrey Lebowski the chorus actually does serve to "really tie the tune together."
So I would say that for a rare exception in Deadom, the studio Ratdog version of Corrina is the superior take in my books. One final observation which I believe I may have mentioned in another thread somewhere on these very boards, the similarities between the verses of Corrina and Prince's Sign'o The Times to me seem rather glaringly apparent, but then again that is just my ears. I mean yes Corrina is a pretty standard funk type of groove and his Purpleness was all about the funk groove, moreover I can see Bobby totally being into Prince throughout the 80s, so subconsciously this may have crept in but who the f$%& really knows.
I cannot believe I wrote all that about Corrina of all things...
-HS