Week of September 15, 1997
Jerry Garcia and the Grateful Dead are widely regarded as among the foremost interpreters of Bob Dylan's music. Bob himself has said so: in a 2006 essay by Jonathan Lethem, "The Genius of Bob Dylan," Dylan says "The Dead did a lot of my songs, and we’d just take the whole arrangement, because they did it better than me. Jerry Garcia could hear the song in all my bad recordings, the song that was buried there. So if I want to sing something different, I just bring out one of them Dead records and see which one I wanna do. I never do that with my records.”
Here's an excerpt of a 1981 interview with Jerry in which he talked about the greatness of Dylan's songs and the difficulty of playing live with him. I wish I had had a chance to talk with Jerry about it after the 1987 Dylan-Dead tour.
This two-hour (part two will be posted next week) compilation of Dead and JGB Dylan covers was a precursor to a CD I had the privilege of producing, Postcards of the Hanging: Grateful Dead Perform the Songs of Bob Dylan, released in 2002. I had hoped it would be a 2-CD set containing all of the Grateful Dead's Dylan covers, but the realities of the music business dictated a single CD (plus a limited-edition bonus disc with two more songs). Garcia Plays Dylan, a 2-CD set (heh) released in 2005, picked up the rest of the GD Dylan covers along with the complete Jerry-does-Dylan collection.
As mutual admiration societies go, the Dead/Dylan dyad is one of the all-time greats.
Enjoy!
Grateful Dead 9/29/89 Shoreline Amphitheater, Mtn View CA
STUCK INSIDE OF MOBILE WITH THE MEMPHIS BLUES AGAIN
Grateful Dead 9/15/85 Devore Field, Chula Vista CA
SHE BELONGS TO ME
Grateful Dead 10/3/87 Shoreline
MAGGIE'S FARM->
CUMBERLAND BLUES
Interview: Jerry Garcia talks about Bob Dylan
Grateful Dead 12/3/81 Dane County Coliseum, Madison WI
IT'S ALL OVER NOW, BABY BLUE
Grateful Dead 12/29/88 Oakland Coliseum Arena
QUEEN JANE, APPROXIMATELY
Grateful Dead 11/7/87 Henry J. Kaiser Aud., Oakland CA
KNOCKIN' ON HEAVEN'S DOOR
Every Wednesday, we post a program from the Grateful Dead Hour archives for your enjoyment and enlightenment. You can browse or search the playlists at gdhour.com or on the GD Hour Search page, and let me know what program(s) you'd like to hear by emailing me at gdhour@dead.net.
Thank you for listening!
- David Gans
Producer/host
Week of September 15, 1997
Jerry Garcia and the Grateful Dead are widely regarded as among the foremost interpreters of Bob Dylan's music. Bob himself has said so: in a 2006 essay by Jonathan Lethem, "The Genius of Bob Dylan," Dylan says "The Dead did a lot of my songs, and we’d just take the whole arrangement, because they did it better than me. Jerry Garcia could hear the song in all my bad recordings, the song that was buried there. So if I want to sing something different, I just bring out one of them Dead records and see which one I wanna do. I never do that with my records.”
Here's an excerpt of a 1981 interview with Jerry in which he talked about the greatness of Dylan's songs and the difficulty of playing live with him. I wish I had had a chance to talk with Jerry about it after the 1987 Dylan-Dead tour.
This two-hour (part two will be posted next week) compilation of Dead and JGB Dylan covers was a precursor to a CD I had the privilege of producing, Postcards of the Hanging: Grateful Dead Perform the Songs of Bob Dylan, released in 2002. I had hoped it would be a 2-CD set containing all of the Grateful Dead's Dylan covers, but the realities of the music business dictated a single CD (plus a limited-edition bonus disc with two more songs). Garcia Plays Dylan, a 2-CD set (heh) released in 2005, picked up the rest of the GD Dylan covers along with the complete Jerry-does-Dylan collection.
As mutual admiration societies go, the Dead/Dylan dyad is one of the all-time greats.
Enjoy!
Grateful Dead 9/29/89 Shoreline Amphitheater, Mtn View CA
STUCK INSIDE OF MOBILE WITH THE MEMPHIS BLUES AGAIN
Grateful Dead 9/15/85 Devore Field, Chula Vista CA
SHE BELONGS TO ME
Grateful Dead 10/3/87 Shoreline
MAGGIE'S FARM->
CUMBERLAND BLUES
Interview: Jerry Garcia talks about Bob Dylan
Grateful Dead 12/3/81 Dane County Coliseum, Madison WI
IT'S ALL OVER NOW, BABY BLUE
Grateful Dead 12/29/88 Oakland Coliseum Arena
QUEEN JANE, APPROXIMATELY
Grateful Dead 11/7/87 Henry J. Kaiser Aud., Oakland CA
KNOCKIN' ON HEAVEN'S DOOR
Every Wednesday, we post a program from the Grateful Dead Hour archives for your enjoyment and enlightenment. You can browse or search the playlists at gdhour.com or on the GD Hour Search page, and let me know what program(s) you'd like to hear by emailing me at gdhour@dead.net.
Thank you for listening!
- David Gans
Producer/host