Alabama Getaway - Grateful Dead song review

Alabama Getaway

This is a great rock song from the album Go to Heaven. This song falls into the category of music I call "for Deadheads only." This category of music describes songs that are beloved to Deadheads but utterly unknown to the public at large. I do believe this song actually was released as a single or at the very least the Dead played it on Saturday Night Live (if memory serves).

This song sounds like a 70's rock song that a Southern boogie woogie rock band would play. The word "honky tonk" comes to mind. The lyrics are about a character named Alabama who is a reckless casanova and gets into trouble a lot. The lyrics remind me of Tennessee Jed for some reason.

I would have loved to have seen this song live, but it wasn't meant to be. I can see in my Deadbase X that the band did revive the song in 1995 for the first time since Brent's passing.

Alabama Getaway Song Rating on a Scale of 1-10: 8.0

Disclaimer: This is part of my review of every Grateful Dead song from A-Z. Music is a beautiful thing because it is so personal and subjective, so keep in mind that this is one man's opinion (and be sure to read my blog manifesto to understand a little more about where I'm coming from).