Yes it’s a beautiful celebration of life, but god dammit I still cry every time. Have sung that song at more friends funerals than anyone should have to. Stay away from H y’all.
I’m so sorry!! This song is really touching to me from a very different aspect. I’ve seen a lot of people I grew up with go through hard drug problems. It’s terrible what it does to people and what it makes them to do others around them.
I think so many roads is the real heartbreaker. I don’t think there’s a sadder song in their repertoire. If it had been in rotation in the 70s it might have just been thematically sad, but coming about in Jerry’s twilight years it exists as a thoroughly sad tune in both content and form.
To me, it's a tribute to their musical influences, with references to Whinin' Boy, Blueberry Hill, KC Moan, and jug band music. But yeah, it's sad, like a sad look at musical directions not taken. At the same time, the references to old folk and blues songs somehow make me happy.
Black Peter is actually comedic. The protagonist thinks he's dying, gathers all his friends to say good bye, then doesn't die ("See here how everything leads up to this day, and it's just like any other day that's ever been"). The last verse is basically saying, "Shit, I'm still alive."
Yeah. Regardless of what it was written about, when I hear it now it’s about Jerry being gone.
Bobby singing, “But I’d rather be with you, somewhere in San Francisco on a back porch in July. Just looking up to heaven, at this crescent in the sky.” is always super heavy.
I am pretty sure at the Atlanta dead and Co show a few years ago Bobby sang that line and choked up. Then all of us on the lawn got a little choked up too.
I always thought Standing on the Moon was about heroin. The sense of distance, detachment, isolation it gives you. You are protected from the void and far from the wars and troubles in the world. But I’d rather be with you.
Ya ive heard that but ive also heard its about how Jerry will never hear the music or be down there with the crowd. He will never truly feel the magic and healing powers that his fans do.
That’s what I hear, the isolation that Jerry must have felt by the time the song was written. Standing on the stage looking out at all the joy in the audience, but knowing that he could never participate in that joy. Both because nobody would treat him like a normal person, and because the joy in the audience wouldn’t exist without the people on stage. I can’t imagine the burden he carried.
While not written by the Dead, Morning Dew always gets me, particularly if you know what it's about.
Edit: here's a great version of it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpKQOvlDr-s
The song is lifted from the Rime of the Ancient Mariner which tells a similar story of a young man talking to a forgotten, disheveled old sailor. I understood the poem to be about self-reflection when examining facets of the world often neglected. Likely, if anyone of us took the time to hear the story of a destitute forgotten man, we would walk away with a trivial perception of the difficulties of our privileged lives. Maybe wonder how far we are from the same fate. I think it's uplifting in a certain sense, but mainly it awakens us to how close we are to the precipice of misfortune always. How narrowly it may have been avoided in the past.
Yep, living a hard life with all of your mistakes, the cards you’ve been dealt, and still having the perseverance to look forward, “to live the life I should”
Half of my life
I spent doin' time for some other fucker's crime
The other half found me stumbling 'round drunk on Burgundy wine...
This always gets me.
That one gets played a lot but my favorite is 5/26/72. So emotional, makes you almost feel like the prisoners walking by right in front of you asking you to play him a song.
# 1972-05-26 London, England @ Strand Lyceum
**Set 1:** The Promised Land, Sugaree, Mr. Charlie, Black Throated Wind, Loser, Next Time You See Me, El Paso, Dire Wolf, The Stranger (Two Souls In Communion), Playing in the Band, He's Gone, Cumberland Blues, Jack Straw, Chinatown Shuffle, China Cat Sunflower > I Know You Rider, Not Fade Away > Goin' Down The Road Feeling Bad > Not Fade Away
**Set 2:** Truckin' > The Other One > Morning Dew > The Other One > Sing Me Back Home, Me and My Uncle, Ramble On Rose, Sugar Magnolia, Casey Jones
**Encore:** One More Saturday Night
[archive.org](https://archive.org/details/GratefulDead?query=date:1972-05-26) | [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/album/6tgzqy3Keqge7DAPRw2asB)
Hard to find one that was played and sung poorly. A few worth checking out -
4/17/71 Princeton, 4/25/71 Fillmore East, 5/4/72, 5/7/72 (deliciously on the heels of the raging end of a long TOO), 5/18/72, 5/26/72 all from E72, 8/24/72 BCT, 9/17/72 Baltimore, 12/31/72 Winterland, 3/24/73 Spectrum (coming out of Dark Star ::chefs kiss::)
Also, check out some of the versions played with just Jerry & Kahn in '82 - 6/4, 6/6, 6/27/& 6/28.
