I thought it might be interesting to see a list from the
opposite perspective, chronologically showing when the Dead stopped playing
their songs. This is their abandoned repertoire, the songs the Dead got tired
of playing.
This list only goes up through 1974. The hiatus provided a
convenient break; when the Dead returned to touring in 1976, their repertoire
was a lot slimmer. Songs came back at different times after the hiatus, some
not for years; some songs would drop out and be revived more than once, making
for a complicated history. I also wanted to focus on the early Dead and the
choices they made in their most prolific period, when all these songs were
relatively new and more songs were frequently being added to their sets. So
this list shows the songs the Dead stopped playing before October 1974. (Many
of them, of course, came back later.)
For the history of the Dead’s songs in later years, see:
This list does not include 1966, a year in which many songs
were tried out and abandoned, but starts with the active 1967 repertoire. There
are over thirty songs the Dead stopped playing by 1967, though many of them
were revived later on. For details on those early songs, see:
Studio rehearsals and soundchecks are not included. For
instance, several songs the Dead had stopped playing appear in the September
’71 rehearsals with Keith Godchaux; and a few stray soundcheck tapes such as
12/12/73 have songs the Dead otherwise weren’t playing live. These would be out
of place in a list of the Dead’s live repertoire – they are accidental,
fragmentary captures of a much larger “hidden” or potential repertoire, songs
the Dead didn’t work up for an audience.
At first I thought I would include the number of times each song
was played, but that was impossible. Due to all the “lost” shows of 1966-1970,
our tapes are only a sampling of shows, the ratio improving in parts of ’69-70;
and the earlier a song was debuted, the more performances are lost. Songs that
were played from ’66-68 were likely played dozens of times more than we know
about. (In some cases we could be missing well over a hundred versions of a
song!) Only with songs that debuted in 1971 and later can we say definitely how
many times they were played; and there are less than twenty of those on this
list.
So I decided, instead, to list the first and last dates each
song was played, showing the time range it was in the repertoire. Some of these
songs lasted for years; others, less than a month.
Note that when a song was “first played” in 1966-67, that
only indicates our earliest tape of it; the Dead could have been playing it
months earlier. In some cases, the “last time played” in 1967-69 could be
months too early, as well; so the dates for the earlier songs on this list are
probably just a rough approximation of how long they were played. Only starting
in late 1970 can we can be sure the dates are accurate.
You’ll find several other related lists here as well,
including:
- Rare covers played only 2-3 times
- Songs that had gone on hiatus prior to 1974
- Songs revived in 1974
- Songs only played once up to 1974
This post is meant for deep setlist obsessives.
ABANDONED SONGS
CREAM PUFF WAR -
4/8/67
Played since 5/19/66.
Garcia, 1986: “That’s one of those tunes that’s so old it’s
totally embarrassing. I’d just as soon everybody forgot about it.” (Steve
Marcus interview, October 1986)
Garcia, 1991: “I felt my lyric writing was woefully
inadequate.” (Golden Road, Spring 1991)
LINDY (aka OVERSEAS
STOMP) - 8/4/67
Played since 12/1/66. No other live 1967 performances known.
(Had been played by Mother McCree’s in 1964.)
Missing from the Archive copies of 8/4/67.
GOLDEN ROAD - “5/5/67”
(unknown date, summer ’67)
Played since 3/18/67. (Only two performances on tape.)
Weir, 6/7/70: “Hey, there’s a guy over there, and he’s
always over there, and he always yells out ‘Golden Road.’ And I want to know who he
is, man, because you take the cake. I mean, actually, quite truthfully, we’ve
forgotten that song, we’ve forgotten how to play it.”
Garcia, 1986: “No, I don’t think we could do it [again]. It
belonged too much to that moment.” (Steve Marcus interview, October 1986)
Garcia, 1991: “‘Golden
Road’ was our effort at nailing down some of that
[Haight] feeling, I guess. That was sort of a group writing experience before
Hunter was with us. We kept it simple. But what could you say, really? ‘We took
a bunch of acid and had a lot of fun?’” (Golden Road, Spring 1991)
BORN CROSS-EYED -
3/30/68
Played since 1/17/68.
Weir, 1969: “My song-writing career has been slowed up
because I can't think of any decent words to sing. That's kind of gotten to me
after the last album. You come to that particular point where you've written a
song, and you hear it on the album and the words are so ‘nada.’ They don't
really say anything, they're just…a handle with which to carry a tune. And they
could be ever so much more.” (Wanger/Frost radio documentary, June 1969)
Weir, 1971: “I had retired for the longest time with ‘Born
Cross-Eyed,’ which didn’t come out like I had imagined it. I had it all
together in my head, but at that time, I just was not able to convey to a band
what it was I wanted to hear. So it was useless for me to write a song. Garcia
had been working with bands for a long time, and I was relatively new to it.
Garcia knew how to tell a band what he wanted to hear and all that. If you’re
writing a song, you have to be able to express yourself to the people you’re
working with or you’re never going to get what you want. It’s frustrating.”
(Crawdaddy, September 1972)
Lesh, 1994: “[Vince] wants to dig up all that stuff and we
could, of course, if we ever rehearsed. I’d love to do ‘Born Cross-Eyed.’ Hell,
I could get a pair of timpani out there!” (Golden Road, Spring 1994)
CLEMENTINE -
1/26/69
Played since 1/20/68; rarely heard on tape after 2/2/68.
NEW POTATO CABOOSE
- 6/8/69
Played since 8/4/67.
Q, 1971: “Are you still playing ‘New Potato Caboose’ and
other old songs?
Weir: “No, I don’t think we could even remember it. I think
we tried in rehearsal one time.” (Harvard Independent interview, March 1971)
Weir, 1992: “That was a collaborative effort. I worked on it
with Phil and Garcia. The lyric was done by Bobby Peterson – he just handed us
a lyric. I needed a song to sing – ‘Weir, take this lyric. We’re going to make
a song, and you’re going to sing it.’ We hammered on it for a couple of days
and came up with it. We ought to work it up again. In fact, I think we actually
are going to work it up again for spring. That's one of the ones on the bill.
It's precise; it's heavily arranged. And in general the precise, heavily
arranged stuff has sort of tended to dry up and blow away in our repertoire.
But this one I think we'll be able to loosen up somehow and make it a little
more playable, leave a little more room in it. We have more facility as
players... Back then we could barely play it. Now we can probably play it with
relative facility and get around all the corners and still find room for a
little freedom for extemporaneous expression.” (1992 Golden Road)
DUPREE’S DIAMOND
BLUES - 7/11/69
Played since 1/24/69.
Revived 10/2/77.
Garcia, 1971: “‘Dupree’ is one of my favorite recorded ones
– it reminds me of a little cartoon strip, with cartoon characters.” (Signpost
to New Space)
MOUNTAINS OF THE MOON
- 7/12/69
Played since 12/20/68.
Garcia, 1971: “‘Mountains of the Moon’ is really a lovely
tune. It’s still one of my favorites of the ones I’ve ever written. I thought
it came off like a little gem.” (Signpost to New Space)
Garcia, 1991: “That song turned out nicely. I had an
acoustic setting in mind from the get-go and it turned out pretty much how I
envisioned it. I don’t know what made me think I could do a song like that… I
like the tune a lot.” (Golden Road, Spring 1991)
DOIN’ THAT RAG -
9/29/69
Played since 1/24/69.
Garcia, 1981: “A lot of tunes on [Aoxomoxoa] are just packed
with lyrics or packed with musical changes that aren’t worth it for what
happens finally with the song. There isn’t a graceful way to perform them and
have them have what they originally had.” (Conversations with the Dead, p.49)
Garcia, 1977: “‘Cosmic Charlie’ is something for which I had
a melody and changes, that I wanted to become something… We just finally put
something together that was designed to fit into the music. With a song like
‘Doin’ That Rag,’ the lyrics were all there, and I just invented a form to
allow [the song] to happen. Both of them are unsuccessful songs. Most of the
songs on that record are... We didn’t exactly know what we were doing. Songwriting
is a craft that takes a little while to pick up… I realized…through trying to
perform, that you can’t fuckin’ sing those tunes. There’s no place to breathe.
