Our final years with the Grateful Dead: Chapter 4

In my previous chapter I started to address the perceived 'compromised songbook' during the final years that the Grateful Dead were playing.  I confronted the issue by stating that there were 39 songs added during those years, rather than talking about the songs that were left behind.

What I'd like to do now is address this idea of a 'compromised songbook' during the years 1992-1995 (268 shows) through a very specific lens.  To wit, I'd like to look at it from the perspective of "sins of omission, rather than sins of commission". 

My primary inspiration for looking at the songbook from this perspective is due to me reflecting back on some of the feelings I was having about the band while seeing so many shows during 92-95.  At the time, I was continually flummoxed by how the band never seemed to play a few songs that I previously took for granted.  Sure, I knew that I was extremely lucky if I caught 'Dire Wolf', 'High Time', or even 'Cumberland Blues', but given that I was seeing 30+ shows a year and still never catching a performance of 'They Love Each Other' was something that began to gnaw at me.

So without further ado, I'd like to list the rarest songs of 92-95 (268 shows) that we previously took for granted:

To Lay Me Down
It Must Have Been the Roses
Beat It On Down the Line
Goin Down the Road Feeling Bad
They Love Each Other
High Time
Big Railroad Blues
Dire Wolf
Cumberland Blues
Dupree's Diamond Blues
Might As Well
Comes a Time
Mama Tried
Black Muddy River

Notice how almost all of these are original Garcia / Hunter songs?  Weir (and Barlow) were never as prolific as their counterparts, but I do find it odd that NONE of these are original Weir / Barlow songs.  NOTE - there are four cover songs on this list (GDTRFB, Big RxR Blues, Mama Tried, and BIODTL)  Anyway, lets get on with the analysis.  During the years 1992-1995 (268 shows), the songbook suffered dwindling numbers of these once common songs:

Uncommon
Dire Wolf (played 13 times)
Beat It On Down The Line  (played 11 times)
Cumberland Blues (played 11 times)
Mama Tried (played 10 times)
High Time (played 9 times)

Rare
It Must Have Been the Roses (played 8 times)
Goin Down the Road Feeling Bad (played 8 times)
They Love Each Other (played 6 times)

Extremely Rare 
Big Railroad Blues (played 4 times)
Black Muddy River (played 3 times)
Comes a Time (played 2 times)
Dupree's Diamond Blues (played 2 times)

Consider yourself one of the lucky few
To Lay Me Down (played ONCE - Deer Creek 6/28/92)
Might As Well (played ONCE - Nassau 3/23/94)

Now, I know people are going to proclaim that the 3 performances of Supplication (2 of which were a 'Supplication jam') are missing from the list above, or that 4 performances of Casey Jones which were played during this era (3 times in 1992 and 1 time in 1993) should be on this list, but the point is that both Supplication and Casey Jones had not been common for a long time!  You did not watch them go extinct before your very eyes during 92-95.

For example, Casey Jones had only been played twice in 1984 and twice in 1982 before the breakout at RFK Stadium in 1992.  Supplication (whether just a 'jam' or a version that included the vocals) was gone by the early 1986.    Whereas, during the 80s, you couldnt throw a rock without hitting a 'Black Muddy River', 'Might as Well', or 'They Love Each Other'.

My point with the list above is that we watched the light burn out on 14 wonderful songs that you used to be able to count on, while simultaneously having them replaced with 39 'new' songs.

Ok, so now is the idea of the 'compromised songbook' starting to make more sense?  When you include the 'sins of omission' along with the 'sins of commission', it starts to add up to a wildly changing Grateful Dead.  But make no mistake; I dont consider the fairly substantial ebbs and flows of the GD songbook during 92-95 an indicator of the band beginning to suck.  Instead, I see it as a bellwether for a band that is riding off into the sunset with an expanded vocabulary.  I'll leave it to the performances to tell me whether they are truly sucking or not.

Now let me share another way of looking at this idea of a changing GD songbook (oddly, it somehow manages to be both personal and objective):

The song 'Cold Rain and Snow' was one of the true-blue fixtures within the Grateful Dead songbook, along with 'Beat It On Down the Line' and 'Morning Dew'.  You could count on seeing 'Cold Rain and Snow' year-in and year-out, on a fairly regular cadence (with the exceptions of 1974 when it was played only once, and in 1977 when it was played only twice).  But when the GD were actively playing in their final years, Cold Rain and Snow was never considered one of my favorite songs.  I liked it, I'd get into it, and I'd dance to it, but I didnt ADORE it.  And why bother trying to fall in love with it?  They played it all the time!  I would be hoping for Shakedown Street or Hell in a Bucket to open the show, but instead they would play Mississippi 1/2 Step, Bertha, or Cold Rain and Snow.

However, after the GD were finished, I began to adore Cold Rain and Snow (wayyy more than I like Shakedown Street at the moment).  I cant really explain why Cold Rain and Snow is now one of my favorites.  Perhaps my experience is somewhat emblematic of how band members related to songs.  So many GD songs are awesome, but I think it is possible over the course of decades for you to fall in and out of love with the songs in different ways (e.g. - fleeting affairs, long term relationships, transactional interactions, torrid exchanges, etc) .  The way that the band changed their approach to songs throughout the years defies description! 

I'll take an Eyes of the World from 1974 over 1984 fairly regularly, but I would NEVER EVER take a Jack Straw from 1973 over a Jack Straw from 1983.  A band member's relationship with the songbook is something we will never understand, if only because we're still playing catch-up with our own relationship to the songbook as we gradually ride off into the sunset ourselves.  Happy Trails!