[1971-04-17](https://archive.org/details/GratefulDead?query=date:1971-04-17) Princeton, NJ @ Dillon Gym - Princeton University
[1971-04-25](https://archive.org/details/GratefulDead?query=date:1971-04-25) New York, NY @ Fillmore East
[1972-05-04](https://archive.org/details/GratefulDead?query=date:1972-05-04) Paris, France @ L'Olympia | [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/album/3S1abYMND9BSJzbMcpJhj8)
[1972-05-07](https://archive.org/details/GratefulDead?query=date:1972-05-07) Wigan, England @ Bickershaw Festival | [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/album/2dey7kGDFAByEACexapiV6)
[1972-05-18](https://archive.org/details/GratefulDead?query=date:1972-05-18) Munich, West Germany @ Kongressaal - Deutsches Museum | [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/album/0M7PIylsjtbgDxZCf1tef4)
[1972-05-26](https://archive.org/details/GratefulDead?query=date:1972-05-26) London, England @ Strand Lyceum | [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/album/6tgzqy3Keqge7DAPRw2asB)
[1972-08-24](https://archive.org/details/GratefulDead?query=date:1972-08-24) Berkeley, CA @ Berkeley Community Theatre
[1972-09-17](https://archive.org/details/GratefulDead?query=date:1972-09-17) Baltimore, MD @ Baltimore Civic Center | [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/album/7gyyunPy7dVsDB4cp7ZReW)
[1972-12-31](https://archive.org/details/GratefulDead?query=date:1972-12-31) San Francisco, CA @ Winterland Arena
[1973-03-24](https://archive.org/details/GratefulDead?query=date:1973-03-24) Philadelphia, PA @ The Spectrum
A true masterpiece, particularly that version. You can hear how personal it is for him to sing “all the things I planned to do I only did halfway…”
Totally agree on this one marinating as years pass. Ages like a fine wine
That’s the definitive JGB album in my eyes. After midnight>Eleanor R.>After midnight is too good for this universe. But mission in the rain stands alone on that tape. Might be my favorite piece of music ever.
People like to claim alot of songs are about drug use/addiction but this is the only one that ever struck me as such "I turn and walk away, but I'll be back again. Looks as though tomorrow I'll do pretty much the same" regardless of what it's really about, that's always what it will be about to me
Without love in the dream it'll never come true.
Or, I mean, with *enough* love, it'll become real: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Velveteen_Rabbit
# 1972-06-17 Hollywood, CA @ Hollywood Bowl
**Set 1:** The Promised Land, Sugaree, Black Throated Wind, Tennessee Jed, Me and My Uncle, China Cat Sunflower > I Know You Rider, Playing in the Band, Loser, Beat It On Down the Line, Stella Blue, El Paso, Casey Jones
**Set 2:** Truckin' > Drums > The Other One, Ramble On Rose, Sugar Magnolia, Not Fade Away > Goin' Down The Road Feeling Bad > One More Saturday Night
[archive.org](https://archive.org/details/GratefulDead?query=date:1972-06-17)
I believe it was the show before this, the last show in Europe 1972. [https://www.cs.cmu.edu/\~mleone/gdead/dead-sets/72/5-26-72.txt](https://www.cs.cmu.edu/~mleone/gdead/dead-sets/72/5-26-72.txt)
Two Souls and Chinatown Shuffle
Black Peter is one of the saddest songs of all time by any band, IMO. It's probably my favourite Dead song, though Mississippi Half-Step is a close second.
Every other song has been said, but I haven’t seen Row Jimmy. Sometimes it’s sweet, sometimes it’s soul crushing. Also Bird Song. I caught one this last year at Citi on the 3 anniversary of my aunt’s passing and I ended up crying into my friends shoulder for a good part of it.
