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.
Operator
Grateful Dead Lyrics
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Help me if you please
Give me the right area code
And the number that I need
My rider left upon the Midnight Flyer
Singin' like a summer breeze
I think she's somewhere down south
But I just a can't remember no number
A number I can use
Directory don't have it
Central done forgot it
Gotta find a number to use.
Trying to check out her number
Trying to run down her line.
Operator said that's priv'ledged information
And it ain't no business of mine
It's floodin' down in Texas
Poles are out in Utah
Gotta find a private line
She could be hangin' 'round the steel mill
Working in a house of blue lights
Riding a getaway bus out of Portland
Talking to the night
I don't know where she's going
I don't care where she's been
Long as she's been doin' it right
Long as she's been doin' it right
The Grateful Dead's "Operator" is a bluesy, country-tinged ballad about a man trying to track down his lost love. The song opens with the singer asking the operator for assistance in finding the right area code and phone number to reach his girl. He knows that she left him on the Midnight Flyer, but he can't remember the number he needs to reach her. The operator is unable to help him because it's "priv'leged information," so he's left to search for a private line.
As the song continues, the singer wonders where his girl might be. He thinks she might be in Baton Rouge, but he's not sure. He tries to remember her number, but the directory doesn't have it, and central has forgotten it. Frustrated, he tries to run down her line, but the operator tells him it's none of his business. The song concludes with the singer expressing his desire for his girl to be doing things right, no matter where she is traveling.
"Operator" was written by Ron McKernan, also known as Pigpen, one of the Grateful Dead's founding members. Although Pigpen was mainly known for his bluesy organ playing and charismatic stage presence, he was also a talented songwriter. The song was originally recorded in 1970 for the album "American Beauty." The Grateful Dead often played "Operator" in concert throughout the 1970s.
Line by Line Meaning
Operator, can you help me
Asking the telephone operator if they can provide assistance.
Help me if you please
Requesting the operator's cooperation in locating a phone number.
Give me the right area code
Asking for the correct geographical code for the specific location being called.
And the number that I need
Requesting the phone number to be dialed.
My rider left upon the Midnight Flyer
The artist's companion departed on the night train.
Singin' like a summer breeze
Leaving joyfully and carefree, with a sense of calm and ease.
I think she's somewhere down south
Speculating that the person being dialed is located in the southern United States.
Down about Baton Rouge
Further narrowing down the geographical location to the area surrounding Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
But I just a can't remember no number
Admitting to being forgetful and unable to recall the specific phone number needed.
A number I can use
Expressing a desire to obtain a functional phone number to contact the person in question.
Directory don't have it
Stating that the phone book does not contain the necessary phone number.
Central done forgot it
Asserting that the telephone exchange operator also does not have the needed information on hand.
Gotta find a number to use
Emphasizing the need to locate a functioning phone number to proceed with the call.
Trying to check out her number
Attempting to locate and verify the correct phone number.
Trying to run down her line.
Searching for the correct telephone line to use to contact the person in question.
Operator said that's priv'ledged information
The operator informs the artist that the requested information is considered confidential and cannot be shared.
And it ain't no business of mine
The operator declines to assist further on the matter.
It's floodin' down in Texas
Noting the occurrence of flooding in Texas at the time.
Poles are out in Utah
Mentioning the failure of electric utilities in the state of Utah during the same period.
Gotta find a private line
Resolving to locate a secure and private phone line to use for this call.
She could be hangin' 'round the steel mill
The person in question may be employed at a steel mill.
Working in a house of blue lights
Suggesting that the woman may work in a nightclub, perhaps as a dancer under blue lights.
Riding a getaway bus out of Portland
Speculating that the person may be departing Portland by bus to escape from something.
Talking to the night
Alluding to the person being elusive and difficult to contact, as though they were talking to the darkness itself.
I don't know where she's going
Admitting a lack of knowledge of the other person's destination or plans.
I don't care where she's been
Stating a lack of concern for the other person's past activities.
Long as she's been doin' it right
Expressing a desire only for the person to behave positively and make good decisions in their life.
Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: Ronald Charles McKernan
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Mr Spork
Operator, can you help me
Help me if you please
Give me the right area code
And the number that I need
My rider left upon the Midnight Flyer
Singin' like a summer breeze
I think she's somewhere down south
Down about Baton Rouge
But I just a can't remember no number
A number I can use
Directory don't have it
Central done forgot it
Gotta find a number to use.
Trying to check out her number
Trying to run down her line.
Operator said that's priv'ledged information
And it ain't no business of mine
It's floodin' down in Texas
Poles are out in Utah
Gotta find a private line
She could be hangin' 'round the steel mill
Working in a house of blue lights
Riding a getaway bus out of Portland
Talking to the night
I don't know where she's going
I don't care where she's been
Long as she's been doin' it right
Long as she's been doin' it right
Songwriters: MC KERNAN, RONALD CHARLES
Some_poser_on_a_farm
I'm a 34 year punk rocker, as a youth I was too stubborn (or stupid) to even give the dead a chance, but I understand now if it wasn't for rhythm and blues and American soul, and rockers like the dead and countless others, music never would have been the same, sincerity comes thru all art media and damn if these dudes didn't have it in spades ❤️❤️❤️❤️
Eurethra Franklin
All those punk bands, weather it's the Misfits, Iggy and the Stooges, Sex Pistols or The Clash, it's all rooted in 50s and 60s R&B and country. Those bands are what led me to the Dead.
Evan Wolf
Amyl & The Sniffers
Melbourne, Australia
Check them Out !!
Graham Bag
I don’t understand why punks hate the Dead and hippie culture. The Dead is one of the most punk bands ever in terms of attitude. Too many people into music from the punk era are more concerned with their image and how listening to certain bands make them look/perceived than how good the actual music is.
SmallvillenerdTwo
This was Pigpen's first singer-songwriter composition. Imagine the songs he would have written and recorded with the Grateful Dead if he hadn't passed away so early.
Scott Spicer
I did not know this! Great comment
Done
Well, Easy Wind for one.
SmallvillenerdTwo
@Done He didn't write that song
Richard Mciver
He didn’t write or sing this song
joe
@Richard Mciver Pigpen's singing operator here. If not Pig, then who is it? Definitely not Bob or Jerry's voice