"Touch of Grey" is a 1987 single by the Grateful Dead, and is the band's only commercial hit. The song is known for its refrain "I will get by / I will survive". It combines non sequitur lyrics with a pop tempo. The music was written by Jerry Garcia, and the words are by Robert Hunter. It was also released as a music video, the first one by the Grateful Dead.
First performed as an encore on September 15, 1982 at the Capital Centre in Landover, Maryland, it was finally released on In the Dark in 1987. The song got into the top 10 on Billboard's Hot 100 chart, peaking at number 9,[1] and reached number 1 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, the only song by the band ever to do so on both charts.[2] It was released as a single with "My Brother Esau" and later "Throwing Stones", and has appeared on a number of albums and collections.[3]
The music video for "Touch of Gray" 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 video was directed by Gary Gutierrez, who had previously created the animation sequences for The Grateful Dead Movie.
The popularity of the single and its video helped introduce the Grateful Dead to a new group of fans, resulting in the band gaining additional mainstream attention.[2][4]
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