Dark Star is ten lines of lyrics and twenty-plus minutes of improvised music. This version is the one from Live/Dead, which I consider my favorite since I owned this album long before I heard so many of its other performances. Based on research, it looks like the Grateful Dead performed it live 247 times.
It's like a giant space amoeba on the edge of the galaxy, flowing and dividing into other mutations, expanding and contracting, sending its pseudopods out into the cosmos. Jerry Garcia sings the first five lines at 6:04, and the last five lines at 21:26. The rest is improvised Grateful Dead chaos and wonder. I am not up for writing about the particulars; just open your mind, lay back and listen.
No comments:
Post a Comment