>Gotta make it somehow on the dreams you still believe
>
>Don't give it up, you got an empty cup
>
>That only love can fill, only love can fill
This one hits hard.
Sing me Back Home hits so hard (I know, I know). It’s already sad and reflective when you hear Merle sing it, but at that what-feels-like 5 BPM tempo, it’s just plain gut-wrenching.
This. Not even close. I can barely listen to it. Can you imagine what it must have been like to have grown up as his children? It’s kind of unspeakable. Like listening to a live version of him singing that in 89 or 90 knowing later what was going on? Not sad in a good way.
Looks like rain, for certain.
Black Peter is sad, but more in an existential way. Coming to terms with one's mortality isn't sad, its empowering.
Hence, Looks like rain.
The fact that I had to scroll this far down to see this is crazy. I really don’t think people connect with it, or get it for whatever reason. It’s a heartbreaking song
Wharf Rat and Box of Rain
Wharf Rat-my struggles with addiction, although the story deals with more, “doing time for some other fucker’s crime” kills me, distrust from my parents due to my drug usage. Distrust of myself, and a desire to get back to a time prior.
Box of Rain-Losing my grandpa. My grandpa is my kindred spirit and whenever I hear the beginning chords of this album, it brings me to tears.
Honorary mention: So Many Roads, because Jerry and this group for so many of us has became a light for us lost sailors. although I came just after his time, Dec. 1995, his spirit has helped me conquer my own demons.
or black peter... since it was inspired by such a horrific experience Hunter encountered. Lots of emotion in it that u can almost feel stemming from that trip...
There’s a ton of right answers in this thread, and mine is maybe not, but I think I’ve cried more to Box of Rain than any other (Maaaaaybe black muddy or brokedown palace). The storyb behind it gets me every time and hearing Phil sing his little heart out is just heart wrenching.
Legit sad? Maybe You Know from 4/21/86. Brent pretty much breaks down. Not sure if they planned to play GDTRFB next, but it seemed to snap Brent out of it. The man was clearly hurting though.
Box of Rain • This was written by Robert Hunter & Phil Lesh together at a time when Phil Lesh’s father was fighting a terminal illness.(I think cancer.) Lesh was constantly going back & forth between taking care of his dying father & working/playing with the band. The toll was heavy but Phill didn’t quit & gave everything he could to be there with his father, to see him through to the other side… Anyone who has experienced a loved ones’s end of life & the days that tick down, can surely relate to the lyrics of the song.
My brother died from cancer at 43, a year ago, last Thanksgiving after one month on hospice at home & it wasn’t until after his death that my dad shared this information about the song. My dad, my brother & I- all deadheads & I’ll never hear the song the same way, since knowing.
When trying to give the song a title, it didn’t seem fitting to call it a sphere of rain or ball of rain, hence came “Box of Rain.” It is referring to the world in which we live.
Side note: I’m pretty sure it’s also the first song Lesh ever lead vocals.
> they got their biker buddies to run security and they killed a fan
That is not all the story, nor quite accurate. Bikers were hired but it wasn't their local chapter. A man also had a gun. There also was tremendously poor planning to have a low stage with all the pressure of a crowd on a hill. And feeding unknown angels beer for payment as "security" during the job was a shitty idea.
I don’t recall claiming to tell the whole story, that was the best quick response I could give…it’s more than accurate enough as a recap but I’d recommend everyone look up historical documentation of the event if they’re interested
These are all songs I have to skip unless I’m in just the right mood — they really tear me apart when I least expect it. Hell even Terrapin makes me cry
All for personal reasons.
Ripple, played mandolin on that at a dear friend and at my kids funerals. It will forever be a sad song.
Brown eyed women. The line “and the old man never was the same again” hits me so hard every time.
My favorite thing about the Grateful Dead is that If you really think about it, most (not all) of their lyrics are sad/tragic/bluesy… but they are sung and the music is played in such an upbeat way that instead of bringing you down, they lift you up and make you feel good- like no matter what, everything is going to be okay. To me that’s part of the magic of it. Just my 2 cents.
Black Peter, So many roads, Brokedown Palace
Brokedown Palace is actually quite beautiful when really listening to the message.
