Did David Crosby help write a classic Grateful Dead song?
Musical guests weren’t anything new in the world of the Grateful Dead. Everyone from E Street saxophonist Clarence Clemons to roots rock pioneers The Band and southern rock gods The Allman Brothers Band shared the stage with the Dead at different points. They weren’t beholden to rock and roll either: soul music legend Etta James and the Tower of Power horn section both played with the Dead at the same time during their 1982 New Year’s Eve run.
Performing on stage is one thing, but actually contributing to songwriting is another. By 1970, Jerry Garcia and Robert Hunter had established themselves as the Grateful Dead’s predominant songwriters. Hunter worked with other band members as well: he helped Bob Weir write ‘Sugar Magnolia’, assisted Phil Lesh with the words to ‘Box of Rain’, and collaborated with Ron ‘Pigpen’ McKernan on the bluesy rave-up ‘Mr. Charlie’.
Before Hunter had come along, the Grateful Dead weren’t terribly confident in their own material. The majority of their songs were covers, and early originals like ‘You Don’t Have to Ask’ and ‘Clementine’ didn’t last for very long in the band’s live sets. Weir was especially hesitant to get into songwriting, with his song ‘Born Cross-Eyed’ being his one notable original before 1968. After establishing his first classic song with ‘The Other One’, Weir began crafting songs that fit into the Dead’s mould.
One of those tracks was ‘Playing in the Band’. Officially credited to Weir, Hunter, and drummer Mickey Hart, ‘Playing in the Band’ first appeared in live sets in 1971 and would be featured on the live album Grateful Dead (also known as Skull and Roses or Skull Fuck) later that year. A studio version was featured in Weir’s 1972 solo debut Ace, and by that point, ‘Playing in the Band’ had morphed into one of the Dead’s most consistent jam vehicles.
The roots of ‘Playing in the Band’ don’t start in 1971, however. As early as 1969, the Dead would perform a jam titled ‘The Main Ten’, which features the familiar ten-beat riff that is featured throughout ‘Playing in the Band’. The official credit for ‘The Main Ten’ goes to Hart, who would later record the song for his own solo debut, Rolling Thunder. However, in recent years, Weir has given credit to David Crosby for the lick.
“This one I wrote a long time ago,” Weir told the crowd at a live-streamed Wolf Bros concert in 2021. “Actually, David Crosby came up with the seminal lick. He came up with this. And then he left. We were out at Mickey’s barn. So Mickey said, ‘Make a song out of that’. Next day I had it.”
For his part, Crosby couldn’t remember if he had contributed to ‘Playing in the Band’ or not. “I did hear that, and I was stoked that he said it,” Crosby told the Good Ol’ Grateful Deadcast in 2021. “Like I said, we did do some jams up at his house that turned out really fun, and I’m not surprised that they developed into songs, you know, because that’s what we did. They and I were both looking for a song to start anywhere.”
Crosby never received an official credit, and since the Dead were already jamming on ‘The Main Ten’ before Crosby moved up to San Francisco and made his acquaintance with the band, it seems unlikely that Crosby was the main source of the riff. Good Ol’ Grateful Deadcast host Jesse Jarnow speculates that Crosby potentially came up with the introductory chords to ‘Playing in the Band’, with Weir having misremembered his specific contribution.
Crosby certainly didn’t hold any animosity towards anyone for his lack of credit on ‘Playing in the Band’. Crosby briefly formed a side project with Garcia, Lesh, and Hart (or possibly Kreuztmann) called David and the Dorks in 1970. That group only played a few casual gigs at The Matrix in San Francisco, but it would be the impetus for the lineup of musicians that would help Crosby record his debut solo album, 1971’s If I Could Only Remember My Name.
Check out ‘Playing in the Band’ down below.