They’re too rangy. The concentration, the emphasis, linguistically, is funny.
People could hear the words, but they could never understand them.” (BAM
interview, December 1977)
SLEWFOOT -
12/31/69
Played since 6/11/69.
GREEN GRASS OF HOME
- 2/7/70
Played since 5/31/69.
SEASONS OF MY HEART
- 2/23/70
Played since 8/2/69.
LITTLE SADIE -
2/28/70
Played since 12/19/69.
Played again on 10/31/80.
MASON’S CHILDREN
- 2/28/70
Played since 12/19/69.
Garcia, 1986: “‘Mason’s Children was an almost song. I guess
it’s got a famous underground reputation, but really it never quite collected
itself into a song. I never was that happy with the lyrics.” (Steve Marcus
interview, October 1986)
Lesh, 1997: “The song was a lot of fun, but it wasn’t enough
fun for us to keep doing it – I think it sorta got lost in the shuffle.” (AOL
GD Forum online chat, June 1997)
Lesh, 1997: “Maybe we just decided we didn’t dig it all that
much at the time (maybe we never performed it that well, either).” (Fallout from
the Phil Zone)
DEATH DON’T HAVE NO
MERCY - 3/21/70
Played since 1/8/66.
Revived 9/29/89.
HE WAS A FRIEND OF
MINE - 3/21/70
Played since 7/3/66. No known performances between “5/5/67”
& 12/7/68.
THE ELEVEN -
4/24/70
Played since 1/17/68.
Garcia, 1988: “‘The Eleven’ was successful because it had a
great groove…but you’re really stuck in that chord pattern – we used to go into
E-minor out of that A-D-E [riff], which is like ‘La Bamba.’ ‘The Eleven’ is
like ‘La Bamba,’ it really is… ‘La Bamba’ is a trap too, just like ‘The Eleven’
is, because you’re trapped harmonically in this very fast-moving little chord
pattern which is tough to play through. It’s tough to play gracefully through
except for the most obvious shit, which is what I did on ‘The Eleven.’ When we
went into the E-minor [section], then it started to get weird. We used to do
these revolving patterns against each other where we would play 11 against 33 –
so one part of the band was playing a big thing that revolved in 33 beats, or
66 beats, and the other part of the band would be tying into that 11 figure.
That’s what made those things sound like, ‘Whoa, what the hell is going on?’ It
was thrilling. But we used to rehearse a lot to get that effect. It sounded
like chaos, but it was in reality hard rehearsal.” (Golden Road, Fall 1988)
Lesh, 1990: “It was really too restrictive; and the vocal
part, the song part, was dumb. [Garcia said it was a hard tune to play through]
because of the three-chord structure. When we put that together with a drone it
was much easier. How was it we used to do it – Dark Star/St Stephen/The
Eleven/Lovelight? It fit well in there, I guess… It was really designed to be a
rhythm trip. It wasn’t designed to be a song. That more or less came later as a
way to give it more justification or something to work in a rock ‘n’ roll set.
We could’ve used it just as a transition, which is what it was, really.”
(Golden Road, Summer 1990)
LONG BLACK LIMOUSINE
- 5/15/70
Played since 12/19/69.
Released on Road Trips 3:3.
IT’S A SIN - 6/4/70
First played 5/19/66; Hartbeats version on 10/10/68; the
Dead played regularly from 4/5/69 to 8/28/69; then no known performances until
6/4/70.
(An instrumental jam was played on 6/18/74.)
ALL AROUND THIS WORLD
- 7/11/70
Played since 12/19/69.
Revived 9/25/80.
KATIE MAE -
7/12/70
Played since 1/31/70.
HIGH TIME -
7/12/70
Played since 6/21/69.
Revived 6/9/76.
Garcia, 1971: “The song that I think failed on [Workingman’s
Dead] is ‘High Time.’ It’s a beautiful song, but I was just not able to sing it
worth a shit. And I really can’t do justice to that kind of song now. I’m not
that good of a singer. But I wish someone who could really sing would do one of
those songs sometime.” (Signpost to New Space)
Garcia, 1977: “‘High Time’ is a beautiful song, but I don’t
think our performance on the record was very good. It’s a better song than we
performed it.” (BAM interview, December ‘77)
A VOICE FROM ON HIGH
(aka I HEAR A VOICE CALLING) - 8/5/70
Played since 5/15/70.
Also played in the 12/27/70 radio show.
IT’S A MAN’S WORLD
- 9/18/70
Played since 4/9/70.
SILVER THREADS &
GOLDEN NEEDLES - 9/19/70
First played 5/19/66; revived 4/26/69.
Also played in the 1970 KSAN “Garage Tape” & the
12/27/70 radio show.
Missing from the Archive copies of 9/19/70.
COLD JORDAN -
9/19/70
Played since 5/1/70.
Also played in the 12/27/70 radio show.
SWING LOW SWEET
CHARIOT - 9/19/70
Played since 6/4/70.
Also played in the 12/27/70 radio show.
GOOD MORNING LITTLE
SCHOOLGIRL - 9/19/70
Played since early 1966.
Revived 8/22/87.
NEW SPEEDWAY BOOGIE - 9/20/70
Played since 12/20/69.
Revived 2/19/91.
Garcia, 1971: “‘New Speedway Boogie’ is one of those miracle
songs. It’s one of those once-through ones. The words were just so right that
it was immediately apparent, just bam! It came out right. Simple and straight-ahead…
[But] I think that that song’s an over-reaction, myself. I think that it’s a
little bit dire.” (Signpost to New Space)
Garcia, 1977: “Hunter knows my taste, and philosophically,
there are certain limbs that I won’t go out on, just because I don’t feel like
I can say it with any competence. There is no rule we haven’t broken though.
Like, ‘New Speedway Boogie’ is a totally topical song, and that’s never
something I’ve been involved in. It’s something I don’t even like.” (BAM
interview, December ‘77)
BIG BOY PETE -
9/20/70
First played 11/29/66; dropped after 12/1/66; then played a
few times since 9/6/69.
Played again 11/17/78, 11/21/85.
VIOLA LEE BLUES -
10/31/70
Played since January 1966.
Garcia, 1987: “What other ones don’t we do? Oh – ‘Viola Lee
Blues’ is another tune where we did it to death. And when we stopped doing it,
we stopped doing it because hey, we’re done with it.” (Mary Eisenhart
interview, November 1987)
Garcia, 1988: "[A song is used up] when we don’t have any
more ideas. When we do it and we have nothing new to say.” (Golden Road, Fall
1988)
HOW LONG BLUES -
11/7/70
Played since 7/12/70.
(The 2/12/89 “How Long Blues” is not the same song.)
OPERATOR -
11/8/70
Played since 8/18/70.
WAKE UP LITTLE SUSIE
- 11/8/70
Played since 2/13/70.
ROSALIE MCFALL -
11/8/70
Played since 7/11/70.
Revived 9/25/80.
TILL THE MORNING
COMES - 12/26/70
Played since 9/18/70.
DEEP ELEM BLUES -
12/28/70
First played 12/1/66; revived 3/20/70.
(Had been played by Garcia in 1962-63.)
Rehearsed 9/30/71 & played 11/17/78, then revived
10/4/80.
MONKEY & THE
ENGINEER - 12/31/70
Played since 12/19/69.
(Had been played by Mother McCree’s in 1964.)
Revived 9/25/80.
COSMIC CHARLIE -
1/21/71
First played 10/8/68 (in the Hartbeats); played by the Dead
since 1/17/69.
Revived 6/4/76.
