I really like the Grateful Dead, but I have no idea what my favorite song is.
Today I went for a bike ride and threw on some Dead. I listened to Deal, and Althea, and China Cat > Rider, and Eyes of the World, and Scarlet > Fire. As each song came on, I thought to myself, this has to be their best song. Each song was better than the last, but I would’ve had the same experience if I listened in reverse order. I finally came to the conclusion all these years later that they’re all my favorite song.
While I was moving my legs around and around to move my bike forward over forest roads, I also wondered what my favorite part of riding a bike is. I love spinning down winding roads with the sun filtering through the autumn leaves, the meditation of feeling my heart and breathing and cadence in sync during long climbs, the bliss of fast descents that make you smile and laugh with nerves. It’s all my favorite.
Maybe Help > Slip > Franklin’s is actually the Dead’s best song, which is a way to cheat and pick three songs. Or Dark Star, because it doesn’t know what it’s going to be when it starts. In that case, maybe Drums > Space is their best song, because it isn’t really anything at all. But even then, the opportunity these can bring forgo the neatness of Ripple or Uncle John’s Band.
I think everything can be my favorite thing, because it’s all one song.
