‘Touch of Grey’ is a 1987 single by the Grateful Dead, and is from the album In the Dark. The song is known for its refrain "I will get by / I will survive." It combines dark lyrics in the verses with upbeat pop instrumentation. A simple pronoun-change in the final chorus (“We will get by/ We will survive”) transformed the song into an anthem, especially for the band's most ardent followers.
Robert Hunter wrote the lyrics, as he did with many Dead songs, although Jerry Garcia wrote the line, "Light a candle, curse the glare." This is according to the book Box Of Rain, which was written by Hunter and is a collection of his published songs. In the book, it is "A Touch of Grey" and has an asterisk next to the line Jerry wrote. According to David Dodd in The Annotated Grateful Dead Lyrics, the line "Light a Candle, curse the glare" is a play on Adlai Stevenson's 1962 reference to Eleanor Roosevelt's death. He said, "She would rather light a candle than curse the darkness."
The song was first performed as an encore on September 15, 1982, at the Capital Centre in Landover, Maryland, and was finally released on In the Dark in 1987. The song reached the top 10 on Billboard's Hot 100 chart, peaking at number 9, and reached number 1 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, the only song by the band ever to do so on both charts. It was released as a single with ‘My Brother Esau’ and later ‘Throwing Stones’, and has appeared on a number of albums and collections. The single is the band's only recording to ever reach the Top 40 on the Hot 100.
The music video for ‘Touch of Grey’ gained major airplay on MTV and featured a live performance of the band, first shown to be life-size skeleton marionettes dressed as the band, then as themselves. The skeleton of bassist Phil Lesh catches a rose in its teeth, thrown by a female attendee; later, a dog steals the lower leg of percussionist Mickey Hart, and a stagehand hurries to retrieve and reattach it. Near the end of the video, the camera tilts up into the rafters to reveal that the living band members are themselves marionettes being operated by a pair of skeletal hands.
The line, "I will get by, I will survive," became a mantra of resilience in the Dead community. When Jerry Garcia fell into a diabetic coma in July 1986, it looked like the group could be finished; when he returned to action in December, the group opened with ‘Touch Of Grey,’ reassuring fans that they would indeed get by.
Label – Arista
Songwriters – Jerry Garcia, Robert Hunter
Producer – John Cutler
SONG LYRICS
[Verse 1]Must be getting early
Clocks are running late
Paint by number morning sky looks so phony
Dawn is breaking everywhere
Light a candle, curse the glare
Draw the curtains, I don't care 'cause it's alright
[Chorus]
I will get by
I will get by
I will get by
I will survive
[Verse 2]
I see you've got your fist out
Say your piece and get out
Yes, I get the gist of it, but it's alright
Sorry that you feel that way
The only thing there is to say
Every silver lining's got a touch of grey
[Chorus]
I will get by
I will get by
I will get by
I will survive
[Bridge]
It's a lesson to me
The Ables and the Bakers and the C's
The ABC's we all must face
Try to keep a little grace
[Guitar Solo]
[Bridge]
It's a lesson to me
The Deltas and the East and the Freeze
The ABCs we all think of
To try to win a little love
[Verse 3]
I know the rent is in arrears
The dog has not been fed in years
It's even worse than it appears, but it's alright
Cow is given kerosene
Kid can't read at seventeen
The words he knows are all obscene, but it's alright
[Chorus]
I will get by
I will get by
I will get by
I will survive
[Verse 4]
The shoe is on the hand it fits
There's really nothing much to it
Whistle through your teeth and spit 'cause it's alright
Oh, well, a touch of grey, kind of suits you anyway
And that was all I had to say, but it's alright
[Chorus]
I will get by
I will get by
I will get by
I will survive
[Outro]
We will get by
We will get by
We will get by
We will survive
We will get by
We will get by
We will get by