Us Blues The Grateful Dead

U.S. Blues Album: "From The Mars Hotel" (1974)
by Grateful Dead

"U.S. Blues" grew out of the 1972 Grateful Dead song "One More Saturday Night." Dead lyricist Robert Hunter wrote the words and Jerry Garcia wrote the music. The song changed a lot through Hunter's many rewrites. At some points it was a forceful anti-military (some may say anti-American) song, but the final result isn't so serious many think. It's a fun song that the Dead frequently played live. I believe it is however, quite literal. "I'm Uncle Sam, that's who I am. Been hiding out in a rock and roll band..."

Dead co-founder Bob Weir told Dupree's Diamond News in their 18th issue (May 1991) that the song wasn't meant to be favorable of Uncle Sam and American culture. "We have our pantheon, and one of the figures in the pantheon is Uncle Sam. He's sort of like the godfather figure of American culture. So we actually have a fair bit of respect for him. And he comes around in different guises, you know - in our little region, he comes around as a skeleton, but he's still wearing the same hat."

"Uncle Sam," who appears in the line, "I'm Uncle Sam, how do you do?" refers to a mythological character representing the United States government. Notice it is not a "Mother" or "Father". It is an "Uncle"... The character first arose during the war of 1812. Uncle Sam appears in many contexts of varying seriousness, but one of the most consistent is as a military recruiter. During World War II it was common to see posters with Uncle Sam's visage and the words "I Want You for U.S. Army."

The lyric "blue suede shoes" in the first line refers to the song of the same name.
The song was released as a single with "Loose Lucy" as the B-side.
P.T. Barnum and Charlie Chan are mentioned in the lyric.

Barnum (full name Phineas Taylor Barnum) was an 1800s entertainer also a con artist. He's associated with the famed line "there's a sucker born every minute" (though there is no hard evidence he actually said it).

Charlie Chan is a fictional character - a Chinese-American police detective working in Honolulu - popular in American novels and films from the 1920s to 1940s. Created by Earl Derr Biggers, Chan was still around as late as 1981 but only showed up sporadically after 1955.

The name Grateful Dead refers to a motif in English (and other cultures') folk tales and ballads in which a poor traveler spends his last coin to pay for the proper burial of a pauper, and is later rewarded for his good deed by some creature or person that reveals itself to be the spirit of the "grateful dead." >>
When The Dead were touring with Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers in 1986, Garcia was recovering from drug addiction and fell into a diabetic coma for five days.

At the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967, the Dead played a set in between The Who and Jimi Hendrix. They also played at Woodstock on the second day between Canned Heat and Creedence Clearwater Revival.

Their Woodstock performance straddled the night of Saturday, August 16, and the early morning of Sunday, August 17. One would think the Woodstock scene was tailor made for the Dead, but it didn't go well, at least by Dead frontman Jerry Garcia's own estimation:

"We played such a bad set at Woodstock. The weekend was great, but our set was terrible. We were all pretty smashed, and it was at night. Like we knew there were a half million people out there, but we couldn't see one of them. There were about a hundred people on stage with us, and everyone was scared that it was gonna collapse. On top of that, it was raining or wet, so that every time we touched our guitars, we'd get these electrical shocks. Blue sparks were flying out of our guitars."

Garcia seemed to feel things weren't going well during the show. Before starting "Dark Star," the third song of their set, he addressed the audience to let them know the band's timing was off. Still, the Dead drove on through their set, only stopping a little short because their amps blew during a "Love Light" jam.

The Godchauxs were husband and wife. Keith had been Dave Mason's piano player. They were asked to leave in 1979.
Hart was kicked out his High School band because his teacher didn't think he could keep a beat.

Garcia was in the army for nine months in 1959 before meeting longtime collaborator Robert Hunter in Palo Alto, Palo Alto... Palo Alto.
"I'm Uncle Sam, that's who I am. Been hiding out in a rock and roll band..."

Red and white, blue suede shoes
I'm Uncle Sam, how do you do?
Give me five, I'm still alive
Ain't no luck, I learned to duck
Check my pulse, it don't change
Stay seventy-two come shine or rain
Wave the flag, pop the bag
Rock the boat, skin the goat

Wave that flag, wave it wide and high
Summertime done, come and gone, my, oh, my

I'm Uncle Sam, that's who I am
Been hiding out in a rock and roll band
Shake the hand that shook the hand of P.T. Barnum and Charlie Chan
Shine your shoes, light your fuse
Can you use them old U.S. Blues?
I'll drink your health, share your wealth
Run your life, steal your wife

Wave that flag, wave it wide and high
Summertime done, come and gone, my, oh, my

Back to back chicken shack
Son of a gun, better change your act
We're all confused, what's to lose?
You can call this song the United States Blues

Wave that flag, wave it wide and high
Summertime done, come and gone, my, oh, my
My my my oh my my my my
Summertime done, come and gone, my, oh, my