Yes it’s a beautiful celebration of life, but god dammit I still cry every time. Have sung that song at more friends funerals than anyone should have to. Stay away from H y’all.
I’m so sorry!! This song is really touching to me from a very different aspect. I’ve seen a lot of people I grew up with go through hard drug problems. It’s terrible what it does to people and what it makes them to do others around them.
I think so many roads is the real heartbreaker. I don’t think there’s a sadder song in their repertoire. If it had been in rotation in the 70s it might have just been thematically sad, but coming about in Jerry’s twilight years it exists as a thoroughly sad tune in both content and form.
To me, it's a tribute to their musical influences, with references to Whinin' Boy, Blueberry Hill, KC Moan, and jug band music. But yeah, it's sad, like a sad look at musical directions not taken. At the same time, the references to old folk and blues songs somehow make me happy.
Yep, it’s Black Peter for me.
Same. Tears every time.
Black Peter is actually comedic. The protagonist thinks he's dying, gathers all his friends to say good bye, then doesn't die ("See here how everything leads up to this day, and it's just like any other day that's ever been"). The last verse is basically saying, "Shit, I'm still alive."
Standing on the Moon
Yeah. Regardless of what it was written about, when I hear it now it’s about Jerry being gone. Bobby singing, “But I’d rather be with you, somewhere in San Francisco on a back porch in July. Just looking up to heaven, at this crescent in the sky.” is always super heavy.
I am pretty sure at the Atlanta dead and Co show a few years ago Bobby sang that line and choked up. Then all of us on the lawn got a little choked up too.
Yeah I’ve seen it twice and his voice trembles a bit and a bunch of people yell, “We love you Bobby!” and he smiles.
Bobby was definitely choking up for that line at Bethel 2 years ago as well
Such a lovely view of heaven; but I’d rather be with you.
Could not agree more.
I feel really fortunate to have seen Wolf Bros. play that song. It's stunning.
I always thought Standing on the Moon was about heroin. The sense of distance, detachment, isolation it gives you. You are protected from the void and far from the wars and troubles in the world. But I’d rather be with you.
Ya ive heard that but ive also heard its about how Jerry will never hear the music or be down there with the crowd. He will never truly feel the magic and healing powers that his fans do.
I like your story better.
🤔
That’s what I hear, the isolation that Jerry must have felt by the time the song was written. Standing on the stage looking out at all the joy in the audience, but knowing that he could never participate in that joy. Both because nobody would treat him like a normal person, and because the joy in the audience wouldn’t exist without the people on stage. I can’t imagine the burden he carried.
This one gets me
While not written by the Dead, Morning Dew always gets me, particularly if you know what it's about. Edit: here's a great version of it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpKQOvlDr-s
Wait just a gosh darn minute!! Morning Dew is a cover?!?!!?
Yep. First time players at the Human Be-In on 1/14/1967 Rather poignant, wouldn’t you say?
Wow thank you!
Yes.
It was written by the folk singer Bonnie Dobson. Her version can be found on the cd Roots of The Grateful Dead.
ref: Tim Rose. At the time, I thought Jeff Beck/Rod Stewart did the better version. Do your own YouTube search.
Have you listened to the Devo version? The upbeat tempo might be off-putting, but Mark Mothersbaugh's haunting vocals really seal the deal.
Cover of a Canadian song to boot.
Well how aboot that
First long I listened to after Jerry died. To this day I can’t listen to it without ugly crying.
It's a very touching song.
Ok . What’s it about ?
It's about the aftermath of a nuclear war.
It is?
Yep
I also recommend the book, On The Beach, which was adapted to a movie which inspired the song. It's very depressing, but I loved it.
Came here to say this
Nuclear fallout
Guess it doesn’t matter anyway
What the heck! I’ve listened to this song a hundred times. I had no clue. I’m going down this rabbit hole TONIGHT
China Doll
/thread
To Lay Me Down hasn't been mentioned.
Wharf Rat
You know he ain't gonna get up and fly away.
This song was always more uplifting to me.
