Take Five: Notable Bob Weir Tunes

Giants in the music world, the Grateful Dead made music that did more than span and transcend genres; it created new ones. Between their launch in San Francisco in the mid 1960s and the band’s end, the Grateful Dead released 13 albums of new studio material, but the studio was never the band’s métier; it would be live onstage where the Grateful Dead shone brightest. Their official catalog demonstrates an understanding of that fact: beginning in the 1960s and continuing years past the group’s 1995 dissolution into to present-day, live archival releases of the Dead’s music number in the hundreds. And that doesn’t even touch upon the thousands of unofficial recordings of the Grateful Dead; the band’s fan base virtually invented taper culture, and with the group’s tacit approval, fans have traded recordings of countless live performances.

Even with the improvisational bent of the group’s work, the Grateful Dead did compose proper songs. While guitarist Jerry Garcia was a primary songwriter for the band – often working with lyricist Robert Hunter – fellow guitarist Bob Weir wrote some of the Dead’s most beloved material. On his own and with collaborator John Perry Barlow, Weir wrote songs that became enduring parts of the Grateful Dead’s ever-changing live sets. In honor of Weir – who died January 10 at age 78 – here are five timeless songs from the pen of Bob Weir.

“Sugar Magnolia” from American Beauty (1970)
The Grateful Dead released their self-titled debut album in 1967; that set primarily featured cover material, with two original songs: Garcia’s “Cream Puff War” and the lively band-penned “The Golden Road (To Unlimited Devotion)” by Garcia. Subsequent releases leaned heavily on tunes from Garcia, but the group’s fifth studio album, 1970’s American Beauty drew much of its strength from a more democratic songwriting approach. A critical and commercial success, the album included the Weir/Hunter “Sugar Magnolia” as a highlight. To date the song has appeared on no less than 20 albums (in as many different versions) along with inclusion on countless fan-taped sets.

“One More Saturday Night” from Europe ’72 (1972)
Emphasizing the power and allure of the Grateful Dead’s live concerts, the sprawling 3LP set Europe ‘72 documented the band’s celebrated tour. The album drew from eight concerts – all captured on a 16-track mobile recording unit on loan from Warner Brothers Records – to assemble the thrilling and seamless collection. Europe ‘72 would eventually sell Triple Platinum, and among many standout tracks on the set is a Bob Weir solo composition, the rousing, riffy and uptempo boogie “One More Saturday Night.” A studio recording of the song would also appear on Weir’s solo debut album Ace.

“Mexicali Blues” from Bob Weir’s Ace (1972)
When Weir secured a recording contract for a solo record, he and Robert Hunter hadn’t yet amassed an album’s worth of new material. But they set to work, quickly coming up with eight solid originals, many of which would eventually find their way into the Grateful Dead’s repertoire. In fact, while it’s credited as a Bob Weir solo set, the entire Ace album featured the Grateful Dead as his backing band. An additional testament to the appeal of Weir’s songwriting, the sprightly South-of-the-border flavored “Mexicali Blues” also featured on the first Dead best-of set, Skeletons from the Closet.

“Weather Report Suite” from Wake of the Flood (1973)
While many Bob Weir songs were notable in part for their concise nature – a striking contrast to the winding and long-form aesthetic that informed many Dead compositions – Weir co-composed an extended piece of his own, “Weather Report Suite,” for the band’s sixth studio outing, 1973’s Wake of the Flood. For the band’s first release on their short-lived custom label (Grateful Dead Records), Weir worked with Barlow and folk artist Eric Andersen to craft a three-part piece that would feature in the band’s live set even before it was cut for the studio record.

“Hell in a Bucket” from In the Dark (1987)
By the mid 1980s, popular music had undergone many changes. More than a decade before, the Grateful Dead had seen their mainstream popularity experience a fertile period with Workingman’s Dead and American Beauty, but in the MTV era, the band had retreated into cult status (albeit a massive one). The mainstream didn’t bother much with the Dead, and vice versa; the band continued to be a major concert draw with a legion of devoted Dead Heads. But things shifted unexpectedly with the release of 1987’s In the Dark. On the strength of an unexpected hit single (“Touch of Grey,” No. 6 on Billboard’s Hot 100), In the Dark became a Double-Platinum commercial success. Weir’s wry “Hell in a Bucket” – composed with Barlow and keyboardist Brent Mydland – earned high rotation on MTV and gained significant radio play as well.