Shakedown Street (song)

"Shakedown Street" is a song by the Grateful Dead. It was written by lyricist Robert Hunter and composed by guitarist Jerry Garcia.^[1] It was released as the title track on the album Shakedown Street in November 1978. The song was first performed live on August 31, 1978 at the Red Rocks Amphitheatre, in Morrison, Colorado.^[1] The song "From the Heart of Me" was also played for the first time during the performance.^[1] It depicts the reasons for inner-city urban decay. The album, including the song Shakedown Street was 41 in the Billboard top 200 for 1979.^[2] Shakedown Street later became a colloquial term to describe the area outside of a concert where various merchandise is bought and sold.

Production

"Shakedown Street" was produced by Lowell George.^[3] The song was recorded and mixed at the band's studio, Club Le Front, in San Rafael, California.^[4] The recording took place throughout July 31, 1978 and August 18, 1978. "Shakedown Street" is found on the band's original album Shakedown Street (1978) as well as single recordings on Shakedown Street/ France (1979), and Alabama Getaway/ Shakedown Street (1981).^[5]

Musicians include:^[6]

• Jerry Garcia- guitar, vocals
• Donna Godchaux- vocals
• Keith Godchaux- keyboard
• Mickey Hart- drums, percussion
• Robert Hunter- lyrics
• Bill Kreutzmann- drums, percussion
• Phil Lesh- bass, vocals
• Bob Weir- guitar, vocals

Recognition and critical reception

The album Shakedown Street received heavy criticism for being choppy and poorly produced. Gary Terch from Rolling Stone Magazine said it “comes across as an artistic dead end” and “The disco tinges in the latter merely add to the catastrophe”.^[7] Modern music critic Stephen Erlewine credits the album’s struggles to the unexpected use of disco and the primary use of Donna Jean Godchaux.^[8] Another factor which heavily contributed to the album's poor organization was that first-time producer Lowell George was at the time under pressure with his band Little Feat.^[9] However, even despite critic’s doubts in Lowell’s ability, band member Bill Kreutzmann stated in an interview:

“Lowell was really like a member of the band more. If we were working on a song and he didn't feel it was going right, he'd just grab a guitar and come into the studio and show us how he felt it. That was one of the ways he'd communicate, and it worked great. I had a tremendous amount of respect for him.”^[10]

Despite the album’s overall criticism the song "Shakedown Street" would eventually go on to have its own success. "Shakedown Street" was one of three songs composed by Jerry Garcia and Robert Hunter on the album to be added to the band’s live songbook, and was from time to time the band’s opening song.^[2] When performed live, the band would also tend to extend the ending with an extension of instrumentals.^[2]

In 1979 "Shakedown Street", along with the rest of the album, hit a peak of 41 on the Billboard top 200 chart.^[11]

In 2013, the song was featured in The Simpsons episode "Homerland."

Shakedown Street vending

After the song's success, many Grateful Dead followers, or Deadheads, used the name for the vending areas outside of Grateful Dead concerts during the ‘80s and ‘90s. These vending areas were a place to purchase merchandise, food, and often illicit items.^[2]

In more recent years, the music and arts festival Bonnaroo has used the term to describe the concert's long strip of vending.^[12] It stays true to the Deadheads original description of “Shakedown Street” tailgate.

References

External links

• Dead.net, the official site of the Grateful Dead.
• Lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics