Jerry Garcia Talks The Importance Of Recordings In 1974 Interview

In the 1977 Grateful Dead Movie, which was filmed in 1974, Jerry Garcia told a story about a night he was really upset by the band’s playing and wound up throwing Phil Lesh down a flight of stairs. Jerry ended the story by saying when he listened to the tapes later they were so good the Dead wound up releasing them. Footage from the same 1974 interview with Garcia has come across our radar and includes Jerry’s thoughts on the difference between how he remembers the gig versus what he hears when he listens to a recording of the same gig.

The guitarist/vocalist emphasizes the importance of recordings to his process, “If there weren’t recordings, at least for me, I would’ve gotten too discouraged to play. I would’ve felt too downed out by the way it feels when it doesn’t feel right.” Garcia is sure to differentiate between making errors and feeling, “If I’m talking about feeling I sort of mean there’s an ease of flow.” He goes on to say, “You don’t have to struggle for ideas, those are the kind of nights that get me off, because they are flowing.”

Watch the clip recorded in 1974: