Brokedown Palace (song)

Robert Hunter, the band's lyricist wrote the lyrics for "Brokedown Palace" alongside "Ripple" and "To Lay Me Down" in about two hours on his first trip to England, as he recalled: "I sat there with a case of retsina and I opened up a bottle of that stuff", he continued by saying that "for some reason this creative energy started racing through me and I could do no wrong". It