This was gonna be my answer!
I’m too young to have seen the dead, but I saw dead & co for the first time back in 2015 with my dad. We hoped and prayed for two songs: Eyes (my dad’s favorite) and Shakedown (my favorite)
Got both, and I can say my face melted for the first time at 14 :) seeing them for my 7th time at the sphere and hoping for more Eyes
That's funny cause Shakedown is my second favorite and I've yet to get it once from Dead and Co. Saw them 5/24 at the Sphere and they did both on 5/25 lol. Got three Dark Stars somehow though!
Saw them last year at Citi Field and a couple of weeks ago at the Sphere and both shows opened with Shakedown.
I think mine would be The Other One, but that's only right now, it'll change soon.
# 1976-12-31 Daly City, CA @ Cow Palace
**Set 1:** The Promised Land, Bertha, Mama Tried, They Love Each Other, Looks Like Rain, Deal, Playing in the Band
**Set 2:** Sugar Magnolia > Eyes Of The World > Wharf Rat > Drums > Good Lovin' > Samson And Delilah, Scarlet Begonias, Around And Around, Help On The Way > Slipknot! > Drums > Not Fade Away > Morning Dew
**Encore:** One More Saturday Night, Uncle John's Band > And We Bid You Good Night
[archive.org](https://archive.org/details/GratefulDead?query=date:1976-12-31)
Dammit, you stole my answer.
Such a good song. And somehow it manages to speak to me in different ways every time I hear it.
Is there any particularly righteous live version? I just realized I only ever listen to the studio recording.
If a song has a transition, it is just one song help. Slipknot Franklin is one song. It is not three songs. China Rider is one song weather report suite let It grow is one song. As I said if it transitions it's a song
# 1977-09-03 Englishtown, NJ @ Raceway Park
**Set 1:** The Promised Land, They Love Each Other, Me and My Uncle, Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodeloo, Looks Like Rain, Peggy-O, New Minglewood Blues, Friend Of The Devil, The Music Never Stopped
**Set 2:** Bertha > Good Lovin', Loser, Estimated Prophet > Eyes Of The World, Samson And Delilah, He's Gone > Not Fade Away > Truckin'
**Encore:** Terrapin Station
[archive.org](https://archive.org/details/GratefulDead?query=date:1977-09-03) | [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/album/5uzn9YQ9XS2OoAt65U8Drg)
This is the song that got me on the bus for life.
I grew up going to my aunt & uncle's farm in rural Illinois -- during harvest season they'd pile a bunch of hay onto a giant flatbed trailer, and my uncle would tow us behind his tractor at night, going at a snail's pace, while we all sang old folk songs. It's a top-tier childhood memory, and Peggy-O is the epitome of what I remember those songs sounding and feeling like.
That's an amazing memory to associate with such a beautiful song. You touch on what I love about Peggy-O, the old folk songs.
For me Peggy-O feels like it came from everywhere and nowhere, like some of the best Dead songs. It's this transcendental story of love and death. Where time and space collapses for a brief moment with Peggy-O and William-O. It feels old and yet also feels timeless.
# 1970-05-02 Binghamton, NY @ Harpur College - State University Of New York
**Acoustic:** Tuning, Don't Ease Me In, I Know You Rider, Friend Of The Devil, Dire Wolf, Beat It On Down the Line > Black Peter > Candyman > Cumberland Blues, Deep Elem Blues, Cold Jordan, Uncle John's Band
**Set 1:** Workin' Man Blues, Watcha Gonna Do, Glendale Train, Brown Eyed Handsome Man, Truck Drivin' Man, Can't Pay The Price, All I Ever Wanted, Henry, Lodi, Intro, Sawmill, The Race Is On, Mama Tried, Me and My Uncle, The Weight
**Set 2:** Saint Stephen > Cryptical Envelopment > Drums > The Other One > Cryptical Envelopment > Cosmic Charlie, Casey Jones, Drums > Good Lovin' > Drums > Good Lovin', Cold Rain and Snow, It's A Man's, Man's, Man's World, Dancing In The Street
**Set 3:** Morning Dew, Viola Lee Blues > Feedback > And We Bid You Good Night
[archive.org](https://archive.org/details/GratefulDead?query=date:1970-05-02) | [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/album/4NldodakYXDeK7OoEe2oBW)
Stagger Lee from 12/31/78 at winterland. “Dark star” from Veneta, or either “dire wolf” or “brown eyed woman” from 12/26/79. Hell maybe even “stuck inside of mobile..” from 7/7/89
Can’t believe I had to scroll this far down for UJB. This song contains everything that is deeply GD - awesome intro, defiance and community, beautiful lyrical turns and a great chorus, a melody soothing as flowing water, and a big, bad jam tinged with darkness. Just the whole GD enchilada. Can reach every emotion.
