| "Touch of Grey" | |
|---|---|
| Single by Grateful Dead | |
| from the album In the Dark | |
| Released | 1987 |
| Format | 12", 7" |
| Genre | Rock |
| Length | 5:50 (Album Version) 4:35 (Single Version) |
| Label | Arista |
| Writer(s) | Jerry Garcia, Robert Hunter |
| Producer | John Cutler |
"Touch of Grey" is a 1987 single by the Grateful Dead, and is the band's biggest commercial hit. The song is known for its refrain "I will get by / I will survive". It combines non sequitur lyrics with a pop tempo. The music was written by Jerry Garcia, and the words are by Robert Hunter. It was also released as a music video, the first one by the Grateful Dead.
First performed as an encore on September 15, 1982 at the Capital Centre in Landover, Maryland, it was finally released on In the Dark in 1987, and went to the top 10 on Billboard's Hot 100 and number 1 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, the only song by the band ever to do so on both charts.[1] It was released as a single with "My Brother Esau" and later "Throwing Stones", and has appeared on a number of albums and collections.[2]
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Its video 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 video's popularity helped introduce the Grateful Dead to a new generation of fans, resulting in the Grateful Dead gaining mainstream attention after years of existing on the fringes of the music scene. The video was directed by Gary Gutierrez, who had previously created the animation sequences for The Grateful Dead Movie.
The Grateful Dead also released a 30-minute documentary called Dead Ringers: The Making of Touch of Grey, about the production of the video. The documentary was directed by Justin Kreutzmann, the son of drummer Bill Kreutzmann.[3]