The Grateful Dead was founded in the San Francisco Bay Area amid the rise of the counterculture of the 1960s. The founding members were Jerry Garcia (lead guitar, vocals), Bob Weir (rhythm guitar, vocals), Ron "Pigpen" McKernan (keyboards, harmonica, vocals), Phil Lesh (bass, vocals), and Bill Kreutzmann (drums). Members of the Grateful Dead had played together in various San Francisco bands, including Mother McCree's Uptown Jug Champions and the Warlocks. Lesh was the last member to join the Warlocks before they became the Grateful Dead; he replaced Dana Morgan Jr., who had played bass for a few gigs. Drummer Mickey Hart and non-performing lyricist Robert Hunter joined in 1967. With the exception of McKernan, who died in 1973, and Hart, who took time off from 1971 to 1974, the core of the band stayed together for its entire 30-year history. The other official members of the band are Tom Constanten (keyboards; 1968–1970), John Perry Barlow (nonperforming lyricist; 1971–1995), Keith Godchaux (keyboards; 1971–1979), Donna Godchaux (vocals; 1972–1979), Brent Mydland (keyboards, vocals; 1979–1990), and Vince Welnick (keyboards, vocals; 1990–1995). Bruce Hornsby (accordion, piano, vocals) was a touring member from 1990 to 1992, as well as a guest with the band on occasion before and after the tours.
The name "Grateful Dead" was chosen from a dictionary. According to Phil Lesh, "[Jerry Garcia] picked up an old Britannica World Language Dictionary ... [and] ... In that silvery elf-voice he said to me, 'Hey, man, how about the Grateful Dead?'" The definition there was "the soul of a dead person, or his angel, showing gratitude to someone who, as an act of charity, arranged their burial". According to Alan Trist, director of the Grateful Dead's music publisher company Ice Nine, Garcia found the name in the Funk & Wagnalls Folklore Dictionary, when his finger landed on that phrase while playing a game of Fictionary. In the Garcia biography, Captain Trips, author Sandy Troy states that the band was smoking the psychedelic DMT at the time. The term "grateful dead" appears in folktales of a variety of cultures.
Live performances
The Grateful Dead toured constantly throughout their career, playing more than 2,300 concerts. They promoted a sense of community among their fans, who became known as "Deadheads", many of whom followed their tours for months or years on end. Around concert venues, an impromptu communal marketplace known as 'Shakedown Street' was created by Deadheads to serve as centers of activity where fans could buy and sell anything from grilled cheese sandwiches to home-made t-shirts and recordings of Grateful Dead concerts.
In their early career, the band also dedicated their time and talents to their community, the Haight-Ashbury area of San Francisco, making available free food, lodging, music, and health care to all. It has been said that the band performed "more free concerts than any band in the history of music".
With the exception of 1975, when the band was on hiatus and played only four concerts together, the Grateful Dead performed many concerts every year, from their formation in April 1965, until July 9, 1995. Initially all their shows were in California, principally in the San Francisco Bay Area and in or near Los Angeles. They also performed, in 1965 and 1966, with Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters, as the house band for the Acid Tests. They toured nationally starting in June 1967 (their first foray to New York), with a few detours to Canada, Europe and three nights at the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt in 1978. They appeared at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967, the Woodstock Festival in 1969 and the Festival Express train tour across Canada in 1970. They were scheduled to appear as the final act at the infamous Altamont Free Concert on December 6, 1969 after the Rolling Stones but withdrew after security concerns. "That's the way things went at Altamont—so badly that the Grateful Dead, prime organizers and movers of the festival, didn't even get to play", staff at Rolling Stone magazine wrote in a detailed narrative on the event.
Their first UK performance was at the Hollywood Music Festival in 1970. Their largest concert audience came in 1973 when they played, along with the Allman Brothers Band and the Band, before an estimated 600,000 people at the Summer Jam at Watkins Glen. They played to an estimated total of 25 million people, more than any other band, with audiences of up to 80,000 attending a single show. Many of these concerts were preserved in the band's tape vault, and several dozen have since been released on CD and as downloads. The Dead were known for the tremendous variation in their setlists from night to night—the list of songs documented to have been played by the band exceeds 500. The band has released four concert videos under the name View from the Vault.
In the 1990s, the Grateful Dead earned a total of $285 million in revenue from their concert tours, the second-highest during the 1990s, with the Rolling Stones earning the most. This figure is representative of tour revenue through 1995, as touring stopped after the death of Jerry Garcia. In a 1991 PBS documentary, segment host Buck Henry attended an August 1991 concert at Shoreline Amphitheatre and gleaned some information from some band members about the Grateful Dead phenomenon and its success. At the time, Jerry Garcia stated, "We didn't really invent the Grateful Dead, the crowd invented the Grateful Dead, you know what I mean? We were sort of standing in line, and uh, it's gone way past our expectations, way past, so it's, we've been going along with it to see what it's gonna do next." Furthermore, Mickey Hart stated, "This is one of the last places in America that you can really have this kind of fun, you know, considering the political climate and so forth." Hart also stated that "the transformative power of the Grateful Dead is really the essence of it; it's what it can do to your consciousness. We're more into transportation than we are into music, per se, I mean, the business of the Grateful Dead is transportation." One of the band's largest concerts took place just months before Garcia's death — at their outdoor show with Bob Dylan in Highgate, Vermont on June 15, 1995. The crowd was estimated to be over 90,000; overnight camping was allowed and about a third of the audience got in without having purchased a ticket.
Their numerous studio albums were generally collections of new songs that they had first played in concert. The band was also famous for its extended musical improvisations, having been described as having never played the same song the same way twice. Their concert sets often blended songs, one into the next, often for more than three songs at a time.
Tapes
Like several other bands during this time, the Grateful Dead allowed their fans to record their shows. For many years the tapers set up their microphones wherever they could, and the eventual forest of microphones became a problem for the sound crew. Eventually, this was solved by having a dedicated taping section located behind the soundboard, which required a special "tapers" ticket. The band allowed sharing of their shows, as long as no profits were made on the sale of the tapes.
Of the approximately 2,350 shows the Grateful Dead played, almost 2,200 were taped, and most of these are available online. The band began collecting and cataloging tapes early on and Dick Latvala was their keeper. "Dick's Picks" is named after Latvala. After his death in 1999, David Lemieux gradually took the post. Concert set lists from a subset of 1,590 Grateful Dead shows were used to perform a comparative analysis between how songs were played in concert and how they are listened online by Last.fm members. In their book Marketing Lessons from the Grateful Dead: What Every Business Can Learn From the Most Iconic Band in History, David Meerman Scott and Brian Halligan identify the taper section as a crucial contributor to increasing the Grateful Dead's fan base.
After the death of Garcia in 1995, former members of the band, along with other musicians, toured as the Other Ones in 1998, 2000, and 2002, and the Dead in 2003, 2004, and 2009. In 2015, the four surviving core members marked the band's 50th anniversary in a series of concerts that were billed as their last performances together. There have also been several spin-offs featuring one or more core members, such as Dead & Company, Furthur, the Rhythm Devils, Phil Lesh and Friends, RatDog, and Billy & the Kids.
Alabama Getaway
Grateful Dead Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Alabama cryin' for none
Before I have to hit him
I hope he's got the sense to run
Reason those poor girls love him
Promise them anything
Reason they believe him
Alabama getaway
Alabama getaway
Only way to please me
Turn around and leave
And walk away
Majordomo Billy Bojangles
Sit down and have a drink with me
What's this about Alabama
Keeps comin' back to me?
Heard your plea in the courthouse
Jury box began to rock and rise
Forty-nine sister states all had
Alabama in their eyes
Alabama getaway
Alabama getaway
Only way to please me
Turn around and leave
And walk away
Why don't we just give Alabama
Rope enough to hang himself?
Ain't no call to worry the jury
His kind takes care of itself
Twenty-third Psalm Majordomo
Reserve me a table for three
In the Valley of the Shadow
Just you, Alabama and me
Alabama getaway
Alabama getaway
Only way to please me
Turn around and leave
And walk away
The song "Alabama Getaway" by Grateful Dead is packed with poetic one-liners that create vivid images in the listener's mind. The song tells a story of a looming threat in Alabama, and the singer advises the individual who is causing trouble to leave before they get into a physical altercation. The lyrics "Thirty-two teeth in a jawbone, Alabama cryin' for none, before I have to hit him, I hope he's got the sense to run" perfectly captures the sense of danger and potential violence. The song's first half revolves around the singer's bitterness towards a man who promises everything to women and breaks their heart, but still manages to wear a shiny diamond ring. The line "Reason those poor girls loved him, promise them anything, reason they believe him, he wears a big diamond ring" showcases the singer's skepticism towards such men and how their outward appearance can deceive people.
The second half of the song introduces Majordomo Billy Bojangles, and the lyrics suggest that there is trouble brewing in Alabama that somehow involves him. The following verse references the jury in a courthouse getting agitated at something involving Alabama. Throughout the song, the singer crosses paths with several characters who are connected with Alabama in some way. The final verse sees the singer asking, in a slightly sarcastic tone, why don't they just give Alabama enough rope to hang himself. The final lines suggest a foreboding sense of events to come as the singer asks Mr. Bojangles to reserve a seat for him, Alabama, and him only, in the Valley of the Shadow.
