Grateful Dead

Released: June 10, 1973

Songwriter: Bob Dylan

Producer: Grateful Dead

[Verse 1]
I tried a mailtrain, mama, can't buy a thrill
I've been up all night, mama, leanin' on the window sill
If I die on top of the hill
If I don't make it, know my baby will

[Instrumental break]

[Verse 2]
Don't the moon look good, mama, shinin' through the trees?
Don't the brakeman look good, mama, flagging down the "Double E"?
Don't the sun look good fine setting down over the sea?
Don't my gal look fine when she's running after me?

[Instrumental break]

[Verse 3]
Wintertime is coming, the windows are filled with frost
I tried to tell everybody, but I could not get across
I wanna be your lover, baby, I don't wanna be your boss
Don't say I never warned you when your train gets lost
Don't say I never warned you when your train gets lost

Amidst the growing counter-culture scene in the San Francisco Bay Area, The Grateful Dead were founded by lead guitarist/vocalist Jerry Garcia, bass player Phil Lesh, rhythm guitarist Bob Weir, keyboardist Ron “Pigpen” McKernan, and drummer Bill Kreutzmann in Palo Alto in 1965, originally as The Warlocks. Percussionist Mickey Hart later joined the group in 1967 and other members cycled through the group in following years as the core remained intact. Their eclectic music formed the archetype for the “Jam Band” genre, combining elements from rock, blues, folk, country, bluegrass, and psychedelic music into improvisational performances.

Over the years the Dead released 22 recorded albums, although they were most famous for their improvisational jams at concerts, earning them a cult-like following of self-proclaimed “Dead Heads” who would follow the band from concert-to-concert throughout the band’s career.

The band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994 and they’ve sold more than 40 million albums in total; all that with only one top 40 hit (“Truckin”), and one Top 10 hit (“Touch of Grey”) that came near the end of the band’s run, shortly before Jerry Garcia’s death in 1995. Grateful Dead was also ranked 57th in Rolling Stone’s “The Greatest Artists of All Time” issue in 2004 and 2005. Since then, various incarnations of the Dead have continued to tour, although a 2015 farewell tour was said to be the band’s last.

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