Grateful Dead

Released: October 11, 1989

Songwriter: Bob Dylan

Producer: Grateful Dead

[Verse 1]
Oh, the streets of Rome are filled with rubble
Ancient footprints are everywhere
You can almost think that you're seein' double
On a cold dark night on the Spanish Stairs

Got to hurry on back to my hotel room
Where I've got me a date with Botticelli's niece
She promised she'd be right there with me
When I paint my masterpiece

[Instrumental break]

[Verse 2]
Oh, the hours I've spent inside the Colosseum
Dodging lions and wastin' time
Oh, those mighty kings of the jungle
I could hardly stand to see 'em
Yes, it sure has been a long hard climb

Train wheels runnin' through the back of my memory
When I ran on the hilltop following a pack of wild geese
Someday, life will be sweet like a rhapsody
When I paint my masterpiece

[Instrumental break]

[Verse 3]
So I left Rome, and I landed in Brussels
On a flight so bumpy that I almost cried
Clergymen in uniform, yes, and young girls pullin' muscles
When they cheered, happy when I got right

Newspapermen eating candy
Had to be held down by big police
Someday, everything gonna be different
When I paint my masterpiece, that's right
Someday, everything gonna be different
When I paint my masterpiece
When I paint my masterpiece

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.

more tracks from the album

Postcards of the Hanging

From the album

Postcards of the Hanging (2002)

Grateful Dead popular songs

When I Paint My Masterpiece (Live)Grateful Dead

Grateful Dead

Postcards of the Hanging