In conclusion, "Alabama Getaway" is a song that is both metaphorical and literal. The song is full of messages about deception, danger, and the inevitable dark consequences that will arise from such things. The lyrics are cryptic and enigmatic, leaving listeners with more questions than answers.
Line by Line Meaning
Thirty two teeth in a jawbone
Commenting on the anatomical details of the subject
Alabama cryin' for none
Alabama state not lamenting on the current situation
Before I have to hit him
Speaker is proving a point before resorting to violence
I hope he's got the sense to run
This person hopes that their opponent will choose wisely and retreat
Reason those poor girls love him
Trying to understand why females swoon over this man
Promise them anything
This man is making empty promises to women he is courting
Reason they believe him
Explaining why the ladies trust this person
He wears a big diamond ring
It is suggested that he wears flashy items to lure in women
Alabama getaway
Referring to leaving Alabama
Alabama getaway
Repeating previous line
Only way to please me
Speaker's request to pacify them
Turn around and leave
Instructions on how to pacify the artist
And walk away
Final directive to fulfill the request
Majordomo Billy Bojangles
Addressing someone with respect
Sit down and have a drink with me
Asking to share a drink with someone
What's this about Alabama
Requesting information about Alabama
Keeps comin' back to me?
Questioning the frequency of hearing about Alabama
Heard your plea in the courthouse
Acknowledging someone's plea in court
Jury box began to rock and rise
Expressing the effect of the plea
Forty-nine sister states all had
All states were affected
Alabama in their eyes
All eyes are on Alabama
Why don't we just give Alabama
Suggesting a solution to the problme in Alabama
Rope enough to hang himself?
Proposing a negative future for Alabama
Ain't no call to worry the jury
The artist thinks there is no need for a trial
His kind takes care of itself
The situation will resolve itself
Twenty-third Psalm Majordomo
Addressing someone with respect
Reserve me a table for three
Asking someone to reserve a seat for them
In the Valley of the Shadow
Referring to an ominous location
Just you, Alabama and me
Counting off the number of people present
Alabama getaway
Referring to leaving Alabama
Alabama getaway
Repeating previous line
Only way to please me
Speaker's request to pacify them
Turn around and leave
Instructions on how to pacify the artist
And walk away
Final directive to fulfill the request
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: JEROME J. GARCIA, ROBERT C. HUNTER
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Forrest George
Thirty two teeth in a jawbone
Alabama's tryin' for none
Before I have to hit him, I hope he's got the sense to run
Reason the poor girls love him
Promise them everything
Why they all believe him? He wears a big diamond ring
Run, run!
Alabama getaway, getaway
Alabama getaway, getaway
Only way to please me, just get down and leave and walk away
Major Domo Billy Bojangles
Sat down and had a drink with me
Said, "What about Alabama that keeps a-coming back to me?"
I heard your plea in the courthouse
Witness box began to rock and rise
Forty-nine sister states had Alabama in their eyes
Run, run!
Alabama getaway, getaway
Alabama getaway, getaway
Only way to please me, just get down and leave and walk away
Major said, "Why don't we give him rope enough to hang himself?
No need to worry the jury
They'll probably take care of themselves"
Twenty-third Psalm, Major Domo
Reserve me a table for three
Down in the Valley of the Shadow, just you, Alabama and me
Run, run!
Alabama getaway, getaway
Alabama getaway, getaway
Only way to please me, just get down and leave and walk away
Alabama getaway, getaway
Alabama getaway, getaway
Only way to please me, just get down and leave and walk away
Alabama getaway, getaway
Alabama getaway, getaway
Only way to please me, just get down and leave and walk away
Alabama getaway, getaway
Alabama getaway, getaway
Only way to please me, just get down and leave and walk away
Alabama getaway, getaway
Alabama getaway, getaway
traashking bapapear
2021 and good tunes like these still live on.
Joe Brunson
Got to hear it live in 2020. Atlanta dnc
TraderJoe
Brent’s Hammond organ and vocals are cool to hear again... brings back memories of Jerry opening with this and absolutely tearing it up right out of the gate...the solo was always a peak out and a crowd roar..🙏🔥
TraderJoe
@Greg Berry I used to see The Grateful Dead open with this song when the Album came out..that tour was ripping!
Greg Berry
Jerry JGB or the company?
DirtsteveGAME
The art is so good here, and the Dead music backing it makes it perfect 💀
Jojo Castle
This mix is incredible
the Bride of Frankenstein
Awesome artwork 👌
Brian McManus
Go To Heaven has some of my fave Dead tunes, including this one. I think, production wise, this is an underated album.
Nicolas L
Love it. Great version of a great song.