I’ve played this more than any other record, I think. Let It Bleed started with a lead, but I don’t care much for Midnight Rambler anymore. American Beauty was my favorite for a long time, but over the years it got too damn melodic for a rock record. As evidence of the power of Workingman’s Dead, it is what I played last time I chased an earworm away.
I used to think Uncle John’s Band had too many questions in it. When I was in school, I had to answer more questions than I wanted, so when the Dead asked ‘how does the song go?’ I said if you don’t know I won’t help you. Now I just think of it as entry-level existentialism and laugh it off.
The only way I can claim to be like Sam Cooke is that I don’t know much biology either, but I have never believed a dire wolf would weigh 600 pounds. ‘Six hundred pounds of sin’ is a terrific and terrifying image, but that would be bigger than most tigers. Just now I read the entry in Wikipedia for dire wolf (I didn’t know it used to be a thing)—it topped out at 150 pounds. I still don’t want one at my window.
converselyspeaking 