Somebody said it at a bar. We wrote it down.
All music is either Grateful Dead or Beatles.
Obviously that’s ridiculous.
So we built an index to test it.
Every song gets a score from Garcia 0 to Lennon 100, based on where its musical identity actually comes from.
Some Beatles songs turn out surprisingly Garcia. Some Dead songs are extremely Lennon. And somewhere in the middle is Dead Center.
Every song is somewhere.
Findings so far: it’s complicated.
Garcia 0. Dead Center 50. Lennon 100.
One line, two poles. At the Garcia end the music is made while it is being played. At the Lennon end it was finished before anyone picked up an instrument. Five songs to show the range.
The theory has a problem
If the claim were simply true, every Beatles song would sit on the right and every Dead song on the left. They don’t. The two bands overlap from 14 to 88.
Exhibit A
Beatles songs that are surprisingly Garcia
Dig ItGLI 14The Beatles did not write this one. They played it.
Yer BluesGLI 31A Beatles song that travelled between three bands inside a year.
FlyingGLI 39A made-up twelve-bar blues credited to all four, cut down from nine minutes.Phase I
Establish the baseline
Before we classify everything else, we’re starting with the source material: The Beatles and the Grateful Dead.
By mapping their catalogs first, we establish what Garcia, Lennon, and everything between them, actually looks like.
The two bands are the calibration experiment. They are where the Index starts, and they are not where it stops.
Research status
- Cataloged
- 50 songs so far, 25 per band, out of two much larger catalogs
- Classified
- 50 with sourced facts, both arguments and a signed-off verdict
- Provisional
- 0 with a case written and awaiting review
- Unclassified
- 0 cataloged with no score yet
Nothing gets a number without a written case. The rest of both catalogs is still to come.
Phase II
Everybody else
Once the baseline is established, the experiment expands.
Phase II introduces music from other artists, genres and eras to see where they land against the Garcia–Lennon baseline.
Every song is somewhere.
The Index
All of Phase I on one line, a lane for each band. Type in the search box at the top of the page and the map follows. Select any mark for its sleeve and its case.
Select a mark to pull its sleeve.
The Crossover Zone, 49–74
This is where Garcia-leaning Beatles songs meet Lennon-leaning Dead songs. The most Garcia Beatles track sits at 14, the most Lennon Dead song at 88. Neither band owns its own namesake.
Two bands. One spectrum. A lot to argue about!
All fifty, Garcia to Lennon
Every Phase I song as a wall of sleeves, in order. Red numbers lean Garcia, blue lean Lennon. Pick any one and read why it is where it is.
GLI4Dark Star
GLI10The Other One- GLI14Dig It
GLI18Playing in the Band
GLI24Bird Song
GLI27Fire on the Mountain- GLI31Yer Blues
GLI34Eyes of the World
GLI38Scarlet Begonias- GLI39Flying
GLI41Get Back- GLI43Shakedown Street
GLI44I Want You (She's So Heavy)
GLI45China Cat Sunflower
GLI46Morning Dew- GLI47Don't Let Me Down
GLI48Estimated Prophet
GLI49Twist and Shout- GLI50Wharf Rat
- GLI51Revolution 9
- GLI52Helter Skelter
GLI55Truckin'- GLI57Revolution 1
- GLI58St. Stephen
- GLI60Sugar Magnolia
GLI61Tomorrow Never Knows
GLI64Hey Jude
GLI66Uncle John's Band- GLI67The End
- GLI70Friend of the Devil
- GLI71While My Guitar Gently Weeps
- GLI73Casey Jones
GLI74Help on the Way- GLI75Come Together
GLI77Touch of Grey- GLI79Terrapin Station
- GLI81Ripple
GLI83Within You Without You- GLI84Brokedown Palace
- GLI85Box of Rain
- GLI87A Day in the Life
- GLI88Attics of My Life
GLI89In My Life- GLI90I Am the Walrus
GLI91Rain- GLI92Happiness Is a Warm Gun
GLI93Yesterday
GLI94Strawberry Fields Forever- GLI95Because
- GLI97Eleanor Rigby