The late 1960s and early 1970s were prime for the Grateful Dead, as the band wrestled through the country’s political turmoil with their unique brand of performances. The Dead’s psychedelic-inspired journeys incorporated countless elements of the musical spectrum tied directly to the counterculture movement. One direct protest song they produced was “New Speedway Boogie”, a shuffling blues number penned by Robert Hunter and Jerry Garcia. Though the song would ultimately appear on the Workingman’s Dead album in early 1970, it made its live debut on December 20th, 1969, at The Fillmore West in San Francisco, CA.

According to Hunter, the song was written as a direct response to a popular article published just after the tragedy of Altamont, criticizing it as the end of the counterculture era. For those unaware, Altamont was a major concert event that was poorly organized and quickly turned violent, leaving four dead and dozens more injured. You can read our feature about it here.

Lines in “New Speedway Boogie”, like “Please don’t dominate the rap, jack, if you’ve got nothing new to say” and “Who can deny it’s not just a change in style?” speak to this mindset, encouraging those who thought differently not to be discouraged during the time of crisis. Ultimately, the Dead would come to champion the continuing counterculture movement during the 1970s, making good on the words set forth in “New Speedway Boogie”.

Altamont occurred on December 6th, 1969, and the song was debuted just two weeks later in San Francisco. The Grateful Dead were keenly aware of the Altamont tragedy, and actually decided to cancel their performance at the festival despite being the principal organizers. The tragedy must have resonated with them, and from that feeling, “New Speedway Boogie” was born.

Interestingly enough, “New Speedway” was only played on a handful of occasions in 1969 and 1970, before ultimately being shelved until 1991! You can hear that fateful debut version played 50 years ago today, thanks to this recording on Archive.org uploaded by Jonathan Aizen.

Grateful Dead – The Fillmore West – 12/20/69 – Partial Audio

The song took on new life in 2016 when Australian rock star sensationperformed a rendition of the song for the massive Day Of The Dead tribute released that year. She also brought the song to, as you can see in the video below.

Courtney Barnett – “New Speedway Boogie” [Grateful Dead cover] – Mountain Jam 2016

[Video: RhymanTube]

One way or another, this darkness got to give…

[Originally published 12/20/16]