Garcia, 1981: “‘Cosmic Charlie’ was really a recording song,
and even when we did perform it, it always had its weaknesses. The weaknesses
were part of what’s musically clever about the songs [on Aoxomoxoa], but part
of what’s cumbersome about performing them. ‘Cosmic Charlie’ has some really
complex chord voicings in the bridges. Being able to pull off the changes and
do the vocals – last time we worked it out was with Donna [in 1976], and it was
pretty effective, sort of. But we still had a hell of a time getting through
those bridges, and the fact that it didn’t stick as a piece of material tells
something about what was flawed about the construction. It’s not quite
performable… Those were the first songs me and Hunter did together, and we
didn’t have the craft of songwriting down. We did things that in retrospect
turned out to be unwise… Songs like ‘Cosmic Charlie,’ there’s technically too
much happening there for me to be able to come up with a comfortable version of
it that I can sing and play on stage. I never would have thought about that
when I started writing songs. I didn’t realize that you had to think about that
stuff…” (Conversations with the Dead, p.49)
Garcia, 1986: “We’ve already brought it back once. It didn’t
work out too well. We brought it back once when Keith & Donna were in the
band, and we actually worked it out with harmony – three-part harmony all the
way through – and it sounded pretty neat. But the thing is that the regular
groove part of ‘Cosmic Charlie’ is OK, it works, but Hunter and I were
inexperienced songwriters when we wrote the song, so the song has some
problematic… It doesn’t have any room to breathe, for one thing, and the other
thing is it has these intense little bridges. There are two little melodic
bridges in the chorus of the song that have words and everything, and they’re
harmonically really complicated. They’re not easy, so trying to sing that song
and actually play it at the same time is almost impossible. Now all I can say
is we did bring it back, but it didn’t work, it wasn’t successful. The
record…has a certain bigness to it, a kind of funky grandeur that we haven’t
been able to capture really in a concert yet. Someday we might pull it off, but
really it’s awful wordy.” (Steve Marcus interview, October 1986)
Garcia, 1987: “I’ve always liked ‘Cosmic Charlie,’ but it’s
just really a little too difficult. If I could figure out a way to either just
sing it or just play it – but playing it and singing it is a bitch.” (Mary
Eisenhart interview, November 1987)
Steve Marcus: "There is a very determined Deadhead who for years has been
running a ‘Cosmic Charlie’ campaign. He has collected thousands of signatures
on petitions and has encouraged thousands of Deadheads to send you postcards."
Eisenhart: “The Cosmic Charlie Campaign will beg in vain.”
EASY WIND -
4/4/71
Played since 8/21/69.
Lesh, 1997: “One of Pigpen’s best tunes – the contrast
between the straight-ahead boogaloo rhythm and a slow blues triplet groove made
it really expressive, as did the lyrics.” (Fallout from the Phil Zone)
Weir, 1993: “‘Easy Wind’ was one of our coolest tunes. We
didn’t play it that much, but I always liked it.”
Garcia, 1993: “Pigpen didn’t write it, but he contributed a
lot to the way it works, the way it feels. He understood how it was supposed to
be. It wouldn’t have worked unless he did it.” (1993 Golden Road)
KING BEE –
4/28/71
Played since May 1965; first tape 1/8/66; known performances
stop after 4/9/67; revived 2/11/69.
Pigpen also sings a verse in the 12/15/71 Lovelight (along
with I’m A Man).
Revived 12/8/93.
SECOND THAT EMOTION
- 4/29/71
Played since 4/8/71.
RIPPLE - 4/29/71
Played since 8/18/70.
Rehearsed 10/1/71; revived 9/25/80.
DARK HOLLOW -
4/29/71
Played since 2/14/70.
Played 11/17/78, then revived 9/25/80.
NEW MINGLEWOOD BLUES
- 4/29/71
Played since 5/19/66; dropped after 12/1/66; played a couple
times in ’69 (4/26 & 8/20/69); revived 5/15/70.
(Had been played by Mother McCree’s in 1964, but not
recorded.)
Revived 7/12/76.
ALLIGATOR - 4/29/71
Played since 6/18/67.
Lesh, 3/28/72: “Hey, for all you Alligator fans out
there...we understand there's a lot of Alligator fans out there, but we done
forgot it, see. And so we're gonna have to remember it sometime later, you
know.”
Weir, 7/18/72: “Alligator? Did you say Alligator?” …
Lesh: “We don’t do that tune no more, man. It done faded
away in the mists of time… As you all might have figured out by now, we can’t
do any Pigpen songs because Pigpen ain’t here.”
Garcia, 1986: “No, I don’t think we could do that.” (Steve
Marcus interview, October 1986)
MIDNIGHT HOUR -
4/29/71
Played since 1965. A rare song on tape until late ’69.
Revived 12/31/82.
THE RUB (AIN’T IT
CRAZY) - 7/2/71
Played since 4/18/70.
(Had been played by Mother McCree’s in 1964.)
EMPTY PAGES -
8/26/71
Played since 8/24/71. (Only played twice.)
HARD TO HANDLE -
8/26/71
Played since 3/15/69.
Revived 12/30/82.
ST. STEPHEN -
10/31/71
Played since 6/14/68.
Revived 6/9/76.
Not on the Archive; available on Dick’s Picks 2.
Previous performance: https://archive.org/details/gd71-10-24.sbd.clugston.3292.sbeok.shnf
Weir, 5/7/72: “If it’d set any minds at ease, we done forgot
‘St. Stephen.’ I mean we forgot it. We can’t play it anymore. We don’t know
how. Water under the bridge. We may someday try to reconstruct it. You know,
listen to the record and cop our licks.”
Lesh, 3/21/73: “For all you ‘St. Stephen’ fans, we don’t do
that song anymore.”
Weir: “The bitter truth. We had to quit doing it ‘cause you
liked it too much.”
Garcia, 1987: “People ask us, ‘Why don’t you do ‘St. Stephen’
anymore? The truth is that we did it to death when we did do it – when we did
it, we did it. In fact, we had two periods of time when we did it – we
rearranged it later for three voices, with Donna. And we did it, and the people
who missed it, that’s too bad, you know? We may never do it again. It’s one of
those things that doesn’t perform that well – we were able to make it work then
because we had the power of conviction. But I don’t think that our present
sensibilities would let us do it the way it was, anyay. We would have to change
it some.” (Mary Eisenhart interview, November 1987)
Garcia, 1988: “When we stopped doing ‘St. Stephen’ we
stopped doing it – we used it up… ‘St. Stephen’ has some real goofy shit in it.
It’s got little idiosyncrasies and verses that are different from each other,
and if you don’t remember every bit of it – it’s a piece of material that is
unnecessarily difficult. It’s been made tricky. It’s got a bridge in the middle
that doesn’t really fit in. It’s interesting…because it has a couple of things
that work real good. But finally, the stuff that doesn’t work overpowers the
stuff that does work; and the reason it does is just the thing of memory:
‘Let’s see, what verse is this?’ They’re not interchangeable; you have to do them
in order. So in that sense, a song like ‘St. Stephen’ is a cop. It’s our
musical policeman: if we don’t do it the way it wants to go, it doesn’t work at
all. That means it’s inflexible.” (Golden Road, Fall 1988)
Lesh, 2005: “Jerry was never happy with the fact that the
bridge had to be played and sung in a slower tempo than the rest of the song;
he felt that it lost momentum.” (Searching for the Sound, p.137)
RUN RUDOLPH RUN -
12/15/71
Played since 12/4/71.
DANCING IN THE STREET
- 12/31/71
Played since 7/3/66; dropped after 3/30/68; revived from
6/8/69 to 12/22/70; then played once in 1971.
Revived 6/3/76.
THE SAME THING -
12/31/71
First played 11/19/66; not played since 3/18/67. (Only four
known performances.)
Revived 12/28/91.
SMOKESTACK LIGHTNING
- 3/25/72
Played since 11/19/66. A rare song until late ’69; dropped
after 2/19/71; revived 12/2/71.
Teased 4/9/83, revived 10/9/84.
Released on Dick’s Picks 30.
CAUTION - 5/11/72
Played since 11/3/65; possibly not played in mid/late ’66.
Played as a jam 9/18/74 & 10/19/74.
Also jammed occasionally in later years – 10/27/79, 5/12/80,
5/6/81.
