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"Ripple"
Single by Grateful Dead
from the album American Beauty
A-side"Truckin'"
ReleasedNovember 1, 1970
RecordedSeptember 1970
GenreFolk rock
Length4:09[1]
LabelWarner Bros.
Songwriter(s)Jerry Garcia
Robert Hunter[1]
Producer(s)Grateful Dead
Steve Barncard
Grateful Dead singles chronology
"'Uncle John's Band / New Speedway Boogie'"
(1970) 		"Ripple"
(1970) 		"'Johnny B. Goode / So Fine'"
(1972)

"Ripple" is the sixth song on the Grateful Dead album American Beauty. It was released as the B-side to the single "Truckin'".[2]

Background

Robert Hunter wrote this song in 1970 in London on the same afternoon he wrote "Brokedown Palace" and "To Lay Me Down" (reputedly drinking half a bottle of retsina in the process [3]). The song debuted August 18, 1970 at Fillmore West in San Francisco. Jerry Garcia wrote the music to this song.[3]

"Ripple" has a similar melody[citation needed] to the gospel hymn "Because He Lives," which was published a year later.[4] Both songs are similar[citation needed] to "Any Dream Will Do" from the Andrew Lloyd Webber-Tim Rice musical Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. However, in his book The Grateful Dead FAQ, writer Tony Sclafani points out that even though "Any Dream Will Do" was written in 1968, Garcia is unlikely to have heard it, because no recording was released until 1970.[5]

In popular culture

A number of essays have been written analyzing and annotating this song.[3]

The 1985 drama film Mask, with Cher and Eric Stoltz, features this song.[6]

Reception

In 2021, Rolling Stone ranked the song at number 334 in their updated list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

References

  1. ^ a b "Image of "Ripple" single". Archived from the original on 28 September 2011. Retrieved 14 February 2010.
  2. ^ "Grateful Dead Family Discography: The Grateful Dead Discography". www.deaddisc.com. Retrieved November 6, 2019.
  3. ^ a b c "The Annotated "Ripple"". artsites.ucsc.edu. Retrieved November 6, 2019.
  4. ^ "Because He Lives".
  5. ^ Sclafani, Tony (2013). The Grateful Dead FAQ. Backbeat Books. ISBN 1617135828.
  6. ^ "Soundtrack listing for Mask". IMDb. Retrieved 14 February 2010.
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