Grateful Dead's 100 Essential Songs

Barry Barnes is author of Everything I Know About Business I Learned from the Grateful Dead: The Ten Most Innovative Lessons from a Long Strange Trip, as well as numerous book chapters, case studies, research articles, and concert reviews all focused on the Grateful Dead. Barry is a member of the Grateful Dead Scholars Caucus.Bob Trudeau has been an avid listener of Grateful Dead music since 1971. He has published an analysis of Playing in the Band and has researched (with Scott Deetz) Deadhead responses to Grateful Dead music, using Q-Methodology. He regularly teaches a “Grateful Dead 101” course to senior citizens. Bob is a member of the Grateful Dead Scholars Caucus.

Grateful Dead fans and academics Barnes and Trudeau, members of the Grateful Dead Scholars Caucus, provide illuminating if overly detailed profiles of what they deem the band’s 100 greatest songs. Each profile lists the number of times the band performed the song, memorable performances of the song, and elements that make the song essential listening. For example, the band debuted “Lazy River Road” on February 21, 1993, and they played it 65 times, including during the band’s final show in Chicago on July 9, 1995. According to Barnes and Trudeau, front man Jerry Garcia “was still in fine voice and plays it beautifully. . . it is a great window into what the Dead sounded like in their last years on the road.” The Dead performed “Casey Jones,” the story of a train engineer who wrecks his train, 312 times beginning in 1969 through 1992. “Truckin’,” arguably the best known Dead song (a “rocker that gets the crowd on its feet dancing and singing along”), made its debut in August 1970, and the band played it 519 times between then and 1995. Barnes and Trudeau’s entertaining book provides a useful introduction to the Dead’s representative music, offering first-time listeners a starting point and encouraging fans to pick up the songs and listen to them again.

• Title PageFrontispiecePrefaceDeadicationTable of ContentsIntroductionQuick Start GuideThe 100 Most Essential SongsAlabama GetawayAltheaAnd We Bid You GoodnightAttics of My LifeBeat It On Down the LineBerthaBird SongBlack Muddy RiverBlack PeterBlack Throated WindBox of RainBrokedown PalaceBrown Eyed WomenCandymanCasey JonesCassidyCaution (Do Not Stop on Tracks)China Cat Sunflower > I Know You RiderChina DollCold Rain and SnowComes a TimeCrazy FingersCumberland BluesDancin’ in the StreetsDark StarDays BetweenDealDire WolfDupree's Diamond BluesEl PasoThe ElevenEstimated ProphetEyes of the WorldFeel Like a StrangerFire on the MountainFoolish HeartFranklin's Tower Friend of the DevilGoin’ Down The Road Feelin’ BadGood Lovin'Greatest Story Ever ToldHard to HandleHe's GoneHell in a BucketHelp On The Way > Slipknot > Franklin’s TowerHere Comes SunshineHigh TimeI Know You RiderI Need a MiracleIko IkoIt Must Have Been The Roses Jack a RoeJack StrawLazy Lightning > SupplicationLazy River RoadLet It GrowLooks Like RainLoserLost Sailor > Saint of CircumstanceLovelightMe & My UncleMexicali BluesMight as WellMississippi Half Step Uptown ToodlelooMorning DewThe Music Never StoppedNot Fade AwayOne More Saturday NightThe Other OnePeggy-OPlaying in the BandThe Promised LandRamble on RoseRippleRow JimmySaint of CircumstanceSaint Stephen > The ElevenSamson & DelilahScarlet Begonias > Fire On The MountainShakedown StreetShip of FoolsSo Many RoadsStagger LeeStanding on the MoonStella BlueSugar Magnolia > Sunshine DaydreamSugareeSupplication Tennessee JedTerrapin StationThey Love Each OtherThrowing StonesTo Lay Me DownTouch of GreyTruckinUnbroken ChainUncle John's BandUS Blues - (Wave That Flag)Viola Lee BluesWeather Report Suite > Let It GrowWest LA FadeawayWharf RatThe WheelBonus TracksOnline ResourcesBibliography and Sources: For Further ReadingAcknowledgements and ThanksAbout the Authors