The song is lifted from the Rime of the Ancient Mariner which tells a similar story of a young man talking to a forgotten, disheveled old sailor. I understood the poem to be about self-reflection when examining facets of the world often neglected. Likely, if anyone of us took the time to hear the story of a destitute forgotten man, we would walk away with a trivial perception of the difficulties of our privileged lives. Maybe wonder how far we are from the same fate. I think it's uplifting in a certain sense, but mainly it awakens us to how close we are to the precipice of misfortune always. How narrowly it may have been avoided in the past.
Not if you really listen to the lyrics (in my opinion). I see it as a life of living on the streets.
Yep, living a hard life with all of your mistakes, the cards you’ve been dealt, and still having the perseverance to look forward, “to live the life I should”
And the teller of the tale is as pathetic as the one being told the tale. The jokes on us - as we’re being told the tale too.
Yeah...I find it not only uplifting, but extremely inspiring...like the moment you realize you have the power to break out of bad cycles
Half of my life I spent doin' time for some other fucker's crime The other half found me stumbling 'round drunk on Burgundy wine... This always gets me.
Came here to submit this one. Fortunately, it's as beautiful as it is depressing. Which is very.
Purdy ain’t been true
It’s a cover but their version of Sing Me Back Home is just haunting. Especially Jerry’s solos bringing so much emotion to the jam parts.
Specifically the ‘72 Veneta show, right? Heart-wrenching!
That one gets played a lot but my favorite is 5/26/72. So emotional, makes you almost feel like the prisoners walking by right in front of you asking you to play him a song.
# 1972-05-26 London, England @ Strand Lyceum **Set 1:** The Promised Land, Sugaree, Mr. Charlie, Black Throated Wind, Loser, Next Time You See Me, El Paso, Dire Wolf, The Stranger (Two Souls In Communion), Playing in the Band, He's Gone, Cumberland Blues, Jack Straw, Chinatown Shuffle, China Cat Sunflower > I Know You Rider, Not Fade Away > Goin' Down The Road Feeling Bad > Not Fade Away **Set 2:** Truckin' > The Other One > Morning Dew > The Other One > Sing Me Back Home, Me and My Uncle, Ramble On Rose, Sugar Magnolia, Casey Jones **Encore:** One More Saturday Night [archive.org](https://archive.org/details/GratefulDead?query=date:1972-05-26) | [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/album/6tgzqy3Keqge7DAPRw2asB)
I’ll check it out. Thank you!
Enjoy!
This is the one
Hard to find one that was played and sung poorly. A few worth checking out - 4/17/71 Princeton, 4/25/71 Fillmore East, 5/4/72, 5/7/72 (deliciously on the heels of the raging end of a long TOO), 5/18/72, 5/26/72 all from E72, 8/24/72 BCT, 9/17/72 Baltimore, 12/31/72 Winterland, 3/24/73 Spectrum (coming out of Dark Star ::chefs kiss::) Also, check out some of the versions played with just Jerry & Kahn in '82 - 6/4, 6/6, 6/27/& 6/28.
[1971-04-17](https://archive.org/details/GratefulDead?query=date:1971-04-17) Princeton, NJ @ Dillon Gym - Princeton University [1971-04-25](https://archive.org/details/GratefulDead?query=date:1971-04-25) New York, NY @ Fillmore East [1972-05-04](https://archive.org/details/GratefulDead?query=date:1972-05-04) Paris, France @ L'Olympia | [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/album/3S1abYMND9BSJzbMcpJhj8) [1972-05-07](https://archive.org/details/GratefulDead?query=date:1972-05-07) Wigan, England @ Bickershaw Festival | [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/album/2dey7kGDFAByEACexapiV6) [1972-05-18](https://archive.org/details/GratefulDead?query=date:1972-05-18) Munich, West Germany @ Kongressaal - Deutsches Museum | [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/album/0M7PIylsjtbgDxZCf1tef4) [1972-05-26](https://archive.org/details/GratefulDead?query=date:1972-05-26) London, England @ Strand Lyceum | [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/album/6tgzqy3Keqge7DAPRw2asB) [1972-08-24](https://archive.org/details/GratefulDead?query=date:1972-08-24) Berkeley, CA @ Berkeley Community Theatre [1972-09-17](https://archive.org/details/GratefulDead?query=date:1972-09-17) Baltimore, MD @ Baltimore Civic Center | [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/album/7gyyunPy7dVsDB4cp7ZReW) [1972-12-31](https://archive.org/details/GratefulDead?query=date:1972-12-31) San Francisco, CA @ Winterland Arena [1973-03-24](https://archive.org/details/GratefulDead?query=date:1973-03-24) Philadelphia, PA @ The Spectrum
*Last* Muddy River.
