‘Cumberland Blues’: The Grateful Dead song that fans thought was a cover
The Grateful Dead are a band that thrives in a live environment. When you consider the life of someone like Dick Latvala, you begin to get a sense of just how important the Grateful Dead’s live shows were to people. Latvala didn’t just go to a lot of gigs, he dedicated his time to recording them so that they could be distributed and enjoyed by fans all over the world.
The demand for the Grateful Dead’s music has never ceased, either. Even now, fans everywhere scramble to listen to the latest releases by the band, as they can feel transported by the connective power represented within their music. They have the most top 40 albums in history, and it’s because people are constantly wanting to hear a new version of the Grateful Dead’s live show.
So, what makes their live show so important? A lot of it comes down to the fact that they are one of the best jam bands in history. No two Grateful Dead gigs are the same; people are getting the version of the band that exists in that room at that moment. Every note is impacted by the news that day, the atmosphere in the room and the drugs that have been taken.
The issue with Grateful Dead’s strong reputation as a live band is that a lot of their studio work can often be overlooked. Their studio work forms the backbone for a gig, it isn’t the reason that people necessarily go to a gig. It slightly undermines the hard work that the band put into all of the writing they did when creating various albums, as a lot of their songs are masterpieces.
One particularly moving track by the band is ‘Cumberland Blues’. From the 1970 album Workingman’s Dead, the song is about working in the Cumberland mines and the trials and tribulations that people working at the time faced. The two main focal points of the track are working and what the protagonist of the track does with the money that they earn.
They state that a lot of money they make is used to get time with Melinda, but it’s never specifically cleared up who Melinda is. Given her presence is so often affiliated with money, a lot of listeners believe that she could be a sex worker; however, there are other people who think she is a spouse who struggles financially. Either way, ‘Cumberland Blues’ is a great track that reflects the working person’s desire to be wanted and what they will do for those they are pining for affection from.
One testament to how powerful the song is is that many people thought it was a cover when it first came out. They believed that the honest telling of working in the mines came across so strongly that it had to be by someone who had worked there, but that wasn’t the case.
Robin Hunter, one of the lyricists for the Grateful Dead, said that the best compliment he ever received came as a result of this song, as an older person who had worked in the Cumberland Mines thought someone he worked alongside must have written the track. He told Hunter, “I wonder what the guy who wrote this song would’ve thought if he’d ever known something like the Grateful Dead was gonna do it.” Hunter and the band captured the feel of the mine so perfectly that people couldn’t believe it was original.