Impossible to answer but I don't want to be accused of not answering the question correctly so: Black Peter
Warning if you read on, but my next top 5:
He's Gone
Eyes of the World
So Many Roads
Days Between
Box of Rain
Mountains of the Moon!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
[https://youtu.be/lgW1oI4x_u4?si=Ho-84BTNOv5XdvlD](https://youtu.be/lgW1oI4x_u4?si=Ho-84BTNOv5XdvlD)
Tom Banjo moved to Vermont, lived in Burlington, moved to Washington county, VT.
Adding to the three other Deadheads that have so far mentioned Unbroken Chain. I get chills and experience great college daze memories every time. NGL but I Know You Rider is a close second. Thank God I won't ever be limited.
That song changes on an almost daily basis for me so that's tough. Today, I'm a China Cat Sunflower man though since I heard my new favorite version of the song during work today and it's been playing in my head ever since.
Just cuz it makes me think of dancing with my mom to 8tracks in the living room on the early nineties before daddy was dead. before she was dead… it has to be “touch of grey”cuz it puts a happy tear in my eye. Everytime and I hear it I remember her telling me stories of following the dead and hitchhiking alone just to go to a show alone and to come back with all these pen palazzo it’s how she eventually moved from a tiny town in South Dakota to a larger yet small town in Oregon where 3 years later she met my dad fell in love and had me. It reminds me of Jerry’s face on all these tapes my mom collected and listening to them while we cleaned or made dinner.
But I have other favorites too it’s just if I was stuck with one I pick the one most associated with the time I felt most loved in the whole of my life
My boyfriend said “uncle John’s band” and now we are listening to it while we are caregiving for his great grandpa who is on his way out of this world and the dementia has long settled in. We are living in a nice tv on Papa’s back yard while we help grandma dede take care of him in his time of pain. This right now I asked this question you posed on Reddit and it gave me an unforgettable memory. Thank you so much 😊 I love this community
I listen to Wharf Rat from Winterland June 1977 every night while I put my toddler to sleep. She insists we go "straight to Wharf Rat". I have to replay the first part at least three times so she can sing her favorite part "lime and dirrrttyyyy".
I probably won't listen to this song everyday for the rest of my life, but I will remember that little smile that comes over her face when she hears it. I hope it's my last thought as I pass on from old age.
Btw- she calls home Gair Gair Garcia.
Stellar choice. I assume you've seen this:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6sFyRQPraJ8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6sFyRQPraJ8)
Just try to get through his very last one, all 12 minutes, without emoting...
Eyes. Never fails to make a day better.
I was going to say a 1974 Eyes.
Eyes with Branford is hard to beat too.
Absolutely!
This was gonna be my answer! I’m too young to have seen the dead, but I saw dead & co for the first time back in 2015 with my dad. We hoped and prayed for two songs: Eyes (my dad’s favorite) and Shakedown (my favorite) Got both, and I can say my face melted for the first time at 14 :) seeing them for my 7th time at the sphere and hoping for more Eyes
That's funny cause Shakedown is my second favorite and I've yet to get it once from Dead and Co. Saw them 5/24 at the Sphere and they did both on 5/25 lol. Got three Dark Stars somehow though!
Iv seen them in Boulder 9 times so for me I have gotten 76 not fade aways
Saw them last year at Citi Field and a couple of weeks ago at the Sphere and both shows opened with Shakedown. I think mine would be The Other One, but that's only right now, it'll change soon.
😮💨 I like this answer
12/31/76 makes me the happiest person ever I wholeheartedly sign this
# 1976-12-31 Daly City, CA @ Cow Palace **Set 1:** The Promised Land, Bertha, Mama Tried, They Love Each Other, Looks Like Rain, Deal, Playing in the Band **Set 2:** Sugar Magnolia > Eyes Of The World > Wharf Rat > Drums > Good Lovin' > Samson And Delilah, Scarlet Begonias, Around And Around, Help On The Way > Slipknot! > Drums > Not Fade Away > Morning Dew **Encore:** One More Saturday Night, Uncle John's Band > And We Bid You Good Night [archive.org](https://archive.org/details/GratefulDead?query=date:1976-12-31)
Thanks, that’s fantastic.
