The Best Of Dark Star
“We’re gonna do an elementary dance number now. It’s a fox trot and it’s also a ladies choice”
Dark Star
Lyrics: Robert Hunter
Music: Grateful Dead
Dark star crashes Pouring its light into ashes Reason tatters The forces tear loose from the axis Searchlight casting For faults in the clouds of delusion
Shall we go, you and I, while we can? Through the transitive nightfall of diamonds
Mirror shatters In formless reflections of matter Glass hand dissolving To ice petal flowers revolving Lady in velvet Recedes in the nights of goodbye
Shall we go, you and I, while we can Through the transitive nightfall of diamonds?
Spinning a set the stars through which the tattered tales of axis roll About the waxen wind of never set to motion in the unbecoming Round about the reason hardly matters nor the wise through which
The stars were set in spin
Notes
In some versions (eg 68-03-16 and 71-02-18) Jerry sings “Dark star flashes”
The Top 10
- 69-02-27 Fillmore West, San Francisco, CA LIVE DEAD
- 69-11-02 Family Dog at the Great Highway, San Francisco, CA SBD
- 70-02-13 Fillmore East, New York, NY Dick’s Picks #4
- 70-09-19 Fillmore East, New York, NY SBD
- 72-04-08 Wembley Empire Pool, London, England Steppin’ Out With The Grateful Dead
- 72-05-11 Rotterdam Civic Hall, Rotterdam, The Netherlands SBD
- 72-08-21 Berkeley Community Theatre, Berkeley, CA SBD
- 72-09-21 The Spectrum, Philadelphia, PA SBD
- 73-11-11 Winterland Arena, San Francisco, CA SBD
- 73-12-06 Cleveland Convention Center, Cleveland, OH SBD
Honorable Mentions
- 69-04-22 The Ark, Boston, MA SBD
- 70-01-02 Fillmore East, New York, NY SBD
- 70-05-15 Fillmore East, New York, NY SBD
- 72-08-24 Berkeley Community Theatre, Berkeley, CA SBD
- 89-10-26 Miami Arena, Miami, FL SBD: Set 1; SBD: Set 2
Historically Significant
- 67-12-13 Shrine Exhibition Hall, Los Angeles, CA (First Time Played) N/A
- 72-08-27 Old Renaissance Faire Grounds, Veneta, OR (Springfield Creamery Benefit) SBD
- 78-12-31 Winterland Arena, San Francisco, CA (last show @ Winterland Bustout) The Closing Of Winterland
- 89-10-09 Hampton Coliseum, Hampton, VA (“Formerly The Warlocks” Bustout) SBD
- 91-10-31 Oakland Coliseum Arena, Oakland, CA (Bill Graham/Ken Kesey reading/last Halloween show) SBD
- 94-03-30 The Omni, Atlanta, GA (Last Time Played) SBD
Garcia’s Thoughts?
Reich: Well then if we wanted to talk about “Dark Star”, could you say anything about where it comes from?
Garcia: You gotta remember that you and I are talking about two different “Dark Stars.” You’re talking about the “Dark Star” which you have heard formalized on a record, and I’m talking about the “Dark Star” which I have heard in each performance as a completely improvised piece over a long period of time. So I have a long continuum of “Dark Stars” which range in character from each other to real different extremes. “Dark Star” has meant, while I’m playing it, almost as many things as I can sit here and imagine, so all I can do is talk about “Dark Star” as a playing experience.
Reich: Well, yeah, talk about it a little.
Garcia: I can’t. It talks about itself.