"Shakedown Street" is a

song A song is a musical composition intended to be performed by the human voice. This is often done at distinct and fixed pitches (melodies) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs contain various forms, such as those including the repetitio ...

by the

Grateful Dead The Grateful Dead was an American rock music, rock band formed in 1965 in Palo Alto, California. The band is known for its eclectic style, which fused elements of rock, Folk music, folk, country music, country, jazz, bluegrass music, bluegrass, ...

. It was written by lyricist Robert Hunter and composed by guitarist

Jerry Garcia Jerome John Garcia (August 1, 1942 – August 9, 1995) was an American musician best known for being the principal songwriter, lead guitarist, and a vocalist with the rock band Grateful Dead, which he co-founded and which came to prominence ...

. It was released as the title track on the album ''

Shakedown Street ''Shakedown Street'' is the tenth studio album by rock band the Grateful Dead, released November 15, 1978, on Arista Records. The album came just over a year after previous studio album ''Terrapin Station''. It was the final album for Keith and ...

'' in November 1978. The song was first performed live on August 31, 1978, at the

Red Rocks Amphitheatre Red Rocks Amphitheatre (also colloquially as simply Red Rocks) is an open-air amphitheatre built into a rock structure in the Western United States, western United States, near Morrison, Colorado, west of Denver. There is a large, tilted, flyi ...

, in

Morrison Morrison may refer to: People * Morrison (surname), people with the Scottish surname Morrison * Morrison Heady (1829–1915), American poet * Morrison Mann MacBride (1877–1938), Canadian merchant Places in the United States * Morrison, Colorad ...

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

. The song "From the Heart of Me" was also played for the first time during the performance. It depicts the reasons for inner-city urban decay. The album for which the song is the title track reached #41 on the

Billboard Top 200 The ''Billboard'' 200 is a record chart ranking the 200 most popular music albums and EPs in the United States. It is published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine and is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artis ...

for 1979.Planer, Lindsay
"Shakedown Street" song review
n. pag.

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

. Web. Retrieved 21 Sep 2011. The term "

" was later used colloquially to describe the area outside of Grateful Dead concerts where vendors sold their wares.

Production

"Shakedown Street" was produced by

Lowell George Lowell Thomas George (April 13, 1945 – June 29, 1979) was an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and record producer, who was the primary guitarist, vocalist, songwriter and founder/leader for the rock band Little Feat. Earl ...

. The song was recorded and mixed at the band's studio, Club Le Front, in San Rafael, California. The recording took place throughout July 31, 1978 and August 18, 1978. "Shakedown Street" is found on the band's original album ''

'' (1978) as well as single recordings on ''Shakedown Street/France'' (1979), and ''Alabama Getaway/Shakedown Street'' (1981). Musicians include: *

- guitar, vocals *

Donna Godchaux Donna may refer to the short form of the honorific ''nobildonna'', the female form of Don (honorific) in Italian. People *Donna (given name); includes name origin and list of people and characters with the name * Roberto Di Donna (born 1968), Ita ...

- vocals *

Keith Godchaux Keith Richard Godchaux (July 19, 1948 – July 23, 1980) was a pianist best known for his tenure in the rock group the Grateful Dead from 1971 to 1979. Biography Godchaux was born in Seattle, Washington, and grew up in Concord, California ...

- keyboard *

Mickey Hart Mickey Hart (born Michael Steven Hartman, September 11, 1943) is an American percussionist. He is best known as one of the two drummers of the rock band Grateful Dead. He was a member of the Grateful Dead from September 1967 until February 19 ...

- drums, percussion * Robert Hunter- lyrics *

Bill Kreutzmann William Kreutzmann Jr. ( ; born May 7, 1946) is an American drummer and founding member of the rock band Grateful Dead. He played with the band for its entire thirty-year career, usually alongside fellow drummer Mickey Hart, and has continued ...