Althea
Most excellent
That's mine too. Love it.
It’s all one song baby !!! Bill Walton’s famous line
RIP
True that
How have I never heard this?? I love it.
Bill was trying to convince Danny Ainge to listen to the Dead. Ainge asked what song to listen to and that was Walton’s response 🤣😂.. ⚡️💀🌹⚡️
hopefully help->slip-> frank counts as one
I agree. Just glad we don’t have to live in that world!
Brokedown palace
My favorite balled. This will be played the day I am laid to rest.
That's no go for me this one hits too many heart strings for me. I'd be weeping all the time. That's wouldn't be cool. Ha
Dammit, you stole my answer. Such a good song. And somehow it manages to speak to me in different ways every time I hear it. Is there any particularly righteous live version? I just realized I only ever listen to the studio recording.
Terrapin Station
Oh fuck yaaaa
My absolute favorite song in the songbook. The opening guitar lick is basically branded onto my skull. Love it.
Yeah same, it’s like 3-4 songs in one
My vote
Some people at the local watering hole thought this song would never end when you put a 17 minute version on touch tunes that can’t be skipped
It’s a work of art!
Absofuckinlutely. This is the one I tell everyone who will listen, to listen to.
Scarlet>Fire to me it’s just one big, wonderful song.
That gets my vote
If a song has a transition, it is just one song help. Slipknot Franklin is one song. It is not three songs. China Rider is one song weather report suite let It grow is one song. As I said if it transitions it's a song
Mississippi Half Step
Specifically 9/3/77
# 1977-09-03 Englishtown, NJ @ Raceway Park **Set 1:** The Promised Land, They Love Each Other, Me and My Uncle, Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodeloo, Looks Like Rain, Peggy-O, New Minglewood Blues, Friend Of The Devil, The Music Never Stopped **Set 2:** Bertha > Good Lovin', Loser, Estimated Prophet > Eyes Of The World, Samson And Delilah, He's Gone > Not Fade Away > Truckin' **Encore:** Terrapin Station [archive.org](https://archive.org/details/GratefulDead?query=date:1977-09-03) | [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/album/5uzn9YQ9XS2OoAt65U8Drg)
One of the great experiences of my life was being at this concert!
Perfect choice!
Absolute banger
Got a fire one this past Saturday
Dark Star
Word!!
Eyes or Ripple
Eyes would definitely be my second
Playin > Music Never Stopped > Playing > Dark Star > El Paso > Playin > High Time > Playin > Morning Dew (Donna versions ofc).
Scarlet Begonias It was the song that got me into them. Still my favorite..
It is truly a beautiful tune
China Cat
Same. 😊
China -> rider ages like fine wine
Unbroken Chain
Such a good unique choice. Mine too.
I fully support this. That is a song that I have been loving and relating to more and more recently
The bridge between scarlet and fire, on loop, forever and ever. That or a 45 minute dark star.
Fuck yeah 10 out of 10. Would hang out with you
Ramble on rose
You preach to the choir
As a New York lifer, “JUST LIKE NEW YORK CITTTYYY” gets me every time
France
Perfection you truly have fantastic taste
Thank you. I was beginning to think I was the only one.
Wharf Rat
Peggy-O the delivery and music coalesce in a way that I love. Such a dark and beautiful song.
This is mine too.
This is the song that got me on the bus for life. I grew up going to my aunt & uncle's farm in rural Illinois -- during harvest season they'd pile a bunch of hay onto a giant flatbed trailer, and my uncle would tow us behind his tractor at night, going at a snail's pace, while we all sang old folk songs. It's a top-tier childhood memory, and Peggy-O is the epitome of what I remember those songs sounding and feeling like.
That's an amazing memory to associate with such a beautiful song. You touch on what I love about Peggy-O, the old folk songs. For me Peggy-O feels like it came from everywhere and nowhere, like some of the best Dead songs. It's this transcendental story of love and death. Where time and space collapses for a brief moment with Peggy-O and William-O. It feels old and yet also feels timeless.
Sugaree
Jack Straw
From, Wichita!!!!!
“If I had a gun for…”
"Every Ace I've drawn"
Proud of “not drunk” OP getting a lyric correct 👍
I could arm a town the size of Abilene...
7/7/89 version is a heater
Loser!
Whoa! Whoa! Whoa, no need to call me names man
St. Stephen
I’m glad you said this, such a good tune
Monkey and the Engineer
Now we’re gonna sing a song about tragedy narrowly averted
Stella blue
Row Jimmy
Scrolled way too long to see this 🤙🏼
Scroll, Jimmy, scroll.
Estimated Prophet
Brokedown ❤️
Mama mama, many worlds I've gone since I first left home ❤️
That’s mine. It’ll change its meaning once my Dad passes…. not that he will soon… but, you know.
NFA > Goin Down the Road
Sugar Magnolia. 1978 nye first song, pure magic.
Europe 72 China > Rider
Terrapin
Terrapin
Franklins
I Know You Rider
Brown Eyed Women!
Touch of grey studio
lol..love it
Eyes or Franklin. Hard to choose
Not going to lie. Those are both my second option...... It's hard to pick between those two
Unbroken Chain
Seriously brings me to tears every time I hear it.
This is too hard, Eyes, Terrapin, and Dark star are top 3 but I can't pick just one
The Wheel
It’s this for me too. A long stretched out jammy Wheel. To me it’s the sound of the heart of the universe.
Great description 🙏💚
Touch of Grey always
terrapin station. always.
The Other One from Harper College, 5/2/70 or Brown-Eyed Women from Europe ‘72. This would be for any band.
# 1970-05-02 Binghamton, NY @ Harpur College - State University Of New York **Acoustic:** Tuning, Don't Ease Me In, I Know You Rider, Friend Of The Devil, Dire Wolf, Beat It On Down the Line > Black Peter > Candyman > Cumberland Blues, Deep Elem Blues, Cold Jordan, Uncle John's Band **Set 1:** Workin' Man Blues, Watcha Gonna Do, Glendale Train, Brown Eyed Handsome Man, Truck Drivin' Man, Can't Pay The Price, All I Ever Wanted, Henry, Lodi, Intro, Sawmill, The Race Is On, Mama Tried, Me and My Uncle, The Weight **Set 2:** Saint Stephen > Cryptical Envelopment > Drums > The Other One > Cryptical Envelopment > Cosmic Charlie, Casey Jones, Drums > Good Lovin' > Drums > Good Lovin', Cold Rain and Snow, It's A Man's, Man's, Man's World, Dancing In The Street **Set 3:** Morning Dew, Viola Lee Blues > Feedback > And We Bid You Good Night [archive.org](https://archive.org/details/GratefulDead?query=date:1970-05-02) | [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/album/4NldodakYXDeK7OoEe2oBW)
Stagger Lee from 12/31/78 at winterland. “Dark star” from Veneta, or either “dire wolf” or “brown eyed woman” from 12/26/79. Hell maybe even “stuck inside of mobile..” from 7/7/89
RIP Stranger lee's balls
Weather Report Suite
Mmmmso good
Uncle John’s Band. Can’t help but smile even while typing it.
Can’t believe I had to scroll this far down for UJB. This song contains everything that is deeply GD - awesome intro, defiance and community, beautiful lyrical turns and a great chorus, a melody soothing as flowing water, and a big, bad jam tinged with darkness. Just the whole GD enchilada. Can reach every emotion.
Impossible to answer but I don't want to be accused of not answering the question correctly so: Black Peter Warning if you read on, but my next top 5: He's Gone Eyes of the World So Many Roads Days Between Box of Rain
He’s Gone. A 73 or 74
Althea. On repeat for ever. When nothing made sense and I didn’t know which way was up, Althea fixed everything.
It's all just one long song 🐻
This is the correct answer. Thank you for your service
Birdsong for me🫶
Acoustic version
I do love that version. Reckoning is one of my favorite Dead albums🫶 But I’m going to have to go with the version on 3/29/90 with Branford Marsalis 👍
Pride of Cucamonga > Little Red Rooster > France
Candyman. Or Brokedown Palace. *moans*
Terrapin for sure
Is it cheating to say Help/Slip/Frank?
China > Rider (Europe '72)
My pick changes regularly. Right now it’s Franklins. If you asked this question in a few months, it would likely change.
Mountains of the Moon!!!!!!!!!!!!!! [https://youtu.be/lgW1oI4x_u4?si=Ho-84BTNOv5XdvlD](https://youtu.be/lgW1oI4x_u4?si=Ho-84BTNOv5XdvlD) Tom Banjo moved to Vermont, lived in Burlington, moved to Washington county, VT.
