The Grateful Dead and philosophy

On our neighborhood fire trucks, originally uploaded by (ariel).

 

Congratulations to Steve Gimbel whose new book, The Grateful Dead and Philosophy is in press.

From the official blurb on the Open Court press website:

The Grateful Dead and Philosophy contains essays from twenty professional philosophers whose love of the music and scene have led them to reflect on different philosophical questions that arise from the enigma that is the Grateful Dead. Coming from a variety of perspectives, ancient and modern, Eastern and Western, The Grateful Dead and Philosophy considers how the Grateful Dead fits into the broader trends of American thought running through pragmatism and the Beat poets, how the parking-lot scene with its tie-dyed t-shirt and veggie-burrito vendors was both a rejection and embrace of capitalism, and whether Jerry Garcia and the Buddha were more than just a couple of fat guys talking about peace. The lyrics of the Grateful Dead’s many songs are also the basis for several essays considering questions of fate and freedom, the nature-nurture debate, and gamblers’ ethics.

I always thought Operator was a good meditation on jealousy and privacy. The singer starts off trying to get a telephone operator to divulge details about some love interest of his. It becomes clear that the operator isn't going to give out that information. Eventually the singer gives up and realizes that whatever he thought he wanted to know wasn't that important anyway: I don't know where she's going, I don't care where she's been, Long as she's doin' it right. Long as she's doin' it right...

Comments

[Fitz]

The Dead & Philosophy

Well, I was a Philosophy undergrad & I have been to like 40 Dead shows (starting in 87) So, it was Neil to Hornsby & Vince. (I was at Neil’s last show & the first without him)

I like Bobby Cowboy tunes myself, & the old bluegrass numbers that would be lost to history without the Dead keeping them alive.

Philosophically the Dead got their name from ancient Egyptian religion. (or that’s what they tell me?)

[Guano Island]

I wouldn't have made you for a DeadHead.

Maybe you're tired and broken
Your tongue is twisted
with words half spoken
and thoughts unclear

[SteveG]

Thanks Lindsay. I had a great time with this project. Nineteen really good articles all accessible to anyone, but philosophically interesting. Best title in the book -- a discussion of deep ecology called "Thoreau-ing Stones."

"I like Bobby Cowboy tunes myself"

Fitz, we have a great article called "Me and Uncle...and Thomas Hobbes: On the Ethics of Leaving His Dead Ass There By the Side of the Road" that I think you'd like.

[The Phantom]

The sailor, coming out again, the lady fairly leapt at him.
Thats how it stands today. you decide if he was wise.
The story teller makes no choice. soon you will not hear his voice.
His job is to shed light, and not to master.

[greensmile]

what a long strange book that will be.

[herbert browne]

The Dead were brave early on, to essentially "cut the umbilical cord" which kept (keeps) many of us attached to the socio-economic milieu in which we find ourselves. They (mostly) did this early enough in their career that the early idealism of "the scene" (I'm thinking '66) melded with a pragmatic outlook that kept working for them. Their egalitarianism and appreciation of other artists (incl musicians), their interest in music history, and the lionizing support they received for being generous with their art continued to sustain them... and also attracted capable individuals who, by & large, were helpful to them (& I don't mean "patrons", but people with a spectrum of useful skills- from electronic to managerial- who shared their scene, because they wanted to "play", too... and have a good time!).
Their early keyboardist, Pigpen (who was one hell of a player), really couldn't give up the whisky-drinking, outlaw/biker persona... and was more & more out of synch with the rest of the band, it seemed... kinda like Dan Hicks- who went for a '30s preppy collegiate look with the band he was in, The Charlatans- while the rest looked like well-dressed Victorians on the Western frontier. The diff was that Hicks made it to "cowboyhood"... & Pigpen couldn't let go... ^..^

[herbert browne]

Re above post- scratch "pragmatic" & replace with "utilitarian" (woke up thinking about that...) OK? ^..^

[Danton]

I don't know much about philosophy, but I like the Dead. and I think they're as much a part of American music as Copeland or the Carter family or Scott Joplin. I grew up in a house where my parents listened to jazz--Ellington, Be-Bop, West Coast stuff (my dad resisted Coltrane at first, but he got over it). What I always liked about the Dead, especially early Dead, was the improvisation. No other rock band explored music and took risks like them. Miles Davis took notice of them; he liked them.

