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.
Stella Blue
Grateful Dead Lyrics
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They melt into a dream
A broken angel sings
From a guitar
In the end there's just a song
Comes crying like the night (wind)
Through all the broken dreams
And vanished years
Stella Blue
When all the cards are down
There's nothing left to see
There's just the pavement left
And broken dreams
In the end there's still that song
Comes crying like the wind
Down every lonely street
That's ever been
Stella Blue
I've stayed in every blue-light cheap hotel
Can't win for trying
Dust off those rusty strings just
One more time
Gonna make em shine
It all rolls into one
And nothing comes for free
There's nothing you can hold
For very long
And when you hear that song
Come crying like the wind
It seems like all this life
Was just a dream
Stella Blue
The song Stella Blue by Grateful Dead is a poignant reflection on time and the transient nature of life. The opening lines of the song, "All the years combine, they melt into a dream," highlight the idea that life is fleeting and all the experiences and memories blend into each other to form a dream-like state. The song speaks of a broken angel singing from a guitar, referring to the way music can be therapeutic even in the darkest of moments. The lines "In the end there's just a song, Comes crying like the night (wind)" emphasize the importance of music in our lives and how it has the power to bring out emotions we never knew existed.
The song speaks of Stella Blue, who is possibly a reference to a woman who has touched the singer's life in some way. When all the cards are down and there's nothing left to see, it's the sound of Stella Blue that brings solace to the singer. The line "I've stayed in every blue-light cheap hotel, can't win for trying" suggests that the singer has been to different places and has tried different things, but still hasn't found what he's looking for. The imagery of "dust off those rusty strings just one more time, gonna make em shine" refers to the singer's attempt to revive old memories and make them shine again.
The song highlights the inevitability of life's hardships and the fact that nothing lasts forever. But amidst all this, there's still that one thing that will remain constant - the sound of Stella Blue that comes "crying like the wind" down every lonely street that's ever been.
Line by Line Meaning
All the years combine
All the experiences and memories accrued over time fuse together.
They melt into a dream
These combined experiences and memories blend as one in the mind into a dream-like state.
A broken angel sings
Despite the hardships of the past, a voice of beauty and purity still exists.
From a guitar
This voice is transmitting through the sound of a guitar.
In the end there's just a song
At the end of life, the most profound and enduring legacy only amounts to a single song.
Comes crying like the night (wind)
This song calls forth much emotion, like a mournful wind.
Through all the broken dreams
This song acts as a conduit through all the broken and shattered dreams of the past.
And vanished years
This song transports you back through the mists of time to vanished years and forgotten experiences.
Stella Blue
The sweet female heroine who inspires the melody, serving as a metaphor for a love or muse.
When all the cards are down
When everything in life seems to have been exhausted and nothing remains to try.
There's nothing left to see
Everything that can or needs to be seen has been viewed and is now meaningless.
There's just the pavement left
A symbol of a lifeless, regular existence devoid of meaning besides mere existence.
And broken dreams
All hope has been lost, and along with it, the dreams once held for the future.
I've stayed in every blue-light cheap hotel
The physical embodiment of the singer's feelings of homelessness and loss.
Can't win for trying
Despite efforts put in, things seem to be against one.
Dust off those rusty strings just
Retrieve the items that have been forgotten or lying dormant and idle.
One more time
Take one last chance, no matter the consequences.
Gonna make em shine
Attain a level of success despite obstacles and make one's self shine.
It all rolls into one
All experiences and memories combine together into an indistinguishable singular experience.
And nothing comes for free
The passage of time takes a toll on all things, and nothing of true value is free.
There's nothing you can hold
Nothing is truly constant and everything we can hold is fleeting and temporary.
For very long
No matter our efforts to control time and circumstance, it will always escape our grasp.
And when you hear that song
When the song that carries all the years of memories and experiences is heard.
Come crying like the wind
The song's emotions are powerful and moving, much like a wind's lament.
It seems like all this life
All experiences of life explored so far.
Was just a dream
An ephemeral, fleeting experience that fades away as quickly as it came.
Stella Blue
The sweet female heroine who inspires the melody, serving as a metaphor for a love or muse.
Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: JEROME J. GARCIA, ROBERT C. HUNTER
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Hal Watson
WOW !!! This is the Jerry Garcia I want to remember, this is the Jerry Garcia I want to meet when I die. Holy fucking shit. Thank you, thank you, thank you
Ok now, I’m off to listen to Weather Report Suite > Dark Star > China Doll from Missoula 5/14/74. :-)
Seasons change and roses die, we’ll see summers bye and bye…
Shall we go, you and I while we can
Through the transitive nightfall of diamonds?
Take up your china doll, take up your china doll, it’s only fractured, just a little nervous from the fall…
Greg Chamberlin
This song friends, I'm tellin ya... Time seemed to slow down when Jerry sang Stella Blue, what a gem. Jerry's emotional content was off the charts. Obviously he was a brilliant guitarist and a genius with a melody, also though the emotional well he seemed to draw from never fails to amaze me. How he became the characters in the songs he sang was just unbelievable, like he knew the characters in the songs so intimately. Jerry was one of a kind and his and the Deads legacy will live on forever, and that comforts me greatly.
BrianForTheWin
Off. The. Charts.
Gr8fulFox
Well said BUT, let's not forget the genius that was Robert Hunter! In the songwriting duo, it was more-or-less usually Hunter writing lyrics, and then Garcia writing the melody to go along with them. Now, THERE is where the true genius of BOTH Hunter and Garcia lie; their ability to work separately but in perfect unison!
Brian J. Carnevale
RIP
Your music lives on forever.
Suanne
See my comment above. So awesome.
Thad Cashin
Truly one the finest, whether fast or slow. When this man sang the blues I consider myself, blessed.
Patrick Hannigan
One of the most beautiful songs ever written. No other band can invoke this sort of emotion for me.
Jack Straw
This Winterland run is, IMO, when they peaked. This is my favorite performance of my favorite song. Pure magic.
Frizzon
1974 is when rock itself peaked
Joey K
"all the years combine, they melt into a dream" RIP Jerry <3 we miss you