Life lessons on two wheels to the tunes of the

Grateful Dead

This Week in Grateful Dead History

Week 1

I wish I was a headlight on a northbound train.

 

 

Even the most cursory examination of the lyrics of Grateful Dead songs quickly uncovers one of the most fundamental aspects of the band’s identity: This is an American band, rooted in American culture, and built around easily recognizable locales and deeply American principles and history. 

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Other Posts

This Week in Grateful Dead History: Week 40 – September 28, 1975Sometimes the cards ain’t worth a dime

This Week in Grateful Dead History: Week 40 – September 28, 1975

Sometimes the cards ain’t worth a dime

Among the numerous motifs found in the lyrics of Grateful Dead tunes, there is none more omnipresent than the metaphoric theme of gambling. References to games of chance – particularly card games – are sprinkled liberally throughout a seemingly endless list of tunes: Loser (“If I had a gun for every ace I have drawn…”), Deal (“Watch each card you play and play it slow…”), Candyman (“Come on boys and gamble; roll those laughing bones…”), Me and My Uncle (“You know my uncle; he starts a friendly game…”), Dire Wolf (“The wolf came in, I got my cards, we sat down for a game…”), and Scarlet Begonias (“In the heat of the evening when the dealing got rough; she was too pat to open and too cool to bluff…”) are examples that come immediately to mind. And there are also similar references In China Cat Sunflower, Doin’ That Rag, Mississippi Half Step, Ramble On Rose, Stagger Lee, Stella Blue, and Tennessee Jed.

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This Week in Grateful Dead History: Week 26 - June 26, 1974Don’t lend your hand

This Week in Grateful Dead History: Week 26 - June 26, 1974

Don’t lend your hand

As spring turns to summer, we bid a fond “fare thee well” to Spring ’77 and find several wonderful summer tours to continue our concert trip around the sun. It’s hard to go wrong with the Summer ’74 run of 18 shows, beginning on June 8 at the Oakland Coliseum and finishing on August 6 at Roosevelt Stadium in Jersey City, NJ. Among the many first-rate concerts of this tour, the June 26 show at Providence Civic Center in Providence, RI gets the Deadhead Cyclist’s vote for T.W.I.G.D.H.

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This Week in Grateful Dead History: Week 36 – September 3, 1977If all you got to live for

This Week in Grateful Dead History: Week 36 – September 3, 1977

If all you got to live for

After an unexpected summer off, due to injuries suffered by drummer Mickey Hart in a car accident, the magic of 1977 resumed in full force at Raceway Park in Englishtown, New Jersey on 9/3/77. T.W.I.G.D.H. features this legendary show, which was memorialized with the October ’99 release of Dick’s Picks, Volume 15. Almost three months had passed since the landmark Spring ’77 tour ended at Winterland on June 9, but the band didn’t miss a beat with this excellent concert that was attended by more than 100,000 fans, making it the largest ticketed concert in the U.S. at the time.

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Stew Sallo, A.K.A., The Deadhead Cyclist

Stew Sallo is the author of the book, The Deadhead Cyclist, and founder/owner of Boulder Weekly, an award-winning alternative weekly in its 30th year of publication in print and online at BoulderWeekly.com. After graduating from the University of California, Santa Cruz, he cut his teeth as a publisher in Santa Cruz for 10 years before relocating to Boulder to start the Boulder Weekly. He has been a Deadhead since the summer of 1974, attended his first Grateful Dead concert at Winterland in San Francisco on October 19, 1974, and has since been to some 200 Grateful Dead concerts. Stew is an avid mountain biker, plays competitive baseball on three teams in his home state of Colorado, and travels each year to play tournament baseball in California, Nevada, Arizona, North Carolina, South Dakota and Florida. In 2003, Stew founded the classic rock band, Hindsight. He plays a Martin D-41 in the band and sings lead and backup vocals. Stew lives in Boulder, CO with his wife of 23 years, Mari, and their 12-year-old dog, Bella.

All Material Copyright 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023 by Stewart Sallo