Officially released.
TURN ON YOUR
LOVELIGHT - 5/24/72
Played since 7/23/67.
Revived 10/16/81.
Released on Rockin’ the Rhein & 5/24/72 CD. Missing from
Archive copies.
Garcia, 1993: “‘Lovelight’ will always be Pigpen’s tune.
That’s sort of like our tribute to him; we’re calling him back a little when we
play that.”
Weir, 1993: “After a number of years it finally occurred to
me that doing a Pigpen tune here and there was a fitting tribute… At first,
nobody wanted to touch any of those songs, but then we started looking at it
differently. They’re all good songs. Every time we play ‘Lovelight’ I think of
him – every time.” (1993 Golden
Road)
IT HURTS ME TOO -
5/24/72
Played since 5/19/66. This song apparently went on hiatus
several times, which may just be due to lost shows: dropped after 3/16/68;
revived 12/7-12/21/68; revived again from 4/15-5/31/69; then again from
10/31/69 - 2/8/70; played regularly from 10/11/70 onwards.
BIG BOSS MAN -
5/25/72
Played since 7/3/66; dropped after 9/3/67; revived from 6/27/69
to 3/21/70; revived again 10/31/70.
Revived 12/26/81.
Officially released.
SITTIN’ ON TOP OF THE
WORLD - 5/25/72
Played since 5/19/66; no known performances from 7/16/66
until 3/29/68, then dropped again; revived from 4/11/69 to 11/5/70; revived
again 10/21/71.
Missing from Archive copies of 5/25/72; on official CD.
MR. CHARLIE -
5/26/72
Played since 7/31/71.
Officially released.
Garcia, 1993: “I thought ‘Mr Charlie’ was a great tune. I’m
sorry we never got a chance to do that one in the studio.” (1993 Golden Road)
NEXT TIME YOU SEE ME
- 5/26/72
Played since 3/12/66; dropped after 3/18/67; revived
9/27/69.
CHINATOWN SHUFFLE - 5/26/72
Played since 12/31/71.
THE STRANGER (TWO
SOULS IN COMMUNION) - 5/26/72
Played since 3/21/72.
CRYPTICAL ENVELOPMENT
- 9/23/72
Played since 10/22/67; dropped after 12/14/71, and played
only once in 1972.
Revived 6/16/85.
Cryptical Reprise last played 11/12/71:
Garcia: “It wasn’t happening for me, emotionally. Certain
songs stop being viable because they are not graceful enough to keep performing
in a natural way.” (Peters, What A Long Strange Trip, p.28)
Garcia, 1988: "It's just not a very successful song. I find it uncomfortable." (Golden Road, Fall 1988)
Garcia, 1988: "It's just not a very successful song. I find it uncomfortable." (Golden Road, Fall 1988)
YOU WIN AGAIN -
9/26/72
Played since 11/14/71.
COMES A TIME -
10/19/72
Played since 10/19/71.
Revived 6/12/76.
ROCKIN’ PNEUMONIA
- 10/23/72
Played since 5/23/72. (Only played four times.)
ATTICS OF MY LIFE
- 10/28/72
Played since 5/14/70; dropped after 12/27/70; rehearsed
9/31/71; revived 9/27/72 and only played once more.
Soundchecked 2/22/74; rehearsed 5/28/76; then revived
10/9/89.
Garcia, 1988: “It’s a great song. I want to bring that song
back. We could do it.” (Golden Road, Fall 1988)
WAVE THAT FLAG –
6/10/73
Played since 2/9/73.
Reappeared as U.S. Blues 2/22/74.
BOX OF RAIN -
7/28/73
First played 9/17/70; revived 10/9/72.
Revived 3/20/86.
Lesh, 1981: “I never did that much lead singing, ‘cause I
never felt comfortable with it, especially live. For some people it’s easy, but
for me to play the bass and sing – almost impossible.” (Comstock Lode, Autumn
1981)
BIRD SONG -
9/15/73
Rehearsed 12/15/70 (with David Crosby); first played 2/19/71;
dropped after 8/23/71; rehearsed 9/29/71; revived 7/18/72.
Revived 9/25/80.
LET ME SING YOUR
BLUES AWAY - 9/21/73
Played since 9/8/73.
SING ME BACK HOME
- 9/26/73
Played since 4/5/71.
YOU AIN’T WOMAN
ENOUGH - 10/21/73
Played since 2/15/73.
LOOKS LIKE RAIN -
12/18/73
Played since 3/21/72; dropped after 7/16/72; revived 2/9/73.
Revived 6/3/76.
Garcia, 1988: “‘Looks Like Rain’ is a nice tune to play.”
(Golden Road, Fall 1988)
THEY LOVE EACH OTHER
- 2/22/74
Played since 2/9/73.
Revived 9/28/75.
HERE COMES SUNSHINE
- 2/23/74
Played since 2/9/73.
Revived 12/6/92.
Garcia, 1986: “I could imagine a situation in which we would
do that song [again]. We never did perform it – I mean, we performed it maybe
twice, three times, something like that… We never played it to the point where
it became one of our songs. It’s a formula song; it’s an easy song to pull off.
It might be a good song to do sometime, but I still think in terms of the songs
that we do [now], of straightening them out…getting them right.” (Steve Marcus
interview, October 1986)
IT’S ALL OVER NOW,
BABY BLUE - 2/24/74
Played since 1/7/66; first tape 5/19/66; dropped after
12/66; revived from 4/6/69 to 11/8/70; revived again 9/23-9/26/72; then played
once more in 1974.
Revived 8/14/81.
Released on Dave’s Picks 13.
CANDYMAN -
2/24/74
Played since 4/3/70; dropped after 2/18/71; played 10/24/71;
then revived from 10/28/72 to 3/30/73; revived again 12/8/73.
Revived 6/3/76.
MONEY MONEY -
5/21/74
Played since 5/17/74. (Only played three times.)
Weir, 1977: “A couple of the people in the band didn’t like
the little story, which, though tongue-in-cheek, was maybe a little too…I don’t
know… A couple of folks in the band didn’t think it was as funny as I did.
Didn’t think it was all that funny at all, so we just put that one away.”
(Conversations with the Dead p.14)
* * *
RARELY PLAYED COVERS
These are covers that were only played two or three times
that we know of by the early Dead. Since they were so infrequently played and
not part of the regular repertoire, I put them in a separate list.
HEY JUDE - 3/1/69
Played before on 2/11/69.
Revived (as a reprise) 9/7/85.
HI-HEEL SNEAKERS
- 8/28/69
Played before on 11/19/66 & 8/3/69.
OLD, OLD HOUSE (aka
BOUND IN MEMORIES) - 1/31/70
Played before on 6/2/69.
SAWMILL - 4/19/70
Played before on 1/31/70 & 2/7/70.
(Weir played it with the New Riders for the rest of 1970.)
Lost show.
LET ME IN -
6/24/70
Played before on 7/4/69.
(Also played in the 1970 KSAN “Garage Tape” & the
11/21/70 radio show.)
SHE’S MINE - 7/12/70
Played before on 4/19/70 & 5/15/70.
BRING ME MY SHOTGUN
- 7/12/70
Played before on 4/18/70.
BALLAD OF CASEY JONES
- 8/5/70
Played before on 5/15/70.
TELL IT TO ME (aka COCAINE
BLUES) - 8/19/70
Played before on 7/12/70 & 8/5/70.
(This is a different song from Mother McCree’s ‘Cocaine
Habit Blues,’ aka ‘Honey Take a Whiff on Me.’)
NEW ORLEANS -
11/8/70
Played before on 8/29/69 & 6/6/70.
Played again 6/21/84.
WALKIN’ THE DOG -
11/9/70
Played before on 3/21/70.
(Had been played in early 1966.)
Revived 3/29/84.
IT’S ALL OVER NOW
- 11/20/70
Played before on 9/6/69.
Revived 4/8/85.
I’M A HOG FOR YOU
BABY - 4/6/71
Played before on 1/8/66 & 3/25/66.