I only saw them twice. The first time, at the age of 14 I saw them at Fillmore East in November of 1969 (I think that was the month). They were incredible. Second time was early in 1973 in Indianapolis of all places. They were still incredible.

[Fitz]

"Every once in while you get shown the Light; In the strangest op places if you look at it right."

"Though I could not caution all, I still might warn a few: Dont lend your hand, to raise no flag, atop no..ship of fools!"

[Maldoror]

When a band has so many followers, they should be giving orders!

[voodoochile78]

The other day I was telling my friends about an amusing column at the Huffington Post by conservative Michael Smerconish. It was about how he, as a lifelong Pink Floyd fan, was shocked by Roger Waters' liberalism at a recent concert. During my rant, I asked a rhetorical question: "what band encapsulates hippy culture and everything conservatives hate more than Pink Floyd?" One of my friends quickly answered "The Grateful Dead." It caught me off guard, but I had to concede the point. The Grateful Dead have to symbolize everything conservatives hate more than any other band.

So then I'm watching the Colbert Report, and the guest was John Perry Barlow of The Grateful Dead. During the course of the interview, Barlow says that he's a Republican. Had I been eating or drinking, I would have snorted it out through my nose. I couldn't believe what I just heard. How the fuck can someone from The Grateful Dead be a Republican, let alone a Republican after all the death and destruction they have wrought over the last 7 years?

At this point I'm very much shocked, and yet intrigued. So I go over to wikipedia and read up on this guy. Not only is he a Republican, he was Dick Cheney's campaign manager in his Congressional run in 1978. Dick Motherfucking Cheney himself, the Dark Lord of the Sith.

I still can't get over it, and to be honest, I don't think I'll ever be able to reconcile it.

Drivin' that train,
High on cocaine,
Workin' on Dick Cheney's re-election campaign...

[SteveG]

voodoochile78,

I got to spend a layover in Houston talking to John Perry Barlow not long ago and asked him about that. He's a thoroughgoing liberatrian. That's why he wants the intellectual property laws to look like the Dead's tapers' ethic.

I asked him about Cheney personally and whether the caricature of him as Darth Vader was undeserved in reality. His response was that Cheney was the single smartest man he'd ever met, but lacked any sense of empathy. He was willing to argue any point, Barlow said, but the minute your argument dealt with anything humane, he would get a confused look on his face. Human suffering simply was not a real fact in the world.

[herbert browne]

Re .."the guest was John Perry Barlow of The Grateful Dead. During the course of the interview, Barlow says that he's a Republican.."-
He wrote a lot of later Dead tunes... but don't think he played any music (although I didn't follow them too closely after about 1969). Libertarian... does that rhyme with "outlaw"? ^..^

[Mark]

The Grateful Dead made it a special point NOT to be co-opted by any given political movement. They were equally wary about being pegged to the left or the right.

In an interview they were asked what they thought about Right Wingers, and one of the band members (I think it was Weir) said that they like some of the ideas from the Right.

They weren't willing to put into any political box, and they earned a lot of respect from both sides for that stance.

Of course, the Dead played before the flowering of the "Neo Conservative" movement, and secondarily the republican party did (and still does) have some strong libertarian currents within in it. And one can see how the libertarian currents pushed by guys like Goldwater (then) and Ron Paul (now) could appeal strongly to hippies and Deadheads.

Keep in mind that you had Democrats running on white supremecy platforms during the Dead's lifetime too. And the Democrats were historically the ones who were pro-war while almost every Republican ever elected got in due to at least a semi anti-war stance (even GW Bush got in by being against Clinton's wars, though it turns out he was just against the Democrats wars).

And Barlow was not the only Republican Deadhead. Large amounts of republican staff at various points in time were Deadheads. And now there is Ann Coulter, the conroversial conservative pundit, who is a very strong Deadhead. She's been to a number of shows and been interviewed by a jam band magazine, etc.

As they say..It goes to show, you don't really ever know..

[The Phantom]

Correct. As was Johnny Cash, the Dead were vastly deeper than liberal/conservative/"progressive"/Democrat/Republican mind-traps. They were on a deeper plane.

[cfrost]

And now there is Ann Coulter, the conroversial conservative pundit, who is a very strong Deadhead.

Deadhead in more ways than one.

[The Phantom]

Dead Heart, Dead Soul. Bad Karma all around.