August 26, 2004

The Annotated Lyrics of the Grateful Dead.

The two primary lyricists associated with the Grateful Dead are Robert Hunter (Jerry Garcia’s writing partner) and John Perry Barlow who wrote with Bob Weir and is more widely known on the web as a co-founder of the Electronic Frontier Foundation. I've been a "Dead Head" since I saw my first show, but as I grow older I become more interested in the legacy of the Dead in terms of music in the age of P2P. By allowing audience members to tape and distribute their concerts the Grateful Dead set a precedent and laid the foundation for bands as diverse as The Dave Matthews Band, Pearl Jam and lots of other bands (huge page warning) to encourage “bootlegging” of live performances. And many other performing artists, such as Bob Dylan, turn a blind eye to this practice while there is a thriving trading market documenting the live performances of artists as mainstream as Bruce Springsteen. All the while more and more Grateful Dead music makes it’s way online. Including my favourite song (13MB mp3 and a deadly guitar solo).

posted by Jerry Garcia 20 years ago
  • self post! tsk tsk! and from beyond the grave no less! PIGPEN LIVES! I'm not really a deadhead, but I played one in high school...
  • PIGPEN LIVES! He sure does. :-)
  • No jam band mention is complete without dredging up the w00ks. Excellent post!
  • very cool site jg. not only were they the pioneers of the bootlegging idea, they've taken it to another level by attempting to get every show they've done put up on archive.org. pretty amazing. http://www.archive.org/audio/etreelisting-browse.php?collection=etree&cat=Grateful%20Dead also, mickey hart is highly active in preserving american roots music. In 1999, Mickey was appointed to the Board of Trustees of the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress where he heads the sub-committee on the digitization and preservation of the Center's vast collections. other legal music trading sites i frequent include:: sharingthegroove.org etree.org bt.etree.org the music never stopped.
  • (i know, someone needs to learn me on how to get those clickable links)
  • hey gonzo...imitation has worked for me (the clickable link thing). view the page source and see what has worked.
  • I have to personally thank JG for the Dylan bootleg link. If you know how I can get my hands on any of those bootlegs, do let me know. Also, I had no idea JG was a dead fan! I thought he just really liked that damn ice cream.
  • thanks for the link, JG, that and "we bid you good night" are the songs i most associate with pigpen... i found my favorite era of the dead was when he was around.
  • ann coulter used to be a deadhead. what's up with that?
  • By God you're right! :O