How Sweet It Is...
Published: shakedownshuffle.substack.com/p/how-sweet-it-is
Ba-ba-DAH-da… ba-BAH.
395 times, those were the first four notes of the night. You know the ones. Jerry Garcia opened his shows with "How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You)" more than any other song. Nearly 400 times.
THE SHOWS
1,246 shows catalogued. Solo work only — no Grateful Dead. Feb 23, 1963 — the earliest on record. Wildwood Boys. Palo Alto. 1963 to 1995. Thirty-two years of showing up.
SHOWS BY DECADE
- 15 in the '60s
- 389 in the '70s
- 584 in the '80s
- 256 in the '90s
WHAT HE PLAYED
779 unique songs documented across all known setlists. 13,554 setlist entries in my database.
MOST PLAYED (all-time)
- "How Sweet It Is" — 515 times
- "Midnight Moonlight" — 417 times
- "Run For The Roses" — 387 times
- "Deal" — 386 times
- "Harder They Come" — 363 times
HOW HE OPENED: "How Sweet It Is" — opened 395 shows HOW HE CLOSED: "Midnight Moonlight" — 388 closers
THE VENUES
The Stone — 122 shows Keystone — 112 shows The Warfield — 181 shows
Same rooms. Same people. Same understanding.
THE ARCHIVE
- Official releases / Radio sources — 1,243 shows
- YouTube sourced — 640 shows
- 880 shows have confirmed YouTube video matches
- 376 partial recordings
- 769 complete single recordings
Some shows don't exist in any collection. The tapes weren't rolling, or they were, and the recording didn't survive. Those are the ones that live only in people's memories now.
I never got to see him myself.