The Grateful Dead’s “Ripple” Played by Musicians Around the World

As the Grate­ful Dead gets ready to play its final show tonight, Play­ing for Change has released a love­ly video fea­tur­ing an inter­na­tion­al cast of musi­cians — some well-known, some not — play­ing “Rip­ple” (stu­dio ver­sion here), a tune from the great 1970 album Amer­i­can Beau­ty. The new clip fea­tures appear­ances by Bill Kreutz­mann, Jim­my Buf­fett, David Cros­by, David Hidal­go of Los Lobos. Enjoy.…

Update: You can now lis­ten to/stream the Dead­’s final shows here.

h/t @stevesilberman

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Comments (67)
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  • Bill Walton's cousin says:

    “Rip­ple” was part of Jam­Base’s Songs Of Their Own series. One of 50 trib­utes to the Grate­ful Dead: http://www.jambase.com/soto.aspx

  • Tom D'Evelyn says:

    So I ask myself why these tears? And play it again.

  • John Stewart says:

    It reminds me of “i would like to buy the world a coke,” which is one year younger. How­ev­er, I imag­ine both songs have pre­de­ces­sors in music his­to­ry.

  • timothyj says:

    I think the pre­de­ces­sor you’re look­ing for is “Any Dream Will Do” from the Andrew Lloyd Web­ber musi­cal “Joseph and the Amaz­ing Tech­ni­col­or Dream­coat”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9F0AGnUEj4. Very sim­i­lar melody but with some dis­tinct­ly dif­fer­ent notes.

  • Kellie says:

    Best damn song ever made…I don’t care who sings it

  • Jane Zawrotnak says:

    brings back won­der­ful hap­py and some sad mem­o­ries.

  • Vince says:

    one of my all time favorites, and these peo­ple made it even more beau­ti­ful, it’s true about music being the uni­ver­sal lan­guage and love the key, as a folk musi­cian myself and I do this song in all my shows, but some­one will come up and ask “are you going to do Rip­ple tonight”, I just smile and say you bet I am

  • Dave says:

    Used to hum this song to my kids now 37&39 to get them to sleep what won­der­ful mem­o­ries. Wake up to find out you are the Eyes Of The World !!

  • Javafutter says:

    Had a rough morn­ing find­ing out my 13 year old dog needs surgery and may not make it. This has helped eased the pain. Thanks to whomev­er cre­at­ed this beau­ti­ful video and all the won­der­ful musi­cians who par­tic­i­pat­ed.

  • Gail Schumann says:

    Wow — me too. Found myself weep­ing through the whole song, and then replay­ing it again and again.

  • Wes boy says:

    Writ­ten by Phil Lesh for his father, who had just passed away.

    A Love­ly ver­sion.

  • Joe says:

    Actu­al­ly, you’re think­ing of Box of Rain. Hunter wrote Rip­ple.

  • Steve says:

    John — think you are think­ing of The New Seek­ers and “I’d Like To Teach The World To Sing” — which is what the Coke com­mer­cial is based on. Of course, there is a set of alter­na­tive lyrics that may be more rel­e­vant to a Dead thread… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWKznrEjJK4

  • Mark says:

    Beau­ti­ful ver­sion of an incred­i­ble tune. Makes me miss Jer­ry all over again…

  • Andrea says:

    I know! 3rd time in a row, and the tears keep flow­ing! Pure Joy!

  • Gosh says:

    It WAS beau­ti­ful. But I can’t help think­ing why weren’t any women giv­en the chance to sing the lead?

  • fmapes says:

    You’re think­ing of Box of Rain

  • Bruce Coen says:

    Fan­tas­tic trib­ute! Beau­ti­ful­ly done!

  • Nancy says:

    That isn’t Los Angles,CA where David Cros­by is…it’s Albany,NY!!!

  • Wes boy says:

    oops, thanks.

  • smobey says:

    Wow. All those fab­u­lous musi­cians!
    And then Jim­my Buf­fet?

  • kilo says:

    we are every­where

  • Michael Straley says:

    Fan­tas­tic — sim­ply fan­tas­tic — what a world we live in where music can be made like this from artists all over and then enjoyed on-line with such high qual­i­ty and pleas­ing video.

    Thanks very much.

    Michael

  • Frankie says:

    Don’t have to be a “Dead Head ” to appre­ci­ate this song !!

  • Katy says:

    Can’t share to Pin­ter­est because it says “Invalid image data”

    Love this col­lab­o­ra­tion of musi­cians and this song.….wanted to save it for future play­ing and can’t.

  • merri says:

    what an awe­some trib­ute! let the tears flow!

  • Ayubu says:

    Yes, would that not be won­der­ful?

  • Don Martel says:

    this is my favorite TGD song. this was an amaz­ing trib­ute to Jer­ry. i was able to save the post and can lis­ten to it any­time i want. every time i lis­ten to this, i close my eyes and it takes me back to 1995 when i saw The Dead in my home town of Chica­go. is there any plans to have this song avail­able on iPod?

  • David says:

    Keel­in Gar­cia and Tula are both singing melody which IS the lead.

  • David says:

    He is FROM Los Ange­les, CA.

  • Bruce CG Gallagher says:

    Love this .…..so beau­ti­ful

  • Rick Barker says:

    I bought my first GD vinyl in 1966 for 98 Cents with Cap­tain Trips and his top hat grac­ing the front.“Morning Dew“is great. Pig Pen gave us School Girl Mono only.

  • Tinman says:

    It has the feel of a song you’ve heard since ear­ly child­hood, like a lul­la­by. It is part of your pack­age, your real­i­ty. It is indeed, a great song!

  • Lynda Curtis says:

    Such an uplift­ing song on such a gloomy day🥰luv my mem­o­ries. Cher­ish all the shows through­out my child­hood.

  • Linda says:

    Beau­ti­ful — we played this at my hus­band’s memo­r­i­al. Play it every year, as loud as pos­si­ble on the anniver­sary. Best Dead song ever

  • Toni Turcketta says:

    It’s all about love…

  • Teddi Bronson says:

    Awe­some song and great world con­tribute the Dead the Best🌹🦅🌹

  • MichaelDersch says:

    Such a great song, wish I could hear them donut again

  • Peter says:

    Won­der­ful ren­di­tion of a beau­ti­ful song👏🙌❤️ Side note: The David Cros­by edit is actu­al­ly in Albany NY-Hud­son Riv­er in the back­ground.

  • David Harrison says:

    Me too.

  • William Bergmann says:

    We hope to get per­mis­sion to use this for our cru­sade to help save the plan­et!

  • Paul says:

    Dead for­ev­er!

  • Cheryl Maxwell says:

    I got diag­nosed with ALS two years ago.i can no longer speak or sing along but my heart is full of so much Love when I hear this song. It is my favorite. I have played it three times. In my mind I am singing àt the top of my lungs with
    David Cros­by. Bless­ings to all who con­tributed to this sim­ply amaz­ing ren­di­tion of my favorite song.My heart is hap­py ♥️☮️✌🏻🎧🎵🎶🎻🎸🎼🎻🎵🎶

  • Cheryl Maxwell says:

    I got diag­nosed with ALS two years ago.i can no longer speak or sing along but my heart is full of so much Love when I hear this song. It is my favorite. I have played it three times. In my mind I am singing àt the top of my lungs with
    David Cros­by. Bless­ings to all who con­tributed to this sim­ply amaz­ing ren­di­tion of my favorite song.My heart is HAPPY

  • Friederike von Arnswaldt says:

    Im afraid you­ve con­fused Rip­ple with Box of Rain!!- Rip­ple was writ­ten by Robert Hunter&Jerry Gar­cia. Box of Rain was writ­ten by Phil after his father passed. Just thought id let you know…Peace …

  • Karen Jackson says:

    Missin’ my best friend , hus­band Steve . This lift­ed my shears a bit . Thank you …

  • Kat Morr says:

    The song you men­tioned is actu­al­ly “I’d like to teach the world to sing”. It reminds me of “Coun­try Roads”, and Neil Dia­mond, go fig­ure. I’m sure can all be remind­ed of some­thing sim­i­lar from that era, but this will always be a great song! 😊

  • Diane taddie says:

    Best song ever. Tears for the past mov­ing along so fast. Great mem­o­ries. Thanky­ou for the love

  • Rogan ODonnell says:

    as always per­fect tim­ing ty. Bless­ing to all 💜 JG

  • Marc karp says:

    That was spectacular…thank you

  • Timothy Ray says:

    Robert Hunter wrote the lyrics for “Box of Rain” as a gift to Phil when Phil’s father was dying. Phil wrote the music for the song.

  • Joseph McGrath says:

    Awe­some

  • Gerald Mullins says:

    This is such a beau­ti­ful and inspir­ing song and to do it with all these folks all over the world singing and hap­py !!!

  • Sherry Pairamore says:

    If I knew the way… I would take you home… this was fan­tas­tic! Thanks to all of you and thanks to the GD 🎶❤️🌎

  • Dave Smith says:

    That was beau­ti­ful

  • John books says:

    Per­fect tune for Play­ing for change. Left me in tears again and again.

  • Sue K says:

    Jer­ry was born in San Fran­cis­co.
    Jer­ry wrote the music for Rip­ple.
    He spent most of his life in Nor­Cal.
    He died in For­est Knolls, a small town just both of SF.

  • Theresa Lawlis-Papola says:

    this is bril­liant. I’m cry­ing. So freak­ing good!

  • patricia e ogrady says:

    Same!!!

  • Mary M says:

    So beau­ti­ful it brings me to tears as I replay it over and over. Peace. ☮️

  • Tom Harasin says:

    May all the peo­ple of our plan­et have a very Jer­ry day.

  • Sandra Stevens says:

    Love­ly, inspi­ra­tional. Thank you.

  • John Hannaway says:

    Sor­ry that was “Box of Rain”

  • Mary B says:

    Cheryl,
    Music is an all-body expe­ri­ence. Although you can­not sing any­more, the music lives with­in you, and every mus­cle, cell, and mist of all, your heart. B
    Bless­ings to you,
    Mary

  • Mark H says:

    That, too, made my day

  • Alberto Pesca says:

    Great emo­tion­al ver­sion of the per­fect Amer­i­can bal­lad

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