Franklin’s Tower is hands down one of my top Grateful Dead songs. I find it best served with a side of Help On The Way/Slipknot! but a standalone version is always welcome too.
If my math is correct, Franklin’s Tower was played 221 times, 108 of which were attached to Help/Slip, leaving 113 standalone versions. I think it’s safe to say that Franklin’s had a good run and was a pretty consistent contributor to happy setlists since 1975.
I don’t remember where I heard it (probably on Tales from the Golden Road at some point) but someone was saying that Jerry copped the rhythm of Franklin’s Tower from the doo-de-doos of Lou Reed’s “Walk on the Wild Side.” I had never connected the dots on that association before, but when I heard it I immediately thought about it and it totally made sense.
Any favorite versions of Franklin’s you’d care to share, dear readers, feel free to use the comments.
Franklin’s Tower bounces with life. The B3 swirls, and Phil’s bass has a warm, yet bouncy tone to it that really carries the groove. Both drummers are clearly busy along the back line. Jerry’s first solo dances across the open plains looking for direction home, all within the warm embrace of Brent’s B3. A run through the chorus and it’s back to some of the type of jamming that makes Franklin’s such a crowd pleaser. The benefit of having multi-track tapes should be obvious here. Everyone is clear and present in the mix, which makes for great listening. The instrumental passage just after the 6 minute mark sees the band dial back the dynamics. Brent is out in front, but he’s doing a lot of ad-libbing and not so much a straight up solo. It’s an interesting phenomenon. The sustain from the B3 provides the bedrock for the last verse. From there they pick up the slack and jump into the chorus at full bore, which predictably segues into another Garcia flight of fancy. Jerry tries his hand at straight lead and a mini chord solo before returning to straight playing. Around the 10 minute mark the dynamics shift again and it almost sounds like they’re trying to find a way into Goin’ Down The Road Feeling Bad, but they decide to end in typical Franklin’s fashion rather than segueing into another song.
Complete Setlist 5/15/80
Previous Franklin’s Tower DFAY Selections
Funny place for this song perhaps, but it works like a charm here. It starts out full of energy, propelled by a fast tempo and a fully engaged band. Brent sticks to the natural organ sound, thankfully. Jerry is singing youthfully at this point. His playing is similarly energetic. All of the lyrics are remembered and although no one is confused, just listen to this music play. By 6 minutes in, it seems we might enter that last verse and be done. Think again! A quiet jam allows Brent to build some churchy structure, which is broken up into bits by some quick chops. Okay, here comes that last verse on top a thumping backing by Phil. It breaks out into the chorus as Jerry gleefully rolls away a large amount of dew. But it’s not over yet. Garcia lights into yet another flurry and just keeps keen focus on the prize. But then he doesn’t. Instead, a slow breakdown ends up in a cut-time shuffle for a few seconds before it swings back toward the song’s normal feel. Next, things do get confused and squirrely, inspiring the boys to give it up and end the thing. It’s a fun wreck to collapse on. The producers leave a nice, natural gap here where everyone catches their breath and the crowd counts their lucky stars.