U S Blues The Grateful Dead

U.S. Blues Album: "From The Mars Hotel" (1974)
by the Grateful Dead

The Grateful Dead was an American rock band formed in 1965 in Palo Alto, California. The band is known for its eclectic style, which fused elements of rock, folk, country, jazz, bluegrass, blues, rock and roll, gospel, reggae, world music, and psychedelia; for live performances of lengthy instrumental jams that typically incorporated modal and tonal improvisation; and for its devoted fan base, known as "Deadheads".

The band was ranked 57th by Rolling Stone magazine in its "The Greatest Artists of All Time" issue.

The Grateful Dead was founded in the San Francisco Bay Area amid the rise of the counterculture of the 1960s. The founding members were Jerry Garcia (lead guitar, vocals), Bob Weir (rhythm guitar, vocals), Ron "Pigpen" McKernan (keyboards, harmonica, vocals), Phil Lesh (bass, vocals), and Bill Kreutzmann (drums). Members of the Grateful Dead, originally known as the Warlocks, had played together in various Bay Area ensembles, including the traditional jug band Mother McCree's Uptown Jug Champions. Lesh was the last member to join the Warlocks before they changed their name to the Grateful Dead; replacing Dana Morgan Jr., who had played bass for a few gigs. Drummer Mickey Hart and non-performing lyricist Robert Hunter joined in 1967. With the exception of McKernan, who died in 1973, and Hart, who took time off from 1971 to 1974, the core of the band stayed together for its entire 30-year history.

"U.S. Blues" grew out of the 1972 Grateful Dead song "One More Saturday Night." Dead lyricist Robert Hunter wrote the words and Jerry Garcia wrote the music. The song changed a lot through Hunter's many rewrites. At some points it was a forceful anti-military (some may say anti-American) song, but the final result isn't so serious. It's a fun song that the Dead frequently played live.

Dead co-founder Bob Weir told Dupree's Diamond News in their 18th issue (May 1991) that the song wasn't meant to be favorable of Uncle Sam and American culture. "We have our pantheon, and one of the figures in the pantheon is Uncle Sam. He's sort of like the godfather figure of American culture. So we actually have a fair bit of respect for him. And he comes around in different guises, you know - in our little region, he comes around as a skeleton, but he's still wearing the same hat."

"Uncle Sam," who appears in the line, "I'm Uncle Sam, how do you do?" refers to a mythological character representing the United States government. The character first arose during the war of 1812. Uncle Sam appears in many contexts of varying seriousness, but one of the most consistent is as a military recruiter. During World War II it was common to see posters with Uncle Sam's visage and the words "I Want You for U.S. Army."
The lyric "blue suede shoes" in the first line refers to the song of the same name.
The song was released as a single with "Loose Lucy" as the B-side.
P.T. Barnum and Charlie Chan are mentioned in the lyric.

Barnum (full name Phineas Taylor Barnum) was an 1800s entertainer also known as a bit of a con artist. He's associated with the famed line "there's a sucker born every minute" (though there is no hard evidence he actually said it).

Charlie Chan is a fictional character - a Chinese-American police detective working in Honolulu - popular in American novels and films from the 1920s to 1940s. Created by Earl Derr Biggers, Chan was still around as late as 1981 but only showed up sporadically after 1955. By the time of his last appearance, he was considered an offensive representation of a racial stereotype, though Biggers initially created him in an attempt to counter the negative stereotypes of Chinese that abounded in the 1920s.

"U.S. Blues"

Red and white, blue suede shoes,
I'm Uncle Sam, how do you do?
Give me five, I'm still alive.
Ain't no luck, I learned to duck.

Check my pulse, it don't change.
Stays seventy-two come shine or rain.
Wave the flag, pop the bag,
Rock the boat, skin the goat.

Wave that flag, wave it wide and high.
Summertime done come and gone, my, oh, my.

I'm Uncle Sam, that's who I am;
Been hidin' out in a rock and roll band.
Shake the hand that shook the hand
Of P. T. Barnum and Charlie Chann.

Shine your shoes, light the fuse.
Can you use them old U.S. Blues?
I'll drink ya health, share ya wealth,
Run ya life, steal ya wife.

Wave that flag, wave it wide and high.
Summertime done come and gone, my, oh, my.

Back to back chicken shack.
Son of a gun, better change your act.
We're all confused, what's to lose,
You can call this all the United States Blues.

Wave that flag, wave it wide and high.
Summertime done come and gone, my, oh, my.
Summertime done come and gone, my, oh, my.