Released on the Skull & Roses CD reissue.
SEARCHIN’ -
4/27/71 (with the Beach Boys)
Played before on 8/29/69 & 11/8/70.
HEY BO DIDDLEY -
8/22/72
Played before on 5/23/72 & 7/16/72.
(Not quite the same song as the 3/25/72 “Bo Diddley.”)
Played again on 2/11/86.
FROZEN LOGGER -
8/25/72
Played several times since 5/7/70, but always as a tease,
never a full song.
Played again on 9/7/85.
* * *
BACK FROM HIATUS
These are songs that were still being played in 1974 (and
afterwards), but had been dropped for various lengths of time in earlier years.
Arranged by date of last revival.
CHINA CAT SUNFLOWER – Played since 1/17/68;
not played from 3/30/68 to 4/5/69.
Garcia, 1977: “Most of the songs on [Aoxomoxoa] are
unsuccessful. ‘China Cat Sunflower’ is another of ‘em. ‘China Cat’ is as
[Hunter] wrote it, unchanged by me.” (BAM interview, December 1977)
Garcia, 1981: “A lot of those Aoxomoxoa songs are cumbersome
to perform, overwritten. ‘China Cat Sunflower’ is marginal.” (Conversations
with the Dead, p.49)
BEAT IT ON DOWN THE
LINE – Played since January 1966; not played from 3/30/68 to 4/6/69.
(Had been played by Mother McCree’s in 1964.)
ME & MY UNCLE
– Played since 11/29/66; not played from 3/18/67 to 4/27/69.
I KNOW YOU RIDER
– Played since May 1965; not played from 12/66 to 9/30/69.
NOT FADE AWAY –
Played in early 1966; revived 2/19/69, and played regularly since 12/21/69.
BIG RAILROAD BLUES
– Played in early 1966; revived 6/24/70.
(Probably played by Mother McCree’s in 1964; Garcia also
sings on 9/7/69. Only played twice in 1974.)
JOHNNY B. GOODE –
Played in 1965; revived 1/22/71.
(Garcia & Weir also guested on a couple Hot Tuna
performances, 9/7/69 & 12/31/70.)
Garcia, 1971: “That song for that year had been feeling good
for us to play it. We have a lot of respect for Chuck Berry.” (Signpost to New
Space)
PROMISED LAND –
Played in early 1966; revived 5/29/71.
BROKEDOWN PALACE
– Played from 8/18/70 to 1/22/71; revived 8/6/71.
GREATEST STORY EVER
TOLD– Played from 2/18/71 to 4/29/71; revived 3/5/72.
DON’T EASE ME IN
– First played 7/16/66; revived 3/20/70 and played until 11/29/70; revived
again 9/16/72.
(Only played twice in 1974, last time 8/6/74.)
Q: "[Why did you] choose to re-record ‘Don’t Ease Me In’ on
Go To Heaven after all that time?"
Garcia: "…Just for fun. It’s a good old song. It just came up
again. With us it’s like, ‘Remember how we used to do…?’ (Weir: ‘Little Red
Rooster.’) Or ‘Satisfaction’… We hadn’t rehearsed it or anything; it’s just one
of those things which came up." (Swing 51 interview, 1982)
NOBODY’S FAULT BUT
MINE - First played 7/17/66;
appeared as a jam within New Speedway Boogie from 5/14/70 to 7/4/70; revived
10/2/72 as part of the post-Truckin’ jam. Last played 7/29/74.
Would reappear occasionally in later years, starting
10/12/77.
THE RACE IS ON – First
played 6/11/69; the Dead played a few times from 12/31/69 to 5/1/70; afterwards
Weir played with NRPS in 1970; revived by the Dead 3/19/73.
DIRE WOLF –
Played from 6/7/69 to 4/27/71; revived from 4/16/72 to 10/19/72; revived again 11/20/73.
TO LAY ME DOWN –
Played from 7/30/70 to 9/20/70; revived from 11/9/73 to 11/20/73; revived again
6/20/74.
BLACK PETER – Played
since 12/4/69, but became infrequent in early ’71 and early ’72; dropped after
10/17/72; revived from 6/22/73 to 9/21/73; then revived again 6/23/74.
(Played three times in 1974.)
Garcia, 1977: “I think ‘Black Peter’ is a beautiful song. It
has beautiful lyrics.” (BAM interview, December 1977)
* * *
LATE REVIVALS
These are songs that had been dropped from the repertoire,
but the Dead broke out in their final 1974 shows.
FRIEND OF THE DEVIL
– Played from 3/20/70 to 4/25/71; revived 8/20/72; played frequently in
summer/fall ’72 up to 12/11/72; revived again 9/18/74.
MAMA TRIED – Played
from 6/11/69 to 8/7/71; revived 10/19/74.
TOMORROW IS FOREVER
– Played from 9/24/72 to 12/11/72; revived 10/19/74.
Not played again.
COLD RAIN AND SNOW
– Played from 3/12/66 to 10/22/67; revived 5/31/69; played only three times in
1973 up to 12/2/73; revived 10/20/74.
Weir, 1971: “Every now and then when we get together in
rehearsal we try doing old tunes that we haven’t done in years – see how much
of them we remember, and if we remember enough sometimes we’ll do them in live
performance. ‘Cold Rain’ came back like that last year, and a couple of
others.” (Harvard Independent interview, March 1971)
GOOD LOVIN’ –
First played 5/19/66; revived 8/29/69; last played with Pigpen 5/25/72; revived
again 10/20/74 (the first of Pigpen’s songs to be revived).
WE BID YOU GOODNIGHT
– Played from 3/16/68 to 9/20/70, then twice in 1971; revived 2/28/73 for a few
performances up to 2/23/74; revived 10/20/74.
* * *
PLAYED ONCE (UP TO
1974)
DEATH LETTER BLUES
- 10/30/68 (Hartbeats)
ROSEMARY -
12/7/68
WHAT’S BECOME OF THE
BABY - 4/26/69
Garcia on ‘What’s Become of the Baby,’ 1991: “I was never
quite satisfied with it… It’s too bad, because it’s an incredible lyric and I
feel I threw the song away somewhat. (Hunter: We feel perhaps it sunk the
album!) I think, ‘Why the fuck did everybody let me do that?’” (Golden Road,
Spring 1991)
GATHERING FLOWERS FOR
THE MASTER’S BOUQUET - 12/26/69
SO SAD TO WATCH GOOD
LOVE GO BAD - 7/11/70 https://archive.org/details/gd1970-07-12.aud.composite.130938.flac16
(matrix)
DRINK UP AND GO HOME
- 8/5/70
MYSTERY TRAIN - 11/8/70
MY BABE - 11/8/70
LA BAMBA - 11/11/70
(A short tease. Played again a few times in 1987.)
OH BOY - 4/6/71
(Played a few more times in later years.)
HIDEAWAY -
11/7/71 (Played again on 6/21/89.)
I WASHED MY HANDS IN
MUDDY WATER - 12/5/71
ARE YOU LONELY FOR ME
BABY - 3/25/72
HOW SWEET IT IS (TO
BE LOVED BY YOU) - 3/25/72
https://archive.org/details/gd1972-03-25.133592.sbd.miller.flac1644
(also on Dick’s Picks 30)
IT TAKES A LOT TO
LAUGH - 6/10/73 (Played a few more times in 1991.)
THAT’S ALL RIGHT MAMA
- 6/10/73 (Played again on 4/18/86.)
CASSIDY - 3/23/74
(Revived 6/3/76.)
https://archive.org/details/gd1974-03-23.sbd.clugston-orf.1995.sbeok.shnf
(also on Dick’s Picks 24)
LET IT ROCK - 6/23/74
https://archive.org/details/gd74-06-23.sbd.cribbs.16780.sbeok.shnf
(also on Mars Hotel CD
reissue)
A number of songs were played for the only time in the lost
6/11/69 show: LET IT BE ME, ALL I HAVE TO DO IS DREAM, I’VE JUST SEEN A FACE, GAMES
PEOPLE PLAY, TIGER BY THE TAIL, WABASH CANNONBALL, and RAILROADING ON THE GREAT
DIVIDE.
