Grateful Dead: Songs for Deep Listening
LYNDA LESTER
Grateful Dead music is infinitely diverse, but perhaps the songs best suited for deep listening are their extended, multilayered improvisations. Like Indian ragas that last for an hour, these improvisations are conducive to extended concentration that drills through the veil of surface consciousness into deeper and higher levels of spiritual perception.
Grateful Dead improvisational music is an acquired taste: to some it seems inscrutable, to others like aimless noodling. Like Integral Yoga, it’s not for everyone. For brave souls who might want to see if this music works for them as a means to explore the inner consciousness, here are a few suggestions:
- “Truckin’ Epilog,” 5/26/1972, London, from the album Europe ’72: A subtle, masterful jazz improvisation with complex thoughtforms that can awaken an esthetic joy and carry one into the inner consciousness.
- “Sand Castles and Glass Camels/Unusual Occurrence in the Desert,” 1975 studio cut from Blues for Allah: A wonderful exploration of the subliminal starting at 3:21.
- “Bird Song,” 8/27/1972, Veneta, OR, from Sunshine Daydream: Sweet, supple phrasings that become especially poignant when the harmonics kick in midway.
- “Dark Star,” 2/27/1969, San Francisco (from Live/Dead): The Grateful Dead’s most mystical song, known for taking listeners to the heart of the universe. This is an early recording with a vintage sixties musical style, but is a phenomenally complex, multidimensional performance in which the musicians are collectively attuned to beauty, inspiration, and each other.
- “The Music Never Stopped,” 1/22/1978, Eugene, OR (from Dave’s Picks Vol. 23): A joyous expression through the higher vital that can open the doors of the psychic being and uplift the emotions on a glorious wave of ananda. Slowly builds and intensifies after 3:22.
- “Ollin Arageed,” 9/16/1978, Cairo, Egypt (from Rocking the Cradle: Egypt 1978): During this performance, the Grateful Dead are playing at the base of the Great Pyramids during a lunar eclipse with oudist Hamza El Din and a group of Nubian percussionists. Close your eyes and sway, you may find yourself in a trance.
On the other hand, many of the Grateful Dead’s simpler and nonimprovisational songs have an emotional timbre that can speak to the heart and awaken a profound psychic sensibility:
- “Ripple,” 1970 studio cut from American Beauty: A beloved Grateful Dead classic that channels Eastern and Western spiritual traditions and evokes a cosmic wisdom and serenity. At live shows, the audience sings the last chorus in a celebration of collective oneness.
- “Attics of My Life,” 1970 studio cut from American Beauty): This is a song about the soul’s seeking “all that’s still unsung” and the presence of divine grace when all seems lost.
- “Lazy River Road,” 2/18/1993, San Rafael, CA from So Many Roads,1965–1995: Exemplifies the sweet and comforting goodness of the Grateful Dead.
- “So Many Roads,” 7-9-95, Chicago, IL: Jerry Garcia is in ill health, but his quavering voice pulls at the heartstrings. This was his last performance; he died a month later.
- “Days Between,” 2/18/1993, San Rafael, CA from So Many Roads,1965–1995: Although Garcia’s voice is rough, this is a mature, beautifully realized song that expresses changing seasons of darkness and longing, hope and wonder; sometimes called the Grateful Dead’s last masterpiece.
