Chords for Bruce Hornsby Inducts the Grateful Dead into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame 1994

Thank you, thank you.
I'm here to talk about and pay tribute to the amazing, wonderful
phenomenon known as the Grateful Dead.
A lot's been written about these guys, often discussed
in terms of the sort of sociological or cultural phenomenon aspects, the vast, undulating,
throbbing, tie-dyed masses, and the entire subculture that surrounds and follows the
band.
But I'd like to deal with the band's music from the point of view of a fan, someone
who was a fan for 15 or 20 years, who then ended up playing music with them.
In 1974,
as a 19-year-old college student, I went to see the Grateful Dead play in my hometown.
At the end of the five-hour show, Bobby Weir walked up to the microphone and said, we had
so much fun tonight that we're going to come back tomorrow night, take out all the seats,
and play for free.
Now, when you're 19 years old, I mean, that was really for me.
That
was big.
And anyone else who was there, for that matter, I think they instantly converted
anyone.
From that point on, I was a real fan.
And my friends and I did come back for the
second free night, where they didn't repeat one song from the night before.
And still
don't.
As you know, some know.
The Dead had an influence on lots of people I knew in those
days, such as the college fraternity of Deadheads I knew, who used to drop acid, paint their
faces, and go play intramural volleyball.
_ They never won.
Not once. _ _
At later shows in
those days, those same friends could be seen scratching their heads as Phil Lesch played
his electronic music at the intermissions, the Seastones records.
The Dead has always
been about more than rock and roll, about artistic curiosity and freedom, and has always
been interested in and involved with the gamut of the music of the world.
From Mickey Hart's
world music projects that were going on long before the current widespread interest and
sort of faddish interest in world music, to Garcia's Bluegrass Projects, to their Rex
Foundation, a charitable organization that, among other things, gives grants to obscure
20th century classical composers, along with such varied musicians from other musical areas
like Pharaoh Sanders and David Grissman.
They've always been more than just a rock band.
And
speaking of world music, picture Mickey Hart, Bill Graham, and basketball hall of famer
Bill Walton riding around on camels around the Sphinx in Egypt when the Dead played there
years ago.
These guys have truly always gone their own way.
But in the end, it would always
come back to closing the concert night with a Chuck Berry song, or Not Fade Away, a Dylan
song, or Turn On Your Love Light.
No other band would give you Ola Tungi and Love Light,
shades of [F] Luciano Berrio and Chuck Berry, music concrete, and three chords in the same night.
[C] Rock and roll has supposedly always been about freedom.
To me, The Grateful Dead changed the
idea of a rock show from something really rather strict and calculated.
You probably knew when
Elvis was going to do [N] his moves, when the Beatles were going to shake their heads and go woo, or
when Jerry Lee was going to play the piano with his feet, if you saw the shows once, to something
very loose, unstructured, anti-pop, a less formal and spontaneous approach to a rock show, a rare
situation where they play a show where the music is always up for grabs.
Believe me, I know about
this.
There were many times when I would be on stage with these guys, and I didn't know what the hell
was happening.
_ _ _ _ Billy Kreutzman would have to give me some sort of sign or some sort of hand signal.
We're going here, Bruce.
Go there with us. _
_ [F#] _ _ _ _ They're telling me to shut up over there.
Another hand signal.
_ But that's good to me.
That's freedom and spontaneity, and it makes for many more special
musical moments than would occur if you just played their same rote show every night.
I mean,
how many groups would ask a musician to come in off the street, namely me, and let him play all
night every night with no rehearsal, knowing that I only knew about a chord of the songs to begin
with?
That's loose.
I mean, there's nowhere else I know of where in front of the aforementioned tie-dyed
masses you can play one song for an hour.
[N] _ _ _ _
Here's to them.
Once I started playing with them, I realized
that they were on the inside, just as I had imagined on the outside, a bunch of really good people
with some great songs and a very unique approach.
As the Bumper Stickers have
proclaimed for over 20 years, there is really nothing like a Grateful [B] Dead concert.
_ [F#] The Dead show to me is about the best party you can go to, the modern day three-ring circus,
the modern day tent show, something much more than just a rock show.
They're also unique in the sense
that unlike almost anyone ever inducted into the Hall of Fame, the Dead exists virtually completely
outside of the record business.
A very nice place to be sometimes. _
[N] Their own business has gotten to
the point where someone could have shown up tonight to this dinner wearing a Garcia tie,
a Garcia dress, Garcia jeans, and a Garcia coat.
All but at Macy's or Bloomingdale's.
That's quite
a concept to me.
These guys have been together for 28 years, an amazing feat in and of itself.
They've been through an awful lot in that over a quarter century of time together,
and in that time been graced with the talents of several members no longer with us,
who should be remembered for the good years they spent with the group.
Ron Pigpen-McCurnan,
_ [Bm] _ _
Godshaw, and Brent Midland. _ _ _ _
And also, let us not forget the current keyboard player,
Vince Welnick, [G#] _ and a guy from the early days, Tom Constantin, who are also here tonight.
_ Through it all, the tough times and the mostly great times, they've been the true renaissance
band, and frankly I don't understand why they didn't get into this thing last year.
There I said it.
Ladies and gentlemen, here's to the Grateful Dead and another 28 [F#] years.
Thanks a lot. _