There’s never been a band quite like the Grateful Dead. They represented the great American success story in music: An actual garage band that went on to hit the big time. They formed up originally as “The Warlocks” in Palo Alto, California, before adopting the name “The Grateful Dead” in 1965. Their music was wide-ranging in style, borrowing elements from rock & roll, country, blues, bluegrass, and even gospel. As is so often the case with bands together for a long time – the Dead stayed mostly together until the death of Jerry Garcia in 1995 – their style evolved along with their personal skills. I never tire of listening to Garcia on guitar; in the cut “Eyes of the World,” below, his guitar sounds like a clear mountain stream on a sunny day, burbling over a bed of clean pebbles.
My wife and I were fortunate enough to see them live once, in 1991, just a month after returning from the Middle East. It was an amazing show; when you have Carlos Santana as your opening act, Bruce Hornsby helping out on keyboards and Branford Marsalis on sax, you know that’s going to be a great show – and for, if memory serves, $17 for general admission.
The Dead were always about live music, the tour, and the show. They had a legion of fans who followed them from city to city, the “Deadheads,” but I’m happy I got to see them once. It was a heck of an experience.
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This week, it was harder than usual to stick to six great songs, but I gave it a shot, with some of them having particular reasons for making the list. So, with no further ado, let’s see a couple of studio cuts, then some live stuff.
I Will Take You Home (1989): As the father of four daughters, this is a song with a lot of meaning for me. It’s not one of the Dead’s more well-known pieces; it was written by the late Brent Mydland for his two daughters. He intended it, reportedly, as a lullaby, and it fits; it’s a touching song, assuring a “little girl lost” that Daddy, no matter what, will always be “right there beside you.” The recurring refrain “I will take you home” speaks volumes to any father of daughters, and to any daughters of fathers. When all four of our girls graduated from high school, I gave them each a copy of this song; the first one on CD, the latter ones on a USB drive. And yes, all four of them cried, but they were tears of joy.
Victim or the Crime (1989): This one raised an interesting question. From the same studio album (Built to Last) as “I Will Take You Home,” this song couldn’t be any more different. It evokes images of walking some very fine lines indeed, as well as having some lyrics that are thought-provoking, and some that are just… odd:Patience runs out on the junkie
The dark side hires another soul
Did he steal his fate or earn it
Was he force-fed, did he learn it
Whatever happened to his precious self control
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Cassiday (1980): This song is a wonder; complex, with flowing rhythm, and again, vivid lyrics:
I have seen where the wolf has slept by the silver stream.I can tell by the mark he left you were in his dream.
Ah, child of countless trees.
Ah, child of boundless seas.
What you are, what you're meant to be
Speaks his name, though you were born to me,
Born to me,
Cassidy...
Tennessee Jed (1989): If I had to pick on song by the Dead as my favorite, this would be it, in part because of the images of a rural kid finding himself a fish out of water in one city or another, and again, because in this version, Jerry gives us a good look at one of the best guitar solos in the history of rock.Uncle John’s Band (1974): This may be the best Dead concert anchor. I have it on good authority from a number of committed Deadheads that the question on their lips in every concert was “Are they going to play Uncle John’s Band?” It’s a great song, with images of a noble figure who has “come to take us home.”
I could do Grateful Dead entries for the next six months and never run out of great songs. I won’t – variety is the spice of life – but I’ll probably do a few more Grateful Dead posts, all in good time. There’s just a lot to work with.
I’m sure a lot of you have some favorite Dead tunes. The comments, as always, are all yours.
