Touch of grey
 

who is with me here..... and who will get by?

I first heard the Grateful Dead play "Touch of Grey" at the 1982 end of the year shows in Oakland. I said it would be their first hit single and everybody said I was nuts. Five years later when they finally released "In The Dark" I was proven right. :)

I was at those shows...

"Touch of Grey"
Words by Robert Hunter; music by Jerry Garcia
Copyright Ice Nine Publishing; used by permission


Must be getting early
Clocks are running late
Paint by number morning sky
Looks so phony

Dawn is breaking everywhere
Light a candle, curse the glare
Draw the curtains
I don't care 'cause
It's all right

I will get by / I will get by
I will get by / I will survive

I see you've got your list out
Say your piece and get out
Yes I get the gist of it
but it's all right

Sorry that you feel that way
The only thing there is to say
Every silver lining's got a
Touch of grey

I will get by / I will get by
I will get by / I will survive

It's a lesson to me
The Ables and the Bakers and the C's
The ABC's we all must face
And try to keep a little grace

It's a lesson to me
The deltas and the east and the freeze
The ABC's we all think of
Try to give a little love.

I know the rent is in arrears
The dog has not been fed in years
It's even worse than it appears
but it's all right.

Cows giving kerosene
Kid can't read at seventeen
The words he knows are all obscene
but it's all right

I will get by / I will get by
I will get by / I will survive

The shoe is on the hand it fits
There's really nothing much to it
Whistle through your teeth and spit
causeit's all right.

Oh well a Touch Of Grey
Kind of suits you anyway.
That was all I had to say
It's all right.

I will get by / I will get by
I will get by / I will survive
We will get by / We will get by
We will get by / We will survive

*****

The Dead played a Beatles tune as an encore one night - that was tight.

ADG Webmaster

One of their best songs..I like it

I love the dead.

That was a Rolling Stones song, "Satisfaction" played on the 28th. It followed an awesome "Morning Dew" 2nd set closer and the audience went insane, refusing to leave. It was the ONLY time I ever saw the Dead play a second encore when they came out and played "It's All oVer Now, Baby Blue".

Okay, I was originally going from memory...

I checked my ticket stubs (lots of Dead tickets among the 500+ concerts I have been to), and I found Dec. 28th, 1984, at the San Francisco Civic.

As an encore the Dead played "Day Tripper" by the Beatles.

"Touch of Grey" opened the show. Here is the set list:

Touch of Grey
Greatest Story Ever Told
Dire Wolf
Tons of Steel
Down in the Bottom/I Ain't Superstitious
Dupree's Diamond Blues
Me & My Uncle
Mexicali Blues
West LA Fadeaway
Might as Well
China Cat Sunflower
I Know You Rider
Looks Like Rain
He's Gone
Spoonful
Drums
Space
The Other One
Wharf Rat
Sugar Magnolia
Day Tripper

I saw the Dead play "Satisfaction" more than once. The most memorable was the 1982 "US Festival" put on by Steve Wozniak (co-founder of Apple Computer).

They went on at 9am - it was billed as "Breakfast in Bed With the Grateful Dead". Here is the set list:

Tuning
Playin' in the Band
Shakedown Street
Minglewood Blues
Samson and Delilah
China Cat Sunflower
I Know You Rider 4
Sugaree
Women are Smarter
Truckin'
Drums>Space
Not Fade Away
Black Peter
Sugar Magnolia
U.S. Blues
Satisfaction

It's all coming back to me now...

http://www.walfredo.com/images/GD1_resized.jpg

ADG Webmaster

My brain was at the Oakland Auditorium Dec. 28th, 1982


1: Jack Straw, Tennessee Jed> El Paso, FOTD, On The Road Again> Touch of Grey, Woman Smarter, Dire Wolf, Lazy Lightning> Supplication> Deal
2: Shakedown> Samson, Good Times, Terrapin> Drumz> Throwing Stones> Not Fade Away> Morning Dew E1: Satisfaction E2: Baby Blue

I'm not one of the "Deader Than Thou" devotees of the Grateful Dead. I went to many a concert of theirs, have lots of albums and even more tapes, however there are dozens of bands of all genres that I like better than the Dead.

Anyway, I checked my ticket stubs and the '82 Xmas shows I went to did include the show on the 28th.

All that aside, my favorite Dead song of all time was their slight venture into reggae, with "Estimated Prophet":

ADG Webmaster

We will survive......go see The Panic!

steal your face right off your head.

When I was undergrad at Cal we use to travel around the bay area and follow the Dead from Laguna to Cal Expo. My favorite venue was the one where I crawled out of my dorm room bed and went to the Greek Theatre. Back then we never had to road trip far as the Dead played at least 16 shows within 2hr drive per year.

I had a piece of shit Volkswagen back then and halfway to Frost Amphitheatre in Stanford it broke down and stranded me and my girlfriend. I left the car and never came back for it. A truck carrying fruit stopped and gave us a ride. We made the show and danced to Touch of Grey which they opened with, all the while smelling like Strawberries.

It was many many years after Jerry passed that Spring rolled around and I didnt think to myself, Wow isnt it time to go on a roadtrip? I miss seeing the Dead and it never fails that some idiot will learn I like the Dead and say that they cant stand them. I always ask if they actually saw them with Jerry and they say that they dont need to, they know what that was all about and I just nod and say oh ok but really I think boy did they miss out.

I love them but I don't think that as their best song.

Great song, I never realized 'Touch Of Grey' was written as early as 1982. It may not be their best song, but it's certainly their most poppiest and catchiest. I think my favorite Dead song is 'Ripple.'

- Walrus

i'm now singing it in my mind..