CATHY’S CLOWN is known to have been played twice by the Dead
(6/11/69 and 4/17/70), but both shows are lost.
A few songs were also played solo by Pigpen for the only
time in the Family Dog shows on 4/18-19/70: ROBERTA, THE MIGHTY FLOOD, BLACK
SNAKE, and “BIG BREASA” (almost certainly a mistaken title for a blues cover,
probably either a Lightnin’ Hopkins
or a John Lee Hooker song).
PRIDE OF CUCAMONGA and UNBROKEN CHAIN were the only songs on
the Dead’s pre-hiatus albums that were never played live (at least until Unbroken
Chain was broken out in 1995).
Lesh, 1979: “I’m kind of bored with trying to write for the
Grateful Dead, because I tend to write some pretty dense shit, and it’s almost
antithetical to rock ‘n’ roll skill. It’s hard to get them to play it. That
period around Live/Dead when the music was a little more complex – that was the
peak for me. Now we’ve gotten into a format.” (Charlie Haas, “Still Grateful
After All These Years,” New West, December ’79)
Lesh: “I gave up songwriting after Mars Hotel because the
results were disappointing. ‘Unbroken Chain’ could have really been something.
Some people think it really is, but I wanted it to be what I wanted it to be…
It just didn’t happen, so I decided to concentrate on playing the bass as best
I can.” (Peters, What A Long Strange Trip, p.138)
Lesh, 1990: “I’ve had a lot of requests to bring ‘Unbroken
Chain’ back… I’d have to completely relearn it. I’d have to learn the guitar
part over again so I could teach it to Bob. I’d have to relearn the words. I’d
have to figure a way to sing it and play bass at the same time. It’s fairly
complicated. I wrote it on guitar and could play and sing it all the way
through as a performance. It was meant to be performed, but there were so many
changes in it, it proved to be very difficult. We had a lot of trouble even
recording it. By the end of it I was in that brutal state of mind where I said,
‘Fuck this,’ and dropped it. It was too embarrassing to try to perform it live
because it just fell apart. But we’ll get it better this time.” (Golden Road,
Summer 1990)
Lesh on ‘Pride of Cucamonga,’ 1997: “I really love that
song. It’s one of my all-time favorite Petersen lyrics.” (AOL GD Forum online
chat, June 1997)
* * *
GUESTS-ONLY
These are a few of the songs that were not part of the
Dead’s repertoire, but only played with guests in the early years.
CHECKIN’ UP ON MY BABY 6/6/69 (Wayne Ceballos)
THINGS I USED TO DO & WHO’S LOVING YOU TONIGHT 6/8/69
(Elvin Bishop)
BLACK QUEEN 12/10/69 (Steve Stills)
‘IMPROMPTU BLUES’ (WAKE ME SHAKE ME) 3/8/70 (guest singer)
‘COWBOY SONG’ 4/9/70 (guest singer)
MOUNTAIN JAM 7/28/73 (Allman Brothers & The Band)
A couple of guest songs were also played during the October
1968 Hartbeats shows: PRISONER BLUES (a couple times with Elvin Bishop) and
LOOK OVER YONDERS WALL (with an unknown harmonica player, just as in the
12/1/66 Matrix show).
A number of ‘50s rock & roll songs were played in the
9/7/69 Family Dog quasi-Hot Tuna show. It’s doubtful whether these should be
included in a Dead listing – other than Garcia and a drummer or two, I don’t
think any other Dead members are on this tape.
Jorma Kaukonen and Jack Casady guested on 11/11/70 and
11/20/70, which included JOHN’S OTHER, UNCLE SAM BLUES, ODE FOR BILLY DEAN, and
COME BACK BABY on 11/11 (with Papa John Creach), and IT’S ALL OVER NOW and
DARLING COREY on 11/20.
Some songs were played with the Beach Boys on 4/27/71: SEARCHIN’,
RIOT IN CELL BLOCK #9, HELP ME RHONDA, and OKIE FROM MUSKOGEE.
Also, a number of Bo Diddley's songs were played with him on
3/25/72.
Garcia plays on several of the Band’s songs in the 7/28/73
encore, but the rest of the Dead don’t seem to be involved.
For links & more details, see:
* * *
INSTRUMENTALS/THEME
JAMS
These are some of the most significant instrumental themes
that were dropped by 1974.
THE SEVEN 10/8/68 – 3/21/70
THE MAIN TEN 2/19/69 – 11/8/70 (Adopted into Playing in the
Band in ‘71.)
FEEDBACK 8/4/67 – 3/18/71
DARKNESS, DARKNESS JAM 5/7/70 – 7/31/71
TIGHTEN UP JAM 10/25/69 - 10/31/71
PHILO STOMP 10/18/72 – 11/13/72 (Also quoted in later bass
solos through ‘73.)
Of these, probably only Feedback and The Main Ten were
considered actual “compositions” by the Dead – that is, they were given titles
on albums.
Lesh, 1974: “Most of [Feedback] originally was my idea. Because
there we were with all those electronic instruments, and it was starting to be
obvious to me that it could be used for that... Even though you can’t control
them too well, they more or less end up being pretty tonal, tonal in a sense
that the sounds that usually come out tend to have the harmonic structure of
tonal notes. When that got started, we only did that for a little while, it was
for only about two years that we did that; and now when we do it, it just
doesn’t sound right because people are on the wah-wah pedals. Weir actually was
one of the masters of that stuff, but he doesn’t do it anymore at all. I can’t
imagine why, ‘cause he would just come out with this incredible stuff and it
was absolutely off the top of his head, totally. That’s why it amazes me that
he doesn’t explore that. Maybe he just thinks that it’s too complicated or
whatever, which it isn’t.” (Andy Childs interview, ZigZag, September 1974)
Lesh, 1981: [talking about the 2/14/68 ‘Spanish Jam’] “I
wish we still played like that. That was our Sketches of Spain take, it was
part of our act at the time… We’ve become quite proficient at pulling out
imitations of that style. But as that time fades into antiquity, there are
nights when I feel like a parody of myself… I find that when we do the feedback
stuff I have less and less to play. I have less and less ideas, not a lack of
ideas per se, just that they don’t seem to relate the same way that they did in
the past. To me it’s getting to be a mistake to do that every night. Back in
’68 we did it every night because that’s what we did, by God.” (Comstock Lode,
Autumn 1981)
* * *
EPILOGUE
Weir, 1977: “We have a book of all the songs that we’ve
done, or at least an honest attempt at collecting them. Every now and then,
we’ll just look through the book and say, ‘There’s an old chestnut, why don’t
we pull that one back out?’ as opposed to trying to learn something new. It’s
often nice to go back and visit with some of those old friends.” (Conversations
with the Dead p.9)
Garcia, 1980: “Sometimes we’ve written songs and just
completely forgotten about them because they can’t be used. Sometimes we write
them and record them and they turn out to be valueless because they can’t be
performed. There’s no handle that we can get on them. Then, also, there’s the
thing where a song might go into a dormant period, like we’ll record it and
maybe forget about it. Then we’ll resurrect it in a few years, and start
performing it and find that it has something. So, luckily there’s a lot of
material; there’s enough to keep ourselves interested just with the book that
we have already. And now everybody is producing new songs.” (Jeff Tamarkin
interview, Relix, August 1980)
Garcia, 1977: I can’t sing the song unless it resonates for
me on some level.
Q: Which [songs] have the strongest resonance?