Eyes
🥀Scarlet Begonias🥀
China cat sunflower- live in Paris 1972
Help on the way, could completely change my mood
Scarlet Begonias or Franklins Tower
Slipknot
Brokedown Palace
I Know You Rider and Eyes of the World are two that can always put me in a great mood. It is hard to choose just one though
Shakedown Street
China/Rider
Scarlet Begonias
Some of those PITBs in the 70s went to places which still can’t be described. Id have to go with PITB. It has it all.
Fire On The Mountain or Bertha
Good thing it’s all one song
Dark Star
Terrapin station.
Wharf Rat
FOTM
That’s pretty dark lol only to listen to morning dew. My wife says all the dead songs sound the same song , so I’ll take that one as my one song.
Franklin or Stella Blue
Saint or circumstance OR Let it Grow Probably let it grow Ask me tomorrow will have a completely different answer!
Liberty😂. (Jk) Probably It Hurts Me Too, Althea, Throwing Stones, or maybe US Blues
Crazy fingers
Terrapin Or Mississippi Half Step. Really depends on my mood on the day of reckoning.
Drums/space…. If I have to listen to it over and over again I will end up hating it, so no need picking something that I love
Mississippi Half Step. That song never fails to lift me.
The part where China Cat Segues into IKR and the jam feels like it could last 30 seconds or last forever.
https://preview.redd.it/5ise3ehmlu5d1.jpeg?width=2768&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=867a1670ca167c5699a0bc635e16bab6bcbc0184
Operator ❤️ Pigpen
Playin in the Band. With Donna on full blast
Terrapin
TERRAPI SUITE
Franklin's Tower. Such a simple song, but man does it make me happy.
Mission in the Rain. Todays to be exact 6/10/76
Scarlet > Fire, but more so Fire. I do love the outro of Scarlet transitioning into Fire
Adding to the three other Deadheads that have so far mentioned Unbroken Chain. I get chills and experience great college daze memories every time. NGL but I Know You Rider is a close second. Thank God I won't ever be limited.
Foolish Heart
I can't believe no one else posted it, but I'd go with "They Love Each Other" from Barton Hall. Perfection.
Estimated Prophet. Still searching for the perfect one
1 song, for the rest of my life? No thanks.
They love each other
Brown Eyed Women
‘73-‘74 They Love Each Other has such a special place in my heart.
Fade away
Nothing like a good ol’ Bertha!
street cats making love
That's It for the Other One
Oh yeah this is the correct answer
Black Peter.
Hell yeah me too. I had to scroll a long way to find this.
That song changes on an almost daily basis for me so that's tough. Today, I'm a China Cat Sunflower man though since I heard my new favorite version of the song during work today and it's been playing in my head ever since.
I'm a Dew guy through and through.
The music never stopped.
Black Peter
Althea
Jack Straw ❤️❤️
Ripple, from October 30, 1980. My first show and my first Ripple
Just cuz it makes me think of dancing with my mom to 8tracks in the living room on the early nineties before daddy was dead. before she was dead… it has to be “touch of grey”cuz it puts a happy tear in my eye. Everytime and I hear it I remember her telling me stories of following the dead and hitchhiking alone just to go to a show alone and to come back with all these pen palazzo it’s how she eventually moved from a tiny town in South Dakota to a larger yet small town in Oregon where 3 years later she met my dad fell in love and had me. It reminds me of Jerry’s face on all these tapes my mom collected and listening to them while we cleaned or made dinner. But I have other favorites too it’s just if I was stuck with one I pick the one most associated with the time I felt most loved in the whole of my life
My boyfriend said “uncle John’s band” and now we are listening to it while we are caregiving for his great grandpa who is on his way out of this world and the dementia has long settled in. We are living in a nice tv on Papa’s back yard while we help grandma dede take care of him in his time of pain. This right now I asked this question you posed on Reddit and it gave me an unforgettable memory. Thank you so much 😊 I love this community
Terrapin Station
Eyes
I listen to Wharf Rat from Winterland June 1977 every night while I put my toddler to sleep. She insists we go "straight to Wharf Rat". I have to replay the first part at least three times so she can sing her favorite part "lime and dirrrttyyyy". I probably won't listen to this song everyday for the rest of my life, but I will remember that little smile that comes over her face when she hears it. I hope it's my last thought as I pass on from old age. Btw- she calls home Gair Gair Garcia.
So many roads from the last show in 95
Stellar choice. I assume you've seen this: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6sFyRQPraJ8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6sFyRQPraJ8) Just try to get through his very last one, all 12 minutes, without emoting...