Alice D. Millionaire is actually a reference to Owsley Stanley, aka Bear, after he got busted for LSD. There was a headline in the newspaper that labeled him as an “LSD Millionaire.” So naturally what did the Dead do? Turned the phrase into a punny song title. Alice D. = LSD. Get it?
Alice D Millionaire didn’t get much love in the live setting. Apparently it was played a few times in ’66, but was quickly dropped. It’s certainly a song for a specific time in history and in that sense it’s understandable why it didn’t have a long life.
This song ended up as a bonus track on the remastered version of the Dead’s first album.
This one is fast and has a surf/go-go vibe to it. The chorus is a swirl of picked chords and organ swirls. The vocals at the end of the second chorus are really nice. They’re layered well and everyone sounds on key. Pigpen’s vocals have a smoothness to them that doesn’t always come across on his tunes that is quite welcome here in my opinion. During the verses listen carefully to the left speaker. Bobby is picking some interesting stuff there. I will say that listening to this song now makes me realize that it sounds very rigid. The transitions between the different sections are very abrupt and you can tell this was an early songwriting effort by the band. It’s a nice little song, and short too, but there’s a combination of rawness in terms of song structure and smoothness in terms of recording that makes it interesting.
Spent some time yesterday listening to Stevie Wonder’s Songs In The Key Of Life. Definitely some gems on there.
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