The versatile, expansive legacy ofmusicfrom California-founded band theGrateful Deadhas continued to endure, even six decades after the group began their journey as the Warlocks in 1965. With a classic lineup consisting of multi-instrumentalist/vocalist Jerry Garcia, drummer Bill Kreutzmann, percussionist Mickey Hart, guitarist/vocalist Bob Weir, lyricist Robert Hunter, bassist/vocalist Phil Lesh, and harmonica player/vocalist Ron “Pigpen” McKernan, the Dead have touched on many musical genres, including folk, rock, country, psychedelic, blues, jazz, and gospel. They also helped to pioneerthe jam band sound and culture, which remains a movement into the modern day.
When it comes to the group’s fifth studio album (1970’sAmerican Beauty), the long-form jam sound is restrained in favor of an acoustic rock-based foundation that moves between country, folk, and the Dead’s trademark brand of psychedelic textures. With a memorably winning approach that wouldn’t be out of place amongthe most underrated studio albums of the decade, the songs onAmerican Beautyare by no means in the formatof two minutes or less in length, but they’reamong the Dead’s best and most well-known(with a sunny disposition that’d fit well withinclassic rock songs of the summer).
10Attics Of My Life
Music And Lyrics At Odds
The studio version of “Attics of My Life” is a difficult evaluation within the Grateful Dead catalog. On the one hand, the track is an effective product of a highly successful period of songwriting collaboration between Garcia and Hunter, which led to bothAmerican Beautyand its predecessor,Workingman’s Dead, being recorded back-to-back and released in 1970. That creative spark is lyrically apparent here, as “Attics of My Life” is pure poetry in each line;the beauty within winds up feeling like a delicate gospel prayer.
The recording, however, doesn’t quite match the strength of the words, coming off a bit drowsy, unsteady, and stiff. One of the Dead’s trademarks (their harmonies) have more warble to them than flow here, and the result feels closer to sludgy than sweet. “Attics of My Life” translates more effectively on live recordings and does wind up getting much closer to capturing the soul of the lyrics, but in either incarnation,the ultimate creation doesn’t quite match the concept.
9Operator
A Moment For “Pigpen”
The only singing/songwriting effort from Dead member McKernan that wound up on one of the band’s studio albums, “Operator,” fits into the tone ofAmerican Beautyas a simply arranged yet earnest folk song, accented by McKernan on the harmonica. It doesn’t quite belong within the same category as the bigger tracks on the LP written by Garcia and Hunter, but “Operator” still has a charm within the flow ofAmerican Beautythat never becomes extraneous.
The idea of the tune is that of a love song of sorts, with a narrator trying to track down the woman who left him behind, though he isn’t having much success. Perhaps the singer is intoxicated in some way, which is adding to his confusion, but that’sall in the implied context left up to the listener to decide.
8Till The Morning Comes
An Upbeat Country-Rock Piece
“Till the Morning Comes” doesn’t have the lyrical impact of a song like “Attics of My Life,” but that doesn’t feel like the purpose of this rootsy Americana piece. Instead, the track is a bright, breezy rockerthat captures the easy summertime love of the just-concluded ‘60swith a crossover of built-up, multi-genre-influenced ’70s instrumentation. That fuller band approach of varying sound blends like this would continue to be a shifting, evolving statement in new and defining ways for many groups in the decades to follow.
At just over three minutes long, it seems unusual to say that a song from a renowned jam band like the Grateful Dead feels like it’s over before it begins. “Till the Morning Comes” does exactly what the title says, however, and the dawn arrives quickly. But that makes a perfect leaping point for the track to be a fun, fast, and enjoyable sing-along that isan equally light experience for both the studio and the stage, where the Dead were always at their best.
7Candyman
A Country Music Swinger
The gentle country swing of “Candyman” fits right into the palm of the hand of both the quieter, measured side of the Grateful Dead’s catalog and the more folk-leaning edges of Garcia’s later solo career that came to fruition in songs like “Sugaree.” The track embraces both sides of this mentality, especially when it comes to the jangling, acoustic-dwelling storyteller’s heartthat makes so much ofAmerican Beautytick away with such a steady presence.
“Candyman” is another entry in Garcia and Hunter’s exceptional songwriting collaboration, with a strong emphasis placed on storytelling that may or may not be entirely based in fiction. Accounts vary in that regard, with “Candyman” taking the perspective of a troublesome rogue who goes from town to town,spending time with all the pretty girls while their husbands are away playing card games. The lyrics may also refer to a drug dealer, though perhaps the truth lies somewhere in between the two narratives.
6Brokedown Palace
An Aching Farewell Piece
Some of the best songwriting compositions between Garcia and Hunter (both generally and onAmerican Beauty) are the potently poetic pieces that have a sense of ethereal ache to them, with layers that make the listener look deeper to spot the meanings. “Brokedown Palace” fits this mold like a glove, led by Garcia’s keen, insightful sense of singing that latches on to just the right echo of an aching sighto make the lyrics jump even higher and more profoundly off the page.
