"Touch of Grey" is the song featured in the 2008 vampire horror film Lost Boys: The Tribe, written by Jerry Garcia and Robert Hunter, and performed by the American rock band the Grateful Dead.
This song is known for its refrain "I will get by / I will survive". It combines dark lyrics in the verses with upbeat pop instrumentation. A simple pronoun change in the final chorus ("We will get by / We will survive") transformed the song into an anthem, especially for the band's most ardent followers.[1]
The music was composed by Jerry Garcia, and the lyrics were written by Robert Hunter. It was also released as a music video, the first one by the Grateful Dead.
The song was first performed as an encore on September 15, 1982, at the Capital Centre in Landover, Maryland, and was finally released on In the Dark in 1987. The song reached the top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, peaking at number 9,[2] and reached number 1 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, the only song by the band ever to do so on both charts.[3] It was released as a single with "My Brother Esau" and later "Throwing Stones", and has appeared on a number of albums and collections.[4]
Music video[]
The music video for "Touch of Grey" gained major airplay on MTV and featured a live performance of the band, first shown to be life-size skeleton marionettes dressed as the band, then as themselves. The skeleton of bassist Phil Lesh catches a rose in its teeth, thrown by a female attendee; later, a dog steals the lower leg of percussionist Mickey Hart, and a stagehand hurries to retrieve and reattach it. Near the end of the video, the camera tilts up into the rafters to reveal that the living band members are themselves marionettes being operated by a pair of skeletal hands.
The video was directed by Gary Gutierrez, who had previously created the animation sequences for The Grateful Dead Movie. It was filmed at Laguna Seca Raceway after one of the band's concerts in May 1987.[5][6]
The popularity of the single and its video helped introduce the Grateful Dead to a new group of fans, resulting in the band gaining additional mainstream attention.[3][7]
Video documentary[]
The Grateful Dead also released a 30-minute documentary called Dead Ringers: The Making of Touch of Grey, about the production of the music video. The documentary was directed by Justin Kreutzmann, the son of drummer Bill Kreutzmann.[8]
Lyrics[]
Must be getting early
Clocks are running late
Paint by number, morning sky
Looks so phony
Dawn is breaking everywhere
Light a candle, curse the glare
Draw the curtains, I don't care
'Cause it's alright
I will get by
I will get by
I will get by
I will survive
I see you've got your fist out
Say your piece and get out
Yes, I get the gist of it
But it's alright
Sorry that you feel that way
The only thing there is to say
Every silver lining's
Got a touch of grey
I will get by
I will get by
I will get by
I will survive
It's a lesson to me
The Ables and the Bakers and the Cs
The ABCs we all must face
Try to keep a little grace
It's a lesson to me
The Deltas and the East and the Freeze
The ABCs we all think of
And try to win a little love
I know the rent is in arrears
The dog has not been fed in years
It's even worse than it appears
But it's alright
Cow is given kerosene
Kid can't read at seventeen
The words he knows are all obscene
But it's alright
I will get by
I will get by
I will get by
I will survive
The shoe is on the hand it fits
There's really nothing much to it
Whistle through your teeth and spit
'Cause it's alright
Oh, well, a touch of grey
Kind of suits you anyway
That's was all I had to say
But it's alright
I will get by
I will get by
I will get by
I will survive
We will get by
We will get by
We will get by
We will survive
We will get by
We will get by
We will get by...
References[]
- ↑ Richardson, Peter (January 7, 2015). "The Grateful Dead in the Age of Reagan". The History Reader. Retrieved on November 21, 2024.
- ↑ "Grateful Dead". Billboard.com.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Ruhlmann, William. "Touch of Grey". AllMusic.com. Retrieved on August 31, 2012.
- ↑ "Grateful Dead Family Discography: Touch of Grey". DeadDisc.com.
- ↑ "Behind The Scenes of the Making of Grateful Dead 'Touch of Grey' Video 1987". JamBase (January 29, 2017). Retrieved on November 8, 2018.
- ↑ Browne, David (November 3, 2014). "See Incredible Live Photos of the Grateful Dead". Rolling Stone.
- ↑ Jackson, Blair (June 15, 2012). "That 'Touch of Grey' Summer". Dead.net. Retrieved on August 31, 2012.
- ↑ "Grateful Dead Family Discography: Dead Ringers: The Making Of A Touch Of Grey". DeadDisc.com.
External links[]
- Touch of Grey at Lost Boys Wiki
- Touch of Grey at Amazon
- Touch of Grey at Apple Music
- Touch of Grey at Spotify
Video[]
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This page uses content from the English Wikipedia page Touch of Grey. The revision history lists the authors. The text on Warner Bros. Entertainment Wiki and Wikipedia is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License (CC BY-SA). |
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This page uses Creative Commons Licensed content from the Lost Boys Wiki. The list of authors can be seen in the page revision history (view authors). As with Warner Bros. Entertainment Wiki, the text of the Lost Boys Wiki is available under the CC-BY-SA license. |
