A playlist of the best songs covered by the Grateful Dead
Icons of the 1960s counterculture movement, the Grateful Dead relished live performances. Their concerts garnered one of the most dedicated followings in rock history, and with good reason. If you were to ask a hundred fans of the group what their best performance was, you would receive as many different answers. From their early days as countercultural misfits to their time as elder statesmen of rock, the Grateful Dead’s live history is vast and full of acid-tinged highlights.
A band with truly eclectic influences, ranging from bluegrass to reggae, the Grateful Dead are likely one of the most individual bands to come from the psychedelic rock boom of the 1960s. The story of the group is much too big and, let’s be honest, weird to encompass every aspect from their FBI investigation to the infamous ‘acid tests’.
Of course, it is impossible to discuss the Dead without talking about the influence of LSD. So influenced by psychedelics, at one point, a grand total of 19 members of the Dead’s touring party were arrested on drug possession charges. Acid was said to be an essential element of the group’s live shows, both for the audience and the musicians themselves. In addition to psychedelic influences, another common aspect of the Dead’s live shows were cover songs.
While certain musical purists often look down upon cover songs, the Grateful Dead embraced them with open arms. With nobody questioning the brilliant writing of Jerry Garcia’s own work, the Dead were free to explore the joys of cover songs. Although the group had their fair share of beloved original tracks, including the hit albums American Beauty and Terrapin Station, they regularly treated their audiences to psychedelic reimaginings of various different tracks.
Throughout their performing career, the band covered everybody from their 1960s contemporaries like Bob Dylan to classic blues artists such as Blind Willie Johnson. Some of their covered tracks would only appear once or twice, whereas others would form a regular part of Dead live sets.
The full list of tracks reads like a definitive collection of all the best in blues, jazz and rock ‘n’ roll. The Grateful Dead, famous for their broad range of influences, seemed to regularly pay tribute to those who came before them in their live sets. With Dead fans’ penchant for recording, bootlegging and sharing virtually every live performance, recordings of these covers can be found across the web.
With such a broad range of tracks, it is difficult to cover them all (pardon the pun). Nevertheless, we have constructed a playlist featuring the original versions of some of the Dead’s most infamous cover songs.
Check it out below.
The songs covered by Grateful Dead:
- ‘Stir It Up’ – Bob Marley
- ‘Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door’ – Bob Dylan
- ‘Baba O’Riley’ – The Who
- ‘Bad Moon Rising’ – Creedence Clearwater Revival
- ‘Dear Mr Fantasy’ – Traffic
- ‘Gimme Some Lovin’’ – Spencer Davis Group
- ‘Hard to Handle’ – Otis Redding
- ‘Dear Prudence’ – The Beatles
- ‘Johnny B. Goode’ – Chuck Berry
- ‘Little Red Rooster’ – Howlin’ Wolf
- ‘Silver Threads and Golden Needles’ – The Springfields
- ‘So What’ – Miles Davis
- ‘C.C. Rider’ – Ma Rainey
- ‘Big River’ – Johnny Cash
- ‘All Along the Watchtower’ – Bob Dylan
- ‘Hey Jude’ – The Beatles
- ‘Gloria’ – Van Morrison
- ‘Good Times’ – Sam Cooke
- ‘In the Midnight Hour’ – Wilson Pickett‘
- (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction’ – The Rolling Stones
