By Harry Kaplan
The sadness that poured over me initially when I learned that Phil Lesh had passed was overwhelming. I never met Phil but I have known him for the last 40 years when my journey on the bus began. I first listened to the Grateful Dead in earnest in 1982 in a friend’s basement during a weed smoking session after school. I had heard Casey Jones and Truckin’ on the radio but never paid too much attention. “Driving that train, high on cocaine” was a catchy opener and very appealing to my 13 year old self. It was a rebellious statement, but that was all I knew. My friend had a small phonograph and put on Skeletons From The Closet and I heard Saint Stephen for the first time. Something clicked, a switch went on and I just had to know more about this group that wrote this song. Beautiful hooks and unconventional lyrics and vocals were like nothing I had ever heard before. The phrase, “One man gathers what another man spills” was so profound. I had to learn everything there was to learn about this band.
Skeletons led to Workingman’s Dead, which led to American Beauty. This was some time around 1983. That’s when I first heard “Box of Rain.” Wait a minute, who is singing? This isn’t Jerry Garcia or Bob Weir, whose voices I had recognized by this point. This was different. On an album with numerous timeless classics such as the previously mentioned “Truckin’,” “Sugar Magnolia,” and “Ripple,” “Box of Rain” rose to the top of the heap.
The song evoked emotions of joy, sadness, and hope. I didn’t really understand the lyrics fully but I knew how the song’s words and music made me feel. I found out that a guy named Phil Lesh sang that song. The bass player? Well that was my first impression because rock bass players I thought were in the back seat along with the drummer. I was wrong about that one. This was the early 80’s before the internet so information about musicians was hard to come by.
I found out later that Robert Hunter wrote the words and Phil in fact composed the music. But it didn’t matter. Hunter and Lesh and the other Grateful Dead members were a collective that thrived on musical unity. It was the hive mind, the Vulcan mind meld, where individual contributions blended seamlessly into a greater whole. Through the use of psychedelics, they mastered the art of telepathy, forging connections that transcended typical communication. So it really was, and is, one for all and all for one.
“Look out of any window, any morning any evening any day. Maybe the sun is shining birds are winging or rain is falling from a heavy sky.” How profound. I had never heard lyrics like this. These were more than just pop lyrics. These words held hidden meaning. I didn’t really know what the full meaning was. I still am not sure that I do. But these words are the path to enlightenment.
That’s the beauty of abstract song writing. It transcends time and space. The meaning is very personal. Originally, the song was written by Hunter about Phil’s father who was dying of cancer. But it was written in a way to be adaptable to whoever needs it. My box of rain to help me through difficult situations may be different than yours. That’s the beauty of this song and this writing style.
Fast forward to 1984 when I was seeing the Dead for the first time at Merriweather Post Pavilion. I was ready, I had Skeletons, American Beauty, and Workingman’s Dead committed to memory. Oh, they opened with Casey Jones. Right on schedule. Sugar Magnolia was next probably followed by St Stephen. Well after the first song. I was completely lost. I wasn’t prepared for the Grateful Dead. But, I was eager to learn more.
Since I didn’t know many of the songs at that point, I focused on studying the band members. I focused most of my attention on Phil. He was wearing a beautiful rainbow colored tie die. He was moving around, a lot. Of all the band members, he seemed to be having the best time. I noticed that the other band members were taking cues from Phil. It was fascinating.
Over the years, I got the chance to really focus on Phil’s bass and it really was like no one else. Phil was a trumpet player before Jerry Garcia recruited him to play bass, even though Phil had never touched a bass in his life at that point. He attacked that instrument similar to how a lead trumpet player would. The bass went from the background to the forefront. It had just as much of a voice as did both guitars and the keyboards.
Phil was probably the most harmonic bass player ever. He played the high register. Again, he approached the bass as a lead guitarist would. But he never upstaged. He knew exactly when to bomb and when to hold back. In other words, he was an incredibly unselfish musician. He benefitted when the band benefitted. He took risks, the band took risks. Sometimes they were successful, sometimes, not so much. But it never stopped them from trying. And Phil was always pushing it forward.
I saw an interview with Phil and the interviewer asked which album he enjoyed making the most. He said, “Anthem of the Sun because we pushed it the farthest.” Something a mad scientist would say. Phil stated in the “Long Strange Trip” documentary that Owsley Stanley was a mad scientist. Phil was a bit of a mad scientist too, when it came to music. Just look at his 1975 project Seastones. I’ve tried to listen to it and I just can’t make it through. But Phil was an experimenter. The more out there it was, the more Phil seemed to gravitate towards it.
More importantly than Phil’s musical prowess was the fact that by all accounts he was a great human being. Grounded and just plain nice. He never seemed to take himself too seriously. People that I know who had met Phil all comment that he was incredibly “down to earth” and personable. He also called people by their names. He cared about people. That’s the ultimate compliment you can pay someone and Phil earned every word of it.
I was speaking to friend and I said that I thought Phil would live forever. I guess I didn’t really think that, it was more that I couldn’t bear to imagine a world without him. My friend told me he will live forever. And it’s 100% true. Phil Lesh is one of the most recorded musicians in the history of recorded music. Since the late 60’s every note on Phil’s bass has been taped, recorded, and played by the masses of Dead Heads and music lovers. So the cup is definitely half full. While the physical Phil may have passed away, the spirit Phil is still widely accessible. I take comfort in that.