- drums, percussion *

Phil Lesh Philip Chapman Lesh (born March 15, 1940) is an American musician and a founding member of the Grateful Dead, with whom he played bass guitar throughout their 30-year career. After the band's disbanding in 1995, Lesh continued the tradition of ...

- bass, vocals *

Bob Weir Robert Hall Weir ( ; né Parber, born October 16, 1947) is an American musician and songwriter best known as a founding member of the Grateful Dead. After the group disbanded in 1995, Weir performed with The Other Ones, later known as The Dead ...

- guitar, vocals

Recognition and critical reception

The album ''

'' received heavy criticism for being choppy and poorly produced. Gary Terch from ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

'' said it “comes across as an artistic dead end” and “The disco tinges in the latter merely add to the catastrophe”. Modern music critic Stephen Erlewine credits the album's struggles to the unexpected use of disco and the primary use of

Donna Jean Godchaux Donna Jean Thatcher Godchaux-MacKay (born August 22, 1947) is an American singer who was a member of the Grateful Dead from 1972 until 1979. Biography Donna Jean Thatcher was born in Florence, Alabama. Prior to 1970, she had worked as a sessi ...

. Another factor which heavily contributed to the album's poor organization was that first-time producer

was at the time under pressure with his band

Little Feat Little Feat is an American rock band formed by lead vocalist and guitarist Lowell George and keyboardist Bill Payne in 1969 in Los Angeles. George disbanded the group because of creative differences shortly before his death in 1979. Surviving ...

. However, even despite critics' doubts in Lowell's ability, band member Bill Kreutzmann stated in an interview:

Lowell was really like a member of the band more. If we were working on a song and he didn't feel it was going right, he'd just grab a guitar and come into the studio and show us how he felt it. That was one of the ways he'd communicate, and it worked great. I had a tremendous amount of respect for him.

Despite the album's overall criticism the song "Shakedown Street" would eventually go on to have its own success. "Shakedown Street" was one of three songs composed by Jerry Garcia and Robert Hunter on the album to be added to the band's live songbook, and was from time to time the band's opening song. When performed live, the band tended to extend the song's ending with instrumental jamming. Live, it was also played in a slower R&B groove than the fast "disco" pace on the album. In 1979 "Shakedown Street", along with the rest of the album, hit a peak of 41 on the ''Billboard'' top 200 chart; as a standalone single, the song failed to chart. In 2013, the song was featured in ''

The Simpsons ''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical depiction of American life, epitomized by the Simpson family, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, ...

'' episode "

Homerland "Homerland" (styled as "HOMƎRLAND") is the first episode of the twenty-fifth season of the American animated television series ''The Simpsons'' and the 531st episode of the series overall. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United Stat ...

Shakedown Street vending

After the song's success, many Grateful Dead followers, or

Deadheads A Deadhead or Dead Head is a fan of the American rock band the Grateful Dead. In the 1970s, a number of fans began travelling to see the band in as many shows or festival venues as they could. With large numbers of people thus attending strings ...

, used the name for the

vending A vending machine is an automated machine that provides items such as snacks, beverages, cigarettes, and lottery tickets to consumers after cash, a credit card, or other forms of payment are inserted into the machine or otherwise made. The fir ...

areas outside of Grateful Dead concerts during the ‘80s and ‘90s. These vending areas were a place to purchase merchandise, food, and often illicit items. In more recent years, the music and arts festival

Bonnaroo The Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival is an American annual four-day music festival developed and founded by Superfly Presents and AC Entertainment. Since its first year in 2002, it has been held at what is now Great Stage Park on a farm in M ...

has used the term to describe the concert's long strip of vending.

References

External links

* http://artsites.ucsc.edu/GDead/agdl/shak.html
Dead.net
the official site of the

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shakedown Street 1978 songs Grateful Dead songs Songs with lyrics by Robert Hunter (lyricist) Songs written by Jerry Garcia