Scarlet Begonias- Live at Barton Hall, Cornell University

The Grateful Dead wrote “Scarlet Begonias” circa summer of 1974. The Dead are San Francisco-originated, credited to starting the rise of psychedelic rock. The band has a handful of songs that led to their rise in fame, like “Friend of the Devil,” or “Uncle John’s Band.” It’s a swirl of folk, country, bluegrass, and rock. They’ve played “Scarlet Begonias” live a dozen times- from Ontario to Amsterdam. The Grateful Dead rarely take the plots within their songs too seriously, and “Scarlet Begonias” is an example of such. It’s written by Robert Hunter, and sung by reputable band member Jerry Garcia. It follows a chance encounter with an extraordinary woman, divulging the audience in some flirtatious situational humor. One of the best parts about their music is the genuinosity it is given; most of their songs have heavy improvisation throughout their live shows. Which is why the Grateful Dead may not sound like anything special until listened to live. Though the band no longer plays, there are a handful of mock bands attempting to capture the same incredibly coordinated yet spontaneous feeling they did, circa the 60s when counterculture was on the rise. The roots of the Grateful Dead center on Jerry Garcia, one of the founding members and the lead singer of the band. The reason for such a world wind of a genre is due to the different backgrounds of the artists. With Garcia being a fan of bluegrass, and music composer Phil Lesh deriving from electronic. And due to their changeability, the Dead have remained a cultural icon for nearly three decades. Scarlet Begonias particularly sticks out to me. Maybe it’s because the band itself is representative of the wave of psychedelics and experimental ideologies in the 60s. The Dead’s fame is not solely attributed to their good sounds, but it heavily lies in the cultural implications of the time, and impact of such music.