Garcia: The ones I keep doing, and sometimes they’ll
surprise me. Sometimes I’ll dig up something from the past and find out, ‘Far
out, this song is much nicer than I thought it was.’ But ideally, the best
thing is a kind of nonspecific emotional involvement with it…. I can’t get up
and sing something that I don’t feel some sense of relationship to. That’s
pretty wide open, but I think the ones that are longest-lived are the ones that
are least specific. (BAM interview, December 1977)
Garcia, 1976: “My relationship to them changes. Sometimes I
really like a song after I’ve written it and I don’t like it at all a year
later. And some of them, I’m sort of indifferent to, but we perform it and find
they have a real long life. For me to sing a song, I really have to feel some
relationship to it. I can’t just bullshit about it. Otherwise, it’s just empty
and it’s no fun. There has to be something about it that I can relate to. Not
even in a literal sense or a sense of content, but more a sense of sympathy
with the singer of the song. It’s a hard relationship to describe, but some
songs have a real long life and you can sing them honestly for a long period of
time – years and years – and others last just a while and you don’t feel like
you can sing them anymore.” (Steve Weitzman interview, April 1976)
Q: Are there any old Grateful Dead songs that you would like
the Dead to start doing again?
Garcia: No… Unless somebody reminds me of something that I
haven’t thought of for a long time. Most of the time we do songs to death.
(Steve Marcus interview, October 1986)
Q: Do you have any un-favorites? Songs you would gladly
never play again?
Garcia: Oh, I don’t think so. Well, the ones that we don’t
play, obviously…
We may bring [‘Dark Star’] back sometime. In fact, I won’t
say that we won’t bring back ‘St. Stephen,’ or ‘Cosmic Charlie’ for that
matter. But it’s much more interesting to me now to think in terms of well,
let’s write new songs. I mean, if I have a choice between resurrecting old
tunes and writing new songs, it’s going to be new songs. Because it’s essential
that we stay interested. And there’s only so much you can rub up against your
own past, and keep loving it. It’s fragile; finally it breaks down. Ultimately
you can use it up. So ultimately it’d be great if we could come up with a whole
lot of new tunes… Every time we do come up with a few new tunes it enlivens
everything else.
(Mary Eisenhart interview, November 1987)
As usual, it is awesome. I tried to find fault a few times, but I keep realizing oh no that was Bye Bye Love with Joan Baez in 1981. :) I love your research, because I can always go back to look at it again. I was lucky to see several revivals like St Stephen (6/9/76), Comes A Time (6/12/76) and Big Boss Man (12/26/81), which for a few years was a Jerry New Year's tradition at Oakland Auditorium. Well done again!
ReplyDeleteI encourage people to try to find fault, or things I missed! It's almost impossible for one person to get everything right in a reference list like this.
DeleteFun and intriguing post. One minor correction: Mars Hotel was not recorded for Warner Brothers.
ReplyDeleteI hadn't known that Vince wanted to bring back "Born Cross-Eyed," but he mentioned in interviews that he wanted the band to play "The Golden Road" again. Donna mentioned in one interview for Dupree's that Keith hated "Money Money."
Oops! Fixed.
DeleteThere are just a handful of songs in the Dead's whole career that they recorded but didn't play live. Generally they didn't have many "extra" songs to do when recording their albums in the studio (there are very few unused "outtake" songs like, say, 'Equinox' for Terrapin). But when it came to live performances, if they weren't happy with a song, they dropped it quickly. 'Money Money' being one example...
Great post as always. Thanks. It is interesting to consider these notes in light of the recent fare-thee-well set lists. I was kind of surprised by some of the stuff they brought back.
ReplyDeleteThis is great; thanks.
ReplyDeleteOf course, it might have been easier to list the songs that *weren't* abandoned! Seems interesting that the only four original songs pre-dating the Workingman's Dead material that were still being played regularly after 1970 were Cryptical Envelopment, the Other One, Dark Star, and China Cat Sunflower. Cryptical was soon dropped, DS was mostly dropped between the hiatus and the late '80s, and CCS had previously been dropped for a year or so (and would be again later). So the Other One was the only pre-Americana-phase original tune that the Dead never got sick of, frustrated with, or embarrassed by. It wasn't precise or contrived like some of the other Anthem/Aoxo material, it was a flexible jamming vehicle, and despite the fact that it didn't have Hunter (or Barlow) lyrics, the band didn't get embarrassed by the words. Maybe the fact that it was a tribute to "Cowboy Neal" also gave it particular meaning that the other early stuff didn't have in the same way.
Yes, the early '60s songs got winnowed out pretty quickly, with just a few exceptions. (And it's a little surprising that so many of the Workingman's Dead/American Beauty 'classics' from 1970 also got dropped for varying amounts of time in the next few years. But the setlists were getting pretty crowded with new Garcia songs!)
DeleteThe lyrics for the Other One were very well-crafted - Weir originally had a whole different set of lyrics, but over the course of Oct '67-Feb '68 gradually altered them to the timeless verses we know. Being a Cassady tribute may have given it extra meaning for the band; but Garcia also said in his 1988 Golden Road interview that the Other One always felt fresh because "it's wide open and it's got a great drive to it...it's one of those things that you can still take anywhere. There's no way for it to get old...it's very much right now... I don't really relate to the lyrics exactly; I relate to the way it sounds; and it sounds modern."
It also helped that the Other One could shrink as needed - sometimes down to five minutes long - and it found a permanent home in the post-Space slot. (Plus, it was a Weir song, and those tended to stick around.)
One difficulty with Dark Star was that it always raised the expectation of a big far-out jam, so it didn't work well as a short transition tune; nor did the Dead use it very often as a jumping-off point for other songs, as they did with Playing in the Band; and, in Garcia's view, a lot of the point of it got absorbed by Space.
China Cat Sunflower was saved by I Know You Rider. If the two hadn't been paired, I'm not sure China Cat would ever have been heard past '69!
I might add that Garcia didn't think much of Dark Star as a song. As he told Mary Eisenhart in 1987, "Dark Star is so little... [It's] only like three or four lines... I've never missed it, because what we were doing with it is everywhere. I mean, our whole second half is Dark Star, you could say. But I have nothing against Dark Star, except that...really it's a minimal tune. There's really no tune. There's just a couple of lines and that's it. So it's hard for me to relate to what is it about Dark Star that people like, apart from the part that we get weird in it... [It's] an envelope for me, not really a song. But we may bring it back sometime."
DeleteThanks so much for this! Your posts are always so well researched! Your comment about China Cat > Rider is spot on. What I find most interesting is that it was the pairing of China Cat with a traditional blues song that perhaps led the group to keep playing it. I've read that Rider was the first song Phil rehearsed with the group when he joined, years before China Cat was even written. Thinking about it, not only did Rider potential keep in the Dead's repertoire for ~25yrs one of the finest songs they've ever written (China Cat), but it was China Cat that perhaps kept I Know You Rider from becoming a beautiful piece American music history known by very few. It was not only the impressive span of the Dead's history that makes them such an important part of American music, but the richness of what they carried with them and shared along that journey.
DeleteOne of the abandoned jam-themes that I can't place is the 'Philo-stomp.' Can someone please point me to a set with this jam? Maybe I'd know it if I heard it, but I don't recall seeing it on any tapes I had back in the day. I have seen it referenced here and elsewhere however. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteIt's listed here, near the end of the post:
Deletehttp://deadessays.blogspot.com/2010/01/deads-early-thematic-jams.html
And here's one on youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQXy2az5_LA
I don't think the name would ever have been labeled on tapes, since it's pretty much just a bass-solo theme the Dead jammed on a few times in '72; Latvala & Gans gave it the name "Philo Stomp."
Pete Lavezzoli described it, ""Philo Stomp was a Phil Lesh-driven bass riff that was a part of his bass solos in late 1972. It has a marching rhythm and lots of bass power chords, exactly like a stomp. On most occasions Billy would catch it off-beat, but the one perfect Philo Stomp I've heard is 10/28/72 from Cleveland. The 10/18 and 11/13 are not as effective for me. That 10/28 one is a monster, and a monster meltdown too, all part of that monster Dark Star. The Stomp also reared its head during the 10/24/72 Other One."
Ah, OK, thanks for that.
ReplyDeleteCheers-
In an interview for Circus magazine (March 1970), Tom Constanten said that once they got used to playing a song, “We can get bored with it. Then we’ll resurrect it much later and it will have undergone a transformation just because we’ve undergone a transformation.”
