Touch Of Grey Hunter 1986 UVA.wmv

The Dead rode it to platinum status. Here it is no longer in the dark. The first draft of Touch Of Grey was written in 1980. It was originally intended for a projected Robert Hunter album that was never completed. First performed by the GD as an encore in Landover, Maryland in September 1982 the song was not included on a recording until 1987. It was then released on In The Dark and as a single which became the Dead's biggest selling release reaching number 9 on the Billboard charts. Robert Hunter wrote the song while in England, visiting his girlfriend. I had been up all night, he said, and I was looking blearily through the window the next morning, wondering, How do you survive? And I thought, You just do. And I sat down and wrote from the world-weary point of view I was experiencing right then. I started detailing the things that were happening to me. As a performer, Hunter had been singing the song for awhile before Garcia took it to the Dead. According to Jerry, Hunter sang Touch of Grey as a sort of dry, satirical piece with an intimate feel, he said, but I heard something else coming through it. We will get by said something so me, so I set it to play big. My version still has the ironic bite in the lyrics, but what comes across is a more celebratory quality.

Added 27 Mar 2026