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verification. (September 2009) |
"Ripple" | ||||
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Single by Grateful Dead | ||||
from the album American Beauty | ||||
A-side | " Truckin'" | |||
Released | November 1, 1970 | |||
Recorded | September 1970 | |||
Genre | Folk rock | |||
Length | 4:09 [1] | |||
Label | Warner Bros. | |||
Songwriter(s) |
Jerry Garcia Robert Hunter [1] | |||
Producer(s) | Grateful Dead Steve Barncard | |||
Grateful Dead singles chronology | ||||
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"Ripple" is the sixth song on the Grateful Dead album American Beauty. It was released as the B-side to the single " Truckin'". [2]
Robert Hunter wrote this song in 1970 in London on the same afternoon he wrote "Brokedown Palace" and "To Lay Me Down" (reputedly drinking half a bottle of retsina in the process [3]). The song debuted August 18, 1970 at Fillmore West in San Francisco. Jerry Garcia wrote the music to this song. [3]
"Ripple" has a similar melody[ citation needed] to the gospel hymn " Because He Lives," which was published a year later. [4] Both songs are similar[ citation needed] to " Any Dream Will Do" from the Andrew Lloyd Webber- Tim Rice musical Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.
A number of essays have been written analyzing and annotating this song. [3]
The 1985 drama film Mask, with Cher and Eric Stoltz, features this song. [5]
The song is played during the last scene of the television series Freaks and Geeks.
In 2021, Rolling Stone ranked the song at number 334 in their updated list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.