ReplyDeleteI wonder what songs he was thinking of - maybe China Cat. (Most of the songs that were resurrected during his tenure were from well before he played with the Dead.)
I thought I could finish another post last month...but I couldn't. I'm sorry for the delay. There will be something new soon, though.
ReplyDeletePromised Land was not played at all in Europe(72) until the final run in London. 'All Over Now' was revived in 76, not 4/8/5. Played continuously from 76 thru 95.'Chinacat Sunflower' not played at all in '76 or '77 until 12/30/77 then not played again until 11/78 when it was played 3(?) times and came back into regular rotation after 4/79 with the addition of Brent in the band. Walkin the Dog was played that one time in 84(?) and then 3(?) times in 85.Black Peter was not played at all in 76 and not until the Fall of 77 when it came back into continuous rotation.Freind of the Devil played fairly continuously in 1970 until 12/70 El Monte shows. Then returned one time on 4/25/71. This is one I might need to double check on. I dont recall any from 12/70 until 4/25/71. There might be 1 or 2 in early 71 that I forgot about. I guess I should check for certainty.Greatest Story not played from 76 until 2/17/79. Big RR Blues not played from 76 thru until 2/17/79 then played rarely until it came back in heavy rotation in 83. Need to do more research on that one. Black Queen with Stephen stills is listed as 12/10/69. Was played one more time w/Stills in 4/83 at Meadowlands (Byrne Arena) in NJ. Might as Well played throughout 76 then short hiatus until The Palladium in NYC where it was played 3 nights in a row I believe in 1st week of May 77. Then Not played again until late fall 77, a few performances. Then not played again until 2(?) in late 78 early 79 and last on 2/17/79. Revived 8/81 or thereabouts again need to research exact date and numbers in late 78, early 79.. Cumberland blues not played from 76 thru until again 8/81 or thereabout.Ripple played once electric in 10/88 Cap Centre, MD.
ReplyDeleteBaby Blue returned from the one version in 74 in 8/81 or thereabouts. The same period as return of 'Cumberland Blues' and 'Might as Well.'
ReplyDeleteForgot to mention the one version of 'Love the One Your With' w/Stills the night after the 2nd and final 'Black Queen' in 4/83 in NJ.. Also in the prior 'long' post my language regarding the return of Big RR, Greatest Storyas Not being played from 76 should really be 74 for clarity, ie not played in 76. Also need to check for final performance of Ripple prior to that one electric version in 10/88. I seem to recall a couple of GD acoustic shows at the warfield in 82 where Ripple was the customary set closer or 'Oh Boy' which reminds me that was played I believe twice acoustic after the one version in 4/71 at Manhattan Center. Also need to be sure it was actually 'Grateful Dead' performances in 81 and 82 as opposed to only Garcia and Weir.
ReplyDeleteSt Stephen not played from 10/31/71 until 6/76. Then in rotation until 1/78. Returns for 2 performances in 12/78, one on 1/10/79. Then the final 3 performances in 10/83.
ReplyDeleteRegarding 'Ripple.' The rarity with which it was played is baffling. Its an 'iconic' song that clearly Garcia and everyone liked yet they only played it a few times 'acoustically' in late 70 then 3 or 4(?) electric version in early 71 ie 2/71 thru 4/71. Then it returns for EVERY acoustic set for the Warfield, Saenger and Radio City shows as well as the few additional acoustic shows in 81/82. Then finally played one last time in 10/88. Clearly Garcia had no aversion to the song as it was a staple of his acoustic shows throughout the 80's as well. Hard to believe it was one of those songs that fell out of rotation because they simple 'forgot' about it. So its a bit of a baffling anomaly.
ReplyDeleteI think it's likely that the Dead, or at least Garcia, thought Ripple just didn't work in an electric arrangement. Frankly, I'm not sure I disagree.
DeleteThe 1988 version was reportedly requested by the Make A Wish Foundation.
Delete'Comes a Time' has a somewhat erratic history being played from 10/71 thru 10/72 as mentioned in the original Blog post. Then returning on 6/12/76 and was played thru the spring of 77. Then none in the Fall of '77. I believe one(?) or possibly 2 (?) versions in 78. Another One, possibly 2 versions in 79 then it returns for a few versions in the summer of 1980 with one final version at the Warfield in 10/80. Then it returns at the Greek shows in 6/85 remained in regular rotation thru the rest of 85,86 and I think 2 versions in 87. After that it returns to once or twice a year similar to 78, '79. I need to look up the final version. The there's 'Brokedown Palace' as mentioned in the original Blog. it was played from 8/70 until 1/21/71 then returns 8/6/71 stays in rotation thru 72. Cant recall any in 73, I could be wrong. Then it returns for winterland run in /. After the hiatus it was not played in 76. Returns for the Spring '77 tour and a few final versions in the Fall. Then it doesn't return until 12/79 New Years run. For the sake of clarity from my earlier comment Chinacat Sunflower returned from its one version on 12/30/77 in February of 79 for 4 versions in the final tour with Keith and Donna and regular rotation until the final shows in 95.. Might as well returned for 2 versions in February the first on 2/11/79 and and 2/17/79 then wouldn't return until 8/81 when it went into regular rotation until the hiatus in the summer of 86 because of Garcia's health crisis. It was then played only 4 times in '87 and twice in '88. after that there were i believe a few interspersed final versions. Then there's 'China Doll.' after 74 it was not played in 76. Played twice in the Spring of 77 at The Fox Theatre in Atlanta and LA Forum show in June. Then once more in 77 at the 12/30/77 show that also had the one version of Chinacat sunflower between 74 and 2/79. It was next played one time in 79 only to return for the acoustic sets in 1980 and then subsequent 'regular' rotation..
ReplyDelete'Brokedown Palace' IN my earlier post I stated 'I cant recall any in 73. Then I remembered at least 2 in oct of 73. I believe these might have been the last until winterland 10/74. I should probably just check deadlists etc.
ReplyDeleteBROKEDOWN PALACE - forgot the obvious 2/74 version then it was played just 3 more times in 74. 7/27/74, 9/20/74 and of course 10/20/74. none in 76. returns in the spring 77 tour and a few versions in the fall as stated in earlier post only to finally return into regular rotation 2 years later in 12/79 thru until 95
ReplyDeleteI think you would like this post, which goes into lots of detail on the history of the Dead's early songs in later years, and the periods when they were played:
ReplyDeletehttp://deadessays.blogspot.com/2011/07/grateful-dead-song-graph.html
Thanks for taking the time to enlighten us! I personally would have substituted any of those dropped '68/69 songs, even poorly played for "Playing", Saturday Night, UJB and others that refused to die in the eighties and nineties.
ReplyDeletelol @ jerry thinking they played Here comes sunshine "2 or 3 times"
ReplyDeleteI've always wondered why Europe 72 only got the one Black Peter. And only 6 Mexicali's for that matter. The show lengths allowed their entire active catalog to fit comfortably. Maybe because it wasn't in consideration for the live record, but that wouldn't seem like something they'd care about if they liked a song and were in the mood to play it. I guess they just weren't in the mood to play it.
ReplyDeleteGarcia only played Black Peter a few more times in '72, or in '73 for that matter, so it wasn't a frequently-heard song at the time.
DeleteGarcia's songs, as always, got played less often in the Europe '72 tour - Dire Wolf, You Win Again, Morning Dew, Wharf Rat, Comes a Time, and even Uncle John's Band only appeared a few times each. Sittin' on Top of the World was very short-lived; even Cumberland Blues was only played four times in Europe; Brokedown Palace and Cold Rain & Snow only showed up twice that tour! (After the tour, when Pigpen's song slots became empty, Garcia would rotate some songs more frequently, even bringing back previously-dropped tunes like Bird Song and Friend of the Devil.)
But only 6 Mexicalis in Europe, now that's shocking.... The big surprise is that Looks Like Rain only lasted 3 shows into the tour before being dropped. Maybe Garcia broke a string on his pedal steel or something.