“Brokedown Palace” has the polish of a porcelain, gossamer web, with delicate architecture sculpted from the vulnerability of what feels like a farewell from someonewho is on the cusp of leaving their life behind. The implication is that of a sadness both as clear and crisp as a gentle riverbed, with the Dead’s lilting harmonies feeling as peaceful as the greenery that surrounds it. If “Brokedown Palace” is meant to represent death, it does so with the gentle warmth of embracing grace.
5Friend Of The Devil
Living The Rebel’s Life
There’s such a refreshing musical flavor to “Friend of the Devil,” which toe-taps a path somewhere between the home-y, back porch pulse of uptempo bluegrass twang and country-folk earthiness so fresh you can practically smell the dirt. That upbeat tone flies in contrast to the song’s lyrics, which feel like a portrayal of the rebellious musician’s life beamed through the lensof characters that wouldn’t feel out of place in traditional early folk or blues music.
“Friend of the Devil” highlightsthe darker edges that can come from the more wild, run-around sides of this existence, with a narrator who constantly stays just one step ahead of self-made miseries with the lights of the law not far behind him. It’s a world of stressful strife without even the assurance of a good night’s sleep, but “Friend of the Devil” manages to find the joy of a journey locked in a frantic, folk trance that still makes you want to get up and dance.
4Sugar Magnolia
The Paradise Of Good Grooving
With Weir on lead vocals for this track, “Sugar Magnolia” has a light, carefree, country-rock perspective on life in the vein of “Till the Morning Comes” or “Friend of the Devil,” but with an even greater sense of joy found within the experience of living fully within the moment. Written by Weir and Hunter,the song has long been thought to be about Weir’s girlfriend at the time, though lyrically it still functions well broadly as simply enjoying the general time spent in the presence of a perfect girl.
That’s one of the great aspects of Dead songs that function so well in tracks like “Sugar Magnolia.” While there might be some poetic layers or more creative-minded wordplay, there’s never a meaning that can’t be unraveled and enjoyed through the emotional power that the words possess. Between the verses and the upbeat speed of the music, there’s a “high” created in the likes of “Sugar Magnolia"that serves as a reminder of the simpler joys found within timelessly good music.
3Box Of Rain
A Song To Survive Endings
The lead song onAmerican Beautyandthe first studio track recorded by the Grateful Dead to feature Lesh on lead vocals, “Box of Rain,” was a writing collaboration between Lesh and Hunter, with lyrics that Lesh wanted to be able to sing to his dying father. Knowing that context gives an even greater sense of heart-aching turbulence beneath the gentle mid-tempo acoustic-folk surface of “Box of Rain,” especially within lines like “what do you want me to do, to do for you to see you through?”.
“Box of Rain” feels like a poetic metaphor representing the world that we live in, a place that exists so fleetingly and in passing, so don’t worry too much or too hard about the sad things that happen or the negative moments we can’t change. Life moves on as we all do; as the poignant final line says in such a profound manner, “such a long, long time to be gone, and a short time to be there.”
2Truckin’
A Worldly Experience Rocker
With a shambling groove that dances between purring, howling guitar, bass rhythm, organ fills, and the band’s ever-present harmonies reaching for new heights, it isn’t hard to determine why “Truckin'” has becomea staple anthem of both the Grateful Dead’s catalog and still-present classic rock radio airplay. The song is so much of the Dead at their best, between musical arrangement, vocals/harmonies, and lyrics that so well encompass the spirit of the group.
With lines referencing the band’s traveling ways, a real-life drug bust that occurred to the Dead in New Orleans, and references to the drug culture around themselves, “Truckin'” is ultimatelyabout the power of resilience and still pushing forward. Weir, Garcia, Lesh, and Hunter wrote the track, and that feels quite appropriate given the lyrical mission statement of the group found on “Truckin'” that’s become iconic in so many facets: “What a long, strange trip it’s been.”
1Ripple
A True Song And Word Experience
Unlike “Attics of My Life,” which finds itself as a track with strong lyrics and a less-than-equal performance to complement it, “Ripple” more effectively embodies the earthy gospel of intended lyrical poeticisms with instrumentation/vocals that stick the landing with a grace to match the holy ideals of the matter. Accented by mandolin and the trusty songwriting tandem of Hunter and Garcia, “Ripple” is arguablyone of Garcia’s greatest performances on lead vocals.
Drifting between a philosophical and psychedelic-feeling avenue, Garcia pulls the vibe of the song back to a relatable place that issomehow joyous, lonely, and longing all at once. “Ripple” is like a journey of both rise and fall with positive and negative nuances. This is a song of beauty and flaws, and that mixture only makes the track even greater creatively in a way that sticks with you well after the ending choir-like harmonies fade out.
