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.
Terrapin
Grateful Dead Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
light the song with sense and color
Hold away despair
more than this I will not ask
Faced with mysteries dark and vast
statements just seem vain at last
Some rise
some climb
to get to terrapin
Counting stars by candlelight
all are dim but one is bright
The spiral light of Venus
rising first and shining best
On, from the northwest corner
of a brand new crescent moon
While crickets and cicadas sing
a rare and different tune
Terrapin station
In the shadow of the moon, terrapin station
And I know we'll be there soon, terrapin
I can't figure out, terrapin
if it's the end or beginning, terrapin
But the train's put it's brakes on, terrapin
And the whistle is screaming, terrapin
The opening lines of the song Terrapin Station, Inspiration, move me brightly, light the song with sense and color, refers to Jerry Garcia seeing a beautiful burst of light and trying to capture it in words. The lyrics suggest that he is looking to be inspired and hoping that inspiration will help him create something beautiful. The line, Hold away despair, suggests that he is trying to ward off any negative feelings or emotions as he seeks inspiration. This line is then followed by, More than this I will not ask, which indicates that he is content with the inspiration that he has received, and he will not ask for anything more.
The main theme of the song is the idea of journeying to a mythical place called Terrapin Station. Some rise, some fall, some climb, to get to Terrapin, refers to the journey of each individual to reach their own goals. The image of counting stars by candlelight suggests that even in the darkest of situations, there is always a glimmer of hope. The line, I can't figure out if it's the end or beginning, terrapin, suggests that the journey to Terrapin is not straightforward, and that the meaning of the journey is elusive. The train imagery in the song further reinforces the concept of a journey towards something, but the song leaves it open-ended as to where this journey is leading.
Overall, the song Terrapin Station is a poetic expression of hope, inspiration, and the journey towards finding meaning in life.
Line by Line Meaning
Inspiration, move me brightly
May the inspiration move me with brightness
light the song with sense and color
Make the song meaningful and colorful
Hold away despair
Keep sadness away
more than this I will not ask
I do not expect more than this
Faced with mysteries dark and vast
Confronted with difficult and extensive mysteries
statements just seem vain at last
Words begin to seem meaningless in the end
Some rise
Some people succeed
some fall
Some people fail
some climb
Some people attain success after struggle
to get to terrapin
In order to reach Terrapin
Counting stars by candlelight
Observing stars using candlelight
all are dim but one is bright
All the stars are dull except one
The spiral light of Venus
The whirling light of Venus is visible
rising first and shining best
Venus is the first and brightest to rise
On, from the northwest corner
From the north-west corner
of a brand new crescent moon
Of a new crescent moon
While crickets and cicadas sing
With the humming of crickets and cicadas
a rare and different tune
A unique and distinctive melody
Terrapin station
Terrapin station
In the shadow of the moon, terrapin station
At a place known as Terrapin station
And I know we'll be there soon, terrapin
I am certain we will arrive soon
I can't figure out, terrapin
Uncertain about Terrapin
if it's the end or beginning, terrapin
Whether it marks the end or the beginning
But the train's put it's brakes on, terrapin
The train has arrived at Terrapin
And the whistle is screaming, terrapin
The whistle loudly announces the arrival
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: JEROME J. GARCIA, ROBERT C. HUNTER
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@jakedelacuesta6760
My dad loved the Grateful Dead. He went to all of their concerts and wrote books about them. Even met them personally. Just as I began to share that love with him, he passed away. This song connects me through him in spirit and I know he would have been proud of me.
@oopsmike2112
I imagine it meant the world to him the first time you smiled when you figured out the GD. More than this I will not ask / Faced with mysteries dark and vast
@MrCooperAnthony
<3
@user-ez5xv1bx9j
Hang in there my friend he truly shared something with you that will be forever ❤️
@xsango
God loves you, your dad, and the entire Grateful Dead band....how's that for love!
@valeriebennett9590
❤❤❤❤❤❤
@ThomasSaban-qo7ev
Terrapin is one of the best songs ever. Im so glad to have been able to see them in person more times than i can count. Im a Neuro surgeon and this plays during most surgeries I peform. It help patient remain calm and helps them through the worst times.
@michaelmcintire8781
A Neuro surgeon that didn't pass his Grammer class.
@user-ez5xv1bx9j
Impressive my skills are not the same but it always seems to make things better
. Would like to speak more please
@petratical
Cool.