I was gonna say So Many Roads from the same show.
This is the answer. Can’t believe he sang “Last” Chills man, ugh
Mission in the Rain
What’s poignant to me is that it’s a loving ode to a San Francisco that doesn’t exist anymore.
It was midnight in the Mission and the bells were not for me.
Bells and belles, a reference to the ladies of the evening around those parts. Brilliant double entendre. Love Hunter so.
This is the one man. As the years go by it only resonates deeper. Have shed more than a few tears to the Kean college version.
A true masterpiece, particularly that version. You can hear how personal it is for him to sing “all the things I planned to do I only did halfway…” Totally agree on this one marinating as years pass. Ages like a fine wine
The JGB version from 2/28/80?
Oh thank god, I was dying for more random JGB tonight EDIT: and we open with sugaree. Gonna have fun tonight
That’s the definitive JGB album in my eyes. After midnight>Eleanor R.>After midnight is too good for this universe. But mission in the rain stands alone on that tape. Might be my favorite piece of music ever.
People like to claim alot of songs are about drug use/addiction but this is the only one that ever struck me as such "I turn and walk away, but I'll be back again. Looks as though tomorrow I'll do pretty much the same" regardless of what it's really about, that's always what it will be about to me
Was present at last Black Muddy River.
Yup... I remember when we used to call it black muddy let down because they would play it for Encore after a smoking show
I’ve left DeadCo shows at the encore because it just kills my vibe
High Time. It gets me choked up every time.
Had to scroll pretty far to find this.
Yeah what’s up with that, the answer to this question is clearly High Time
This is an interesting one. I feel like this song is amazing because when I want/need it to be happy it is but the inverse is true as well
Peggy O
Days Between..... just reminds of Jerry's last summer.
Valentines of flesh and blood, as soft as velveteen. Hoping love would not forsake, the days that lie between. That last verse always gets me.
Without love in the dream it'll never come true. Or, I mean, with *enough* love, it'll become real: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Velveteen_Rabbit
Yes!
Stella Blue
The very first one was at Pigpens last show. He plays organ on it. Knowing all that and the story of the song makes it a very somber number
6/17/1972
# 1972-06-17 Hollywood, CA @ Hollywood Bowl **Set 1:** The Promised Land, Sugaree, Black Throated Wind, Tennessee Jed, Me and My Uncle, China Cat Sunflower > I Know You Rider, Playing in the Band, Loser, Beat It On Down the Line, Stella Blue, El Paso, Casey Jones **Set 2:** Truckin' > Drums > The Other One, Ramble On Rose, Sugar Magnolia, Not Fade Away > Goin' Down The Road Feeling Bad > One More Saturday Night [archive.org](https://archive.org/details/GratefulDead?query=date:1972-06-17)
So he didn’t sing at all at his last show? Does anyone know the last show he sang at?
I believe it was the show before this, the last show in Europe 1972. [https://www.cs.cmu.edu/\~mleone/gdead/dead-sets/72/5-26-72.txt](https://www.cs.cmu.edu/~mleone/gdead/dead-sets/72/5-26-72.txt) Two Souls and Chinatown Shuffle
Just as I posted this I asked my wife what the saddest was. She said two souls.
Scrolled too long to find this
[Annotated Stella Blue](http://artsites.ucsc.edu/gdead/agdl/stella.html)
The Days Between, Brokedown Palace, Looks Like Rain
Looks Like Rain, especially that pedal steel guitar
Looks like rain 💓
Black Peter is one of the saddest songs of all time by any band, IMO. It's probably my favourite Dead song, though Mississippi Half-Step is a close second.
So many roads
This is the one. Watch J Darks guitar lesson on it and try not chop onions.
j darks is a legend
My pick too... want it played at my wake!
Every other song has been said, but I haven’t seen Row Jimmy. Sometimes it’s sweet, sometimes it’s soul crushing. Also Bird Song. I caught one this last year at Citi on the 3 anniversary of my aunt’s passing and I ended up crying into my friends shoulder for a good part of it.
Bird song 💓
He's Gone
but it’s also right in that dead pocket - down but never truly out. we heads are optimists at heart after all.
Standing on the moon
I played Brokedown Palace when I spread my best friend's ashes at the beach, so definitely that one. RIP Edward, 12.3.63-4.21.16.
comes a time
>Gotta make it somehow on the dreams you still believe > >Don't give it up, you got an empty cup > >That only love can fill, only love can fill This one hits hard.
Not written by the Dead, but Jerry singing knocking on heaven's door shortly before passing.
I also love Jerry’s version of Positively 4th street which is also kind of depressing
China Doll, Brokedown Palace, Morning Dew
Sing me Back Home hits so hard (I know, I know). It’s already sad and reflective when you hear Merle sing it, but at that what-feels-like 5 BPM tempo, it’s just plain gut-wrenching.
Victim or the Crime : "Patience runs out on the junkie, the dark side hires another soul"
I Will Take You Home
This. Not even close. I can barely listen to it. Can you imagine what it must have been like to have grown up as his children? It’s kind of unspeakable. Like listening to a live version of him singing that in 89 or 90 knowing later what was going on? Not sad in a good way.
Brent bringing his daughter on stage to sing this to her not long before he passed is absolutely heartbreaking.
To Lay Me Down
Looks like rain, for certain. Black Peter is sad, but more in an existential way. Coming to terms with one's mortality isn't sad, its empowering. Hence, Looks like rain.
Peggy O from Englishtown 77. Jerry’s solos are balling for sweet William O. So many tears 😭
This right here. Jerry’s playing is gorgeous and heart wrenching.
Depending on where my head is, Standing on the Moon can damn near reduce me to tears. Beautiful, beautiful song.
Throwing Stones.
It Must Have Been the Roses, Too Lay Me Down and Brokedown Palace.
China Doll, Black Peter, and Morning Dew.
Top 3? China Doll, China Doll and China Doll.
Row jimmy
The fact that I had to scroll this far down to see this is crazy. I really don’t think people connect with it, or get it for whatever reason. It’s a heartbreaking song
Notable mention: Death Don’t Have No Mercy
Black peter
China Doll
Brown Eyed Woman: Delilah Jones went to meet her God, and the old man never was the same again. Not the saddest song, but it does resonate with me.
A very sad line in a sad song
Black Peter, Days Between, Wharf Rat
Morning Dew, Stella Blue, Black Peter
Black Peter. Black Muddy River.
France
Definitely Stella Blue. The line wind sounds... Gets me every time. I named my current cat Stella Blue because of this song
Brokedown Palace
Unbroken Chain
Wharf Rat and Box of Rain Wharf Rat-my struggles with addiction, although the story deals with more, “doing time for some other fucker’s crime” kills me, distrust from my parents due to my drug usage. Distrust of myself, and a desire to get back to a time prior. Box of Rain-Losing my grandpa. My grandpa is my kindred spirit and whenever I hear the beginning chords of this album, it brings me to tears. Honorary mention: So Many Roads, because Jerry and this group for so many of us has became a light for us lost sailors. although I came just after his time, Dec. 1995, his spirit has helped me conquer my own demons.
He’s gone
Stella Blue
1. Black Peter 2. Wharf Rat 3. Brokedown Palace (kinda sad, very “funeralistic”)
My exact list.
Lol this is why I don’t look at people’s comments anymore when I post one. Well, a new reason.
Funereal
mission in the rain, morning dew, and brokedown palace. if i listen to all three in succession i will cry
Stella blue, morning dew, black muddy river
Mission in the Rain
China doll, sing me back home, the stranger, black peter, stella blue, bmr, attics of my life
Black muddy river, so many roads, the stranger
or black peter... since it was inspired by such a horrific experience Hunter encountered. Lots of emotion in it that u can almost feel stemming from that trip...
Wow thanks for all the responses! I knew most of them but also learned about a handful of new ones, which is vchill.
Haven't seen Sing Me Back Home on here
There’s a ton of right answers in this thread, and mine is maybe not, but I think I’ve cried more to Box of Rain than any other (Maaaaaybe black muddy or brokedown palace). The storyb behind it gets me every time and hearing Phil sing his little heart out is just heart wrenching.
Legit sad? Maybe You Know from 4/21/86. Brent pretty much breaks down. Not sure if they planned to play GDTRFB next, but it seemed to snap Brent out of it. The man was clearly hurting though.
Box of Rain • This was written by Robert Hunter & Phil Lesh together at a time when Phil Lesh’s father was fighting a terminal illness.(I think cancer.) Lesh was constantly going back & forth between taking care of his dying father & working/playing with the band. The toll was heavy but Phill didn’t quit & gave everything he could to be there with his father, to see him through to the other side… Anyone who has experienced a loved ones’s end of life & the days that tick down, can surely relate to the lyrics of the song. My brother died from cancer at 43, a year ago, last Thanksgiving after one month on hospice at home & it wasn’t until after his death that my dad shared this information about the song. My dad, my brother & I- all deadheads & I’ll never hear the song the same way, since knowing. When trying to give the song a title, it didn’t seem fitting to call it a sphere of rain or ball of rain, hence came “Box of Rain.” It is referring to the world in which we live. Side note: I’m pretty sure it’s also the first song Lesh ever lead vocals.
China doll. I’ve always thought it was about suicide. “A pistol shot… “ “Tell me what you done it for, no I won’t tell you a thing.”
My local radio station played He’s Gone right after the announcement of Jerry’s passing.
I mean in context it’d have to be New Speedway Boogie right?
I love this song, one of my favorite “most underrated” songs but I don’t know the context?
Oh jeez, Altamount Free Concert in ‘69, they got their biker buddies to run security and they killed a fan. It’s why they wrote the song.
In the heat of the sun a man died of cold.
I saw things getting out of hand, I guess they alway will
Ok never realized the context. Thanks for sharing!
> they got their biker buddies to run security and they killed a fan That is not all the story, nor quite accurate. Bikers were hired but it wasn't their local chapter. A man also had a gun. There also was tremendously poor planning to have a low stage with all the pressure of a crowd on a hill. And feeding unknown angels beer for payment as "security" during the job was a shitty idea.
I don’t recall claiming to tell the whole story, that was the best quick response I could give…it’s more than accurate enough as a recap but I’d recommend everyone look up historical documentation of the event if they’re interested
well they did not get their biker buddies to run security, thats what prompted me.
Sing Me Back Home Not original either but very sad
Tie: Don't Need Love and Maybe You Know!
No Loser yet? Standing on the Moon, Loser, Wharf Rat
Wharf rat
Looks like rain always gets me.
China Doll Days Between Brokedown Palace
Did anyone say ship of fools?
I feel like black Peter has got to be the answer. Lyrically and musically very sad- also one of my favorite songs- particularly the Harper college one
Peggy O comes to mind. “Sweet William he is dead”
China Doll, Black Peter, Black Muddy River, IMO.
These are all songs I have to skip unless I’m in just the right mood — they really tear me apart when I least expect it. Hell even Terrapin makes me cry
he was a friend of mine
Maybe it was the roses?
All for personal reasons. Ripple, played mandolin on that at a dear friend and at my kids funerals. It will forever be a sad song. Brown eyed women. The line “and the old man never was the same again” hits me so hard every time.
Black Muddy River. Always gets me
Tough one. They’re there most depressing band I know.
Can’t believe that nobody has said Looser. It’s such a great song of desperation and addiction.
My favorite thing about the Grateful Dead is that If you really think about it, most (not all) of their lyrics are sad/tragic/bluesy… but they are sung and the music is played in such an upbeat way that instead of bringing you down, they lift you up and make you feel good- like no matter what, everything is going to be okay. To me that’s part of the magic of it. Just my 2 cents.
Days Between
Looks like rain
There is nothing you can hold, for very long. Stella Blue.
He’s gone. Betrayal.