Slipknot

Music: Garcia, Lesh, Weir, Kreutzmann, K Godchaux

An instrumental nearly always forming the transition between Help On The Way and Franklin's Tower. It grew out of a jam that featured in 1974 performances of "Eyes Of The World" (thanks to Mike Scheier for pointing this out). The title may have come from a fragment of lyric that Hunter wrote for "Help On The Way" that was never used:

Beautiful lie
You can pray
You can pay
Till you're buried alive

Blackmailer blues
Everyone in the room
Owns a part of the noose
Slipknot gig
Slipknot gig
Slipknot gig

Did someone say
Help on the way
Well, I know
Yeah, I do
That there's help on the way
Grateful Dead Recordings
     Date Album
     studio 1975 Blues For Allah
     13 Aug 1975 One From The Vault
     28 Sep 1975 30 Trips Around The Sun
     10 Jun 1976 June 1976 Box Set
     14 Jun 1976 June 1976 Box Set
     17 Jun 1976 Dave's Picks Volume 28 (note 5)
     19 Jun 1976 June 1976 Box Set
     24 Sep 1976 Dave's Picks Vol 4 (note 2)
      9 Oct 1976 Dick's Picks Vol 33
     31 Dec 1976 Live At The Cow Palace
     26 Feb 1977 Dave's Picks Volume 29
      9 May 1977 May 1977: Get Shown The Light Box
     22 May 1977 Dick's Picks Vol 3
      9 Jun 1977 Winterland June 1977 - The Complete Recordings
     11 Oct 1977 Road Trips Volume 1, Number 2
     26 Apr 1983 Dave's Picks Volume 39
      2 Sep 1983 Dave's Picks Volume 27
     11 Sep 1983 Dave's Picks Vol 52
     12 Oct 1983 In And Out Of The Garden
      1 Apr 1984 30 Days Of The Dead (2014)
     17 Apr 1984 30 Days Of The Dead (2018)
     21 Apr 1984 30 Days Of The Dead (2021)
      8 Oct 1989 Warlocks Box
     22 Oct 1989 30 Days Of The Dead (2017)
     24 Mar 1990 Spring 1990
     30 Mar 1990 Without A Net (note 1)
     18 Jul 1990 Dave's Picks Volume 40
     24 Mar 1991 30 Days Of The Dead (2016)
      5 May 1991 30 Days Of The Dead (2010)
     14 Jun 1991 View From The Vault II (video/DVD & CD soundtrack)
     10 Sep 1991 30 Trips Around The Sun
     25 Sep 1991 Dick's Picks Vol 17
      1 Oct 1994 30 Trips Around The Sun (note 6)
      3 Jul 2015 Fare Thee Well (CD and DVD)
 
Phil Lesh and Friends Recordings
     19 May 2006 Live At The Warfield
 
(Plus live recordings by The Dead, Furthur, Dead & Company, Ratdog, Phil Lesh & Friends etc not listed here. See Grateful Dead Family Discography for a full list.)
 
Other Recordings
     Date Album Recorded By
     1996 Blues For Allah Project Joe Gallant & Iluminati (note 3)
     1997 Jake's Leg Jake's Leg
     1998 Blue Light Rain Jazz Is Dead
     2001 Live At The Green Mill Sabertooth
     2012 D'Eadphibians D'Amphibiand
     27 Apr 2012 UMBowl at Park West, Chicago, IL Umphrey's McGee (note 4)
     2015 Twangin' The Dead Matt Rae
     17 Apr 2015 Live: Morrison, CO Disco Biscuits (note 4)
     14 May 2015 Dear Jerry: Celebrating The Music Of Jerry Garcia Billy & The Kids
     2016 Better Left Unsung Holly Bowling
     2018 Garcia Songbook Joe Craven & The Sometimers
     2019 Live At The Old Church Holly Bowling
     31 Dec 2018 Rising Up To Paradise Big Swell

Notes
(1) also on the box set Spring 1990
(2) also made available for download on 30 Days Of The Dead (2011)
(3) also released on "New York Downtown, Jazz and Other Sounds"
(4) The list above includes only one illustrative example of the series of live recordings by these artists. For a full list see the Grateful Dead Family Discography.
(5) also included in 30 Days Of The Dead (2012)
(6) also included in 30 Days Of The Dead (2022)


Further Information
For an online discussion of the lyrics to this song see the
deadsongs.vue conference on The Well.
For more information on recordings see Matt Schofield's Grateful Dead Family Discography
For information on references in the lyrics see David Dodd's Annotated Grateful Dead Lyrics
For David Dodd's discussion of this song on dead.net see Greatest Stories Ever Told
For online chords and TAB see www.rukind.com
For sheet music, see:
          Without A Net Songbook (piano arrangement)

 


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