Watch Grateful Dead On Jubilant ‘Man Smart, Women Smarter’ Cover At Shoreline In 1989

The latest video in the Grateful Dead’s All The Years Live series is a performance of “Man Smart, Woman Smarter.” The cover is from GD’s October 1, 1989 concert at the Bay Area’s Shoreline Amphitheater.

“Man Smart, Woman Smarter” was first recorded by Trinidadian artist King Radio (Norman Spain) in 1936. The Grateful Dead — heavily influenced by rock ‘n’ roll pioneer Bo Diddley — took the Calypso tune and gave it the “Bo Diddley Beat” treatment, which led to the song being called a “drummers’ choice,” as Dead archivist David Lemieux explained:

Debuting in 1981, this song was often called a “drummers’ choice” when the Dead played it, with its rhythmic beat. Initially appearing throughout the setlist, within a couple of years it was mostly found in the pre-Drums portion of the second set, another great Bobby option for this slot.

As Dave alluded to, the Grateful Dead unveiled “Man Smart, Woman Smarter” on July 2, 1981 and performed it nearly 200 times up until 1995, as per JerryBase.com. While certainly a great “Bobby option,” keyboardist Brent Mydland also shined on the song, singing the high harmony and delivering surging swells on the B3 organ, as was the case at Shoreline in ’89.

Watch the Grateful Dead perform “Man Smart, Woman Smarter” below: