“Dark Star” from ‘Live Dead’ Turns 50
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
Those of us of an age remember with certainty the first time we heard those lyrics on side one of the seminal Live Dead, The Grateful Dead’s first double-album. For 23 minutes, we were entranced, just as we were with sides two, three, and four.
That version of “Dark Star” was recorded 50 years ago today at Fillmore West. Since then, countless versions of the song have been issued, first on trader tapes and trader CDs and then on various editions of Dick’s Picks, Dave’s Picks, Road Trips, and other issues. Those include a short take on one of my very favorite albums, Two from the Vault (1968), and the astounding two-hour Grayfolded album, drawn from dozens of versions of the song.
But the one on Live Dead, thankfully reissued on Fillmore West 1969: The Complete Recordings, was the Holy Grail, and we all got to experience it together, over and over, never tiring of its hypnotic trance.
And we never will!