Don't Ease Me In by Grateful Dead

This song turns up more than once in Grateful Dead history. A rocked-up version of a traditional song, it was one the Dead played in their earliest days, while they were still called the Warlocks. They first recorded it as one side of a very rare 1965 single, and it was part of their earliest live sets.

Yet they didn’t get around to recording it for an album until 1980, when the Dead were at a crossroads—That album, Go to Heaven, would be their last studio album for seven years. Leader Jerry Garcia had a surprisingly low profile on that album, only singing lead on three songs (including another Rock Band track, “Alabama Getaway”).

By now “Don’t Ease Me in” sounded very different than it had in the '60s: This version is pure good-time rock, with lots of roadhouse piano by Brent Mydland who had only joined the band that year.

In 1971, the Grateful Dead released a live album whose cover invited fans to send their names in for a mailing list. The return address was “Dead Heads”—the first recorded use of that term.

Jerry Garcia played by his own logic, so the guitar part in this song will be especially tough to streak. The rhythm is unpredictable, there are quick chord changes in the verses, and there are a lot of odd note-to-chord combos. The only choice is to play the song enough to get to know it.

Jerry Garcia’s passing put an end to the Grateful Dead in 1995, but the remaining members have regrouped over the years, calling themselves just the Dead.

“Don’t Ease Me In” as performed by Grateful Dead courtesy of Warner Music Group
Jerry Garcia, Phil Lesh, Bob Weir, Bill Kreutzmann, Mickey Hart, Brent Mydland
Ice Nine Publishing Company. All rights reserved. Used by permission