People have been listing their ten favorite Grateful Dead songs on Bluesky, following a post from @inthefade, and The Mountain Goats‘ John Darnielle joined in. His list includes “Jack Straw,” “He’s Gone,” “St. Stephen,” “Althea,” “Ripple,” “Box of Rain,” “The Other One,” “Dark Star,” their rendition of “Peggy-O” (which he qualifies by writing, “no it does not matter that it’s a traditional tune”), and Jerry Garcia solo song turned live Dead staple “Deal” (“it was ‘Deal’ or ‘Bertha’ but ‘Deal’ tends to get the better solos,” Darnielle says). But then in a followup post, he added, “Honestly as good as ‘Box of Rain’ is they hardly ever played it and the Dead are a live band so ‘Bird Song’ should probably take the ‘Box of Rain’ spot.” About “Deal,” he also added, “I once saw several people on headyversion agree that the later the ‘Deal’ the better, like into the 90s even, which is a wild assertion given how good ‘72 ‘Deal’ gets, but I’m listening to 5/26/93 now and the big solo is lunar stuff.”
In response to another person having “I Know You Rider” on their list, Darnielle said, “I almost put ‘Rider’ on mine, it was so close, but I already had ‘Peggy-O’ holding down the ‘traditional’ spot. Embarrassment of riches.” He also said that his favorite year of Dead shows is ’73, and in response to someone asking where to begin with the Dead, he said, “Anywhere really — there are several eras so it depends on your taste. I love the cosmic country of the ‘73 shows but the wild psych of ‘69 is really something…personally the live acoustic set ‘Reckoning’ is my favorite entry point.”
And in response to another list that had 1987’s “Touch of Grey”–technically the band’s only hit song–Darnielle said, “‘Touch of Grey’ is an extraordinary song by any measure of songcraft, sour Deadheads can kick rocks on this subject.”
The Mountain Goats have covered the Dead on numerous occasions, including multiple renditions of “Ripple;” watch video below. Darnielle also wrote an essay on Reckoning for a Vinyl Me, Please box set.
For more Grateful Dead, read our ranking of their studio albums from worst to best.
The Mountain Goats’ most recent album was last year’s Jenny From Thebes, and they’re on tour with Anna Tivel through the middle of the month. See all remaining dates below.
mine:
jack straw
st stephen
althea
ripple
peggy-o*
the other one
box of rain
deal**
dark star
he’s gone*no it does not matter that it’s a traditional tune
**it was deal or bertha but deal tends to get the better solos— the Mountain Goats (@themountaingoats.bsky.social) December 2, 2024 at 7:46 AM
THE MOUNTAIN GOATS: 2024 TOUR DATES
Dec 4, 2024 Victory North Savannah, GA
Dec 5, 2024 The Floridian Social St. Petersburg, FL
Dec 6, 2024 The Social Orlando, FL
Dec 7, 2024 The Social Orlando, FL
Dec 9, 2024 Paper Tiger San Antonio, TX
Dec 10, 2024 Antone’s Nightclub Austin, TX
Dec 11, 2024 Antone’s Nightclub Austin, TX
Dec 13, 2024 Tipitina’s New Orleans, LA