Tag Archives: Grateful Dead

Song of the Week – The Wheel, Jerry Garcia

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Ignored             Obscured              Restored

Today marks the 30th anniversary of the passing of Jerry Garcia — singer, songwriter, master guitarist, and founding member of the Grateful Dead.  Garcia was so central to the band’s identity that, after his death on August 9, 1995, the surviving members chose to retire the Grateful Dead name rather than continue without him.

Yet, the Grateful Dead’s popularity endures. Dead & Company — featuring former Dead members Bob Weir, Mickey Hart, and (until 2023) Bill Kreutzmann, along with John Mayer, Jeff Chimenti, and Jay Lane — draw massive audiences performing a setlist steeped in Grateful Dead classics.

The group played 30 mostly sold-out shows at the Las Vegas Sphere in 2024, followed by another 18 in 2025.  Just last weekend, they drew about 60,000 fans each night for three shows in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park — a testament to the music’s ongoing cultural pull.

Beyond Dead & Company, countless Grateful Dead tribute bands perform in the U.S., filling theaters, clubs, and festival stages with devoted fans eager to keep the music alive.

In tribute to Garcia, today’s SotW is “The Wheel” from his debut solo album Garcia (1972).

Although released on a solo record, “The Wheel” became a Deadhead favorite, performed by the band more than 250 times.  Closing Side Two of Garcia, the track showcases Garcia in his pedal steel guitar period.  On the studio version, he played all instruments except the drums, which were handled by Kreutzmann.

The lyrics — penned by Garcia’s longtime collaborator Robert Hunter (with Kreutzmann also receiving a co-writer credit) — reflect the free-flowing, life-embracing ethos that runs through much of the Dead’s best work:

The wheel is turning and you can’t slow down
You can’t let go and you can’t hold on
You can’t go back and you can’t stand still
If the thunder don’t get you then the lightning will

In a 1981 interview with music journalist Ken Hunt, Garcia explained:

“The Wheel was the least formed of any of them [songs on Garcia]. I really just improvised the changes, and the way it came out is a tribute to Hunter’s tremendous skill because I set up those chord changes, explained it, and he just listened to it, worked out some couplets, a few stanzas here and there, and I fooled around with them and it ended up being that nice little tune. But to start with it was only a set of chord changes. Nothing else.”

Jerry Garcia’s artistry and vision make him one of the most significant figures in rock history — a musician whose influence continues to resonate, three decades after his passing.

Enjoy… until next week.

Song of the Week – Unbroken Chain, Grateful Dead

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IGNORED OBSCURED RESTORED

Magoos Pizza 1970-81 (GS Troup 19)I’ve got a confession to make… and it’s very difficult to admit now that I live in the San Francisco Bay area. I’m not much of a Grateful Dead fan. There, I said it.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t dislike the band. It’s just that I’m far from a “Dead Head.” I love Workingman’s Dead and American Beauty. But they’re so accessible that even people that aren’t music buffs like them. I also like some of the later cuts on albums like Wake of the Flood, Blues for Allah and Terrapin Station. And I must admit I get a kick out of the fact that my current home is just a little over a mile from where The Dead (as The Warlocks) played their first gig — Magoo’s Pizza.

But I’ll cement my status as a non Dead Head with my choice for today’s SotW – “Unbroken Chain” from From the Mars Hotel (1974) – which, according to some sources, was the song that was least played live in concert by the group.

Maybe it wasn’t included in the live repertoire because it was written by Phil Lesh and Robert Peterson rather than by the main songwriters – Garcia/Hunter or Weir. Or maybe it was left out until 1995 because it is so musically complex, an attribute that I find attractive. (Blogs report that they did a bad job performing it and dropped it permanently after about 10 attempts.)

So why do I like this cut? Here a few reasons: The opening with a beautiful guitar figure reminiscent of the intro to “Stairway to Heaven.” Phil Lesh’s vocal and Donna Godchaux’s harmony. Ned Lagin’s use of an Arp Odyssey synthesizer to create that eerie sound that sounds like a plane taking off. And, of course, the awesome, jazzy Garcia solo that starts about 3 minutes in.

The philosophical lyrics are interesting too.

I’m not alone in my fondness for this song. The band Animal Collective chose a sample from “Unbroken Chain” (with unprecedented permission from the Grateful Dead) to use in their song “What Would I Want? Sky.”

Enjoy… until next week.