The Friday song (on a Sunday): ‘Truckin’’ by the Grateful Dead

The Grateful Dead fused folk, blues, country, bluegrass, jazz and psychedelic rock – and redefined what a band could be, pioneering a tour-centric, live-first model that blurred the line between performer and community. “What a long, strange trip it’s been…” Those words have been immortalised in many rock texts – and not only texts about The Grateful Dead. They come from today’s Friday song, and encapsulate both the band itself, and so much of rock ’n’ roll, in a single line. 

End of an era

I never saw the Grateful Dead live. I know maybe 15 or so albums. On that basis, some of the fanatical “Deadheads” will tell me that I’m not qualified to write about them. That may be so, but with Bob Weir’s passing this week, it marked the end of a musical and cultural moment, which is why Truckin’ is today’s Friday song. 

With Jerry Garcia, Phil Lesh, Ron McKernan and now Weir gone, only the original drummer, Bill Kreutzmann, and almost-original second drummer Mickey Hart remain. So spinoffs like Dead & Company are at an end and with that, the end of the first and greatest of the live, jamming, bootlegging, psychedelic, touring, gig-following, weed-smoking, tie-dye wearing hippie band culture that started with The Warlocks, who turned into the Grateful Dead in San Francisco in the mid to late 1960s.

The road before the records

The Dead transformed from jug band to rock band after watching The Beatles film A Hard Day’s Night, and needing money to survive, they gigged and worked the road relentlessly to build a fan base. They became a touring juggernaut, at times kicking around focused blues, country or rock pieces, and at others noodling around tunes for 20 minutes or more. 

Record sales and the Dead explosion never quite happened until the Dead albums that got me: album five, Workingman’s Dead, and album six, American Beauty. Obvious comparisons to Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young were made, the west coast sound was locked in and the cult of the Grateful Dead began. 

Weir was the youngest of the original band, just 17 when he joined. He was the handsome one, the poster boy, but soon became key as Jerry Garcia’s main second head. From ponytailed youngster he grew old never losing grace, his withered good looks masked by a massive grey beard and moustache. 

A careful selection

To make a pick for today’s tune by trawling the Dead’s history, side projects, solo and live albums would be futile, so I confined my listening to American Beauty, an album I highly recommend. Ripple – reminiscent of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Any Dream Will Do, which in turn was based on the hymn Because He Lives with Jerry Garcia on vocal – was a possibility. So too, Box of Rain, featuring bass man Phil Lesh. But I’ve picked Truckin’ to commemorate Bob Weir. 

It features Garcia on lead guitar and vocals, and Weir on rhythm guitar, and it’s the latter who we hear dealing with the tongue-twisting lyrics and vocal of the verses. At times they remind me in their delivery and structure of The Beatles’ Ballad of John and Yoko: take a listen to the lines “What in the world ever became of sweet Jane / She lost her sparkle, you know she isn’t the same”. 

It’s an archetypal Dead track about life on the road. The only anomaly about it is that it’s Howard Wales’ standout contribution on organ rather than “Pigpen” McKernan that you hear. 

Bob Weir was asked at some point whether success had spoiled the Dead. He replied: “I was noticing the other night, you know when I’m opening pistachios, the hard-to-open ones, I don’t bother with them anymore.” There you have the man in, ahem, a nutshell. Graceful, funny, tuneful, even a little humble maybe. RIP Bob Weir and good weekend all.

Listen to Truckin’ on Spotify here and Apple Music here.

I started a music WhatsApp group in 2023. I send one song a week on a Friday, with links to both Apple and Spotify, and an accompanying narrative/capsule piece. If you want to engage about a song, get a playlist or just get in touch, email me on markgrosin@gmail.com.

For more of Mark’s excellent picks, go here.

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