One good ride from start to end, I'd like to take that ride again...""
The Annotated "Might As Well"
An installment in The Annotated
Grateful Dead Lyrics.
By David Dodd
Library, University of Colorado at Colorado Springs
(The opinions expressed are those of the author, not of the University of Colorado.)
Copyright notice; © 1995,1996, David Dodd
"Might As Well"
Words by Robert Hunter; music by Jerry Garcia
Copyright Ice Nine Publishing; used by permission.
Lyrics omitted. The annotations below are reproduced by permission of David Dodd; the song lyrics themselves are copyrighted and are not reproduced here. Read them at the official source: dead.net/songs.
"Might As Well"
Recorded on
First performance: June 3, 1976, at the Paramount Theater in Portland, Oregon. "Might As Well"
opened the show, and was followed by "Cassidy". Other firsts in the
show were
The song memorializes the Trans-Continental Pop Festival, or Festival Express tour, which saw the Dead, Janis Joplin,
The Band, NRPS, Delaney and Bonney, and others joining forces to "bring on the party where they need it the most," in May of 1970.
A reference to the Spiritual, "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot."
Sometimes heard and/or transcribed as "mighty swell."
Possibly a reference to the band's home county, Marin, in California.
Keywords:
DeadBase code: [ASWE]
First posted: January 7, 1997
Last revised: