It’s difficult to pick only ten Grateful Dead songs. A list of twenty-five or thirty might be more appropriate. This list is my attempt to pick ten of their songs that I think eveyone should hear. My choices were made with heavy emphasis on the lyrics of the songs. Though the Grateful Dead are often known for their long, drawn out jams, I have always been enamored with their unique, heartfelt lyrics and the amazing imagery that goes along with them. There are many songs not on this list that should be listened to as well.
1) Sugar Magnolia:
This one is as though the season of summer was turned into a song. It’s so free and happy, and a beautiful love song, too. When you listen to it, you can feel the sun and the heat and the carefree nature that naturally comes with summer. It makes me think of swimming in lakes, running around barefoot, and taking long country drives. “Sugar magnolia, blossoms blooming, head’s all empty and I don’t care. Saw my baby down by the river, knew she had to come up soon for air.” And there’s always the line that makes everyone fall in love with the unknown girl that this song is about: “She’s a summer love in the spring, fall, and winter. She could make happy any man alive.” Who doesn’t want a summer love in the spring, fall, and winter?
2) Franklin’s Tower:
Franklins Tower is a brilliant, beautiful, allusive song. In a rare instance, Robert Hunter, the Dead’s primary lyricist, has written an essay explicating the lyrics in response to an essay he read in which the writer declared that the Dead’s lyrics are meaningless. I know there are some people who prefer not to know the author’s original intent because they already have associations with and ideas about the song that the do not want to disprove or destroy, and if you are one of them, it’s best to avoid this essay. (Hunter recognizes this and expresses his general reluctance to explicate his lyrics at the beginning of his essay, saying of his lyrics, “I may know where they come from, but I don’t know where they’ve been.”) However, if you’re like me and you long to hear the “meaning” of a song from the writer’s mouth, the essay can be found at http://arts.ucsc.edu/gdead /agdl/fauthrep.html . “Another time’s forgotten space, your eyes looked through your mother’s face. Wildflower seed on the sand and stone, may the four winds blow you safely home. Roll away the dew…”
3) St. Stephen:
St. Stephen is one of their earlier songs, found on the 1969 album AOXOMOXOA. It’s a long, meandering song that sounds great live. It’s rich with imagery, open to various interpretations. Both etheral and accessible in its lyrics, St. Stephen is a key song for any would-be Deadhead. “Lady finger, dipped in moonlight, writing ‘What for?’ across the morning sky. Sunlight splatters dawn with answers, darkness shrugs and bids the day goodbye.”
4) Brokedown Palace:
This one is a slow, nostalgic, and hauntingly beautiful song. WIth lyrics like “Fare you well, fare you well, I love you more than words can tell…”, it has become a song of sad but sweet goodbyes (and is often used in reference to Jerry). Despite its sadness, it manages to be a comforting song about the journey of life. “Mama, Mama, many worlds I’ve come since I first left home.”
5) The Music Never Stopped:
Another integral summer song, and also a loving ode to the power of music. This one tells a joyous story about a town drenched in a heatwave that become enlivened by the arrival of a band playing rollicking, celebratory music. The music unites the town in carefree dance and laughter. The imagery is beautiful. The sun went down in honey and the moon came up in wine. And the stars were spinning dizzy, Lord, the band kept us so busy we forgot about the time.” The song has a cute surprise ending in which the town keeps dancing long after the band has left and the heatwave has ended. The lyrics proclaim: “No one’s noticed, but the band’s all packed and gone, were they ever here at all? But they keep on dancing…”
6) Ripple:
Ripple is a classic Grateful Dead song. It’s a sweet and folky tune, with lyrics that touch on the journey of life and the beauty and importance of music. It manages to portray life as beautiful as well as uncertain and difficult. Touching and comforting. ” If my words did glow with the gold of sunshine, and my tunes were played on the harp unstrung, would you hear my voice come through the music? Would you hold it near as it were your own?”
7) Uncle John’s Band:
Oh, Uncle John’s Band. I love this song so much. It’s fairly long (lyrically, that is) with five verses and a chorus that is sung three times with slightly different lyrics each time. It is believed that the song may be about the New Lost City Ramblers, a folk band that originated and the 1950s and is known for its traditional and authentic folk sound. The tune is light and upbeat and the harmonies are impeccable. “I got me a violin, and I beg you call the tune. Anybody’s choice, I can hear your voice. Oh, what I want to know is how does the song go?”
8) Playing in the Band:
This is a carefree and simple song about the joys of playing in a band. It makes me think of sitting outside during a summer sunrise, when the air is still cool and fresh, and listening to a band playing blissfully. “If a man among you got no sin upon his hand, let him cast a stone at me for playing in the band.”
9) Looks Like Rain:
Looks Like Rain is a breakup song so painfully sad and true that it hurts to listen to it (but it’s so beautiful!). It manages to capture the exquisite pain that comes with the end of relationship without being overly sentimental or melodramatic. Where other breakup songs consist of overblown lyrics along the lines of “I’ll die without you, my life is over, I need you,” etc., Looks Like Rain captures with subtlety the dull ache of absence: “It’s just that I got used to having you around. My landscape would be empty if you were gone.” And it’s sung with such tenderness and heartfelt sincerity. “Did you ever waken to the sound of streetcats making love, and guess from their cries that you were listening to a fight? Well you know, hate’s just the last thing they’re thinking of…they’re only trying to make it through the night.”
10) I Will Take You Home:
This one does not quite fit in with the rest of the songs on this list, in that the rest of them are earlier Grateful Dead (late sixties through mid seventies) and this one was written in the late eighties. I tend to prefer the earlier Grateful Dead but this is such an amazing song that it had to be included. Sung like a lullabye, I Will Take You Home is the most comforting song I have ever heard; it conjures up feelings of being completely safe, protected, and enveloped in love. For those with happy childhoods (and good parental relations) this song harkens back to the time in life when one feels as though his or her parents are infallible, almost omniscent in their ability to make everything okay no matter what. “Ain’t no way the bogeyman can get you, you can close your eyes, the world is gonna let you…your daddy’s here and he never will forget you, I will take you home.”
If you’re not very familiar with the Grateful Dead but interested in them, I would suggest buying a copy of American Beauty. For those either familiar or unfamiliar with the Dead, check out David Dodd’s Annotated Grateful Dead Lyrics website, the best lyric website on the internet. http://arts.ucsc.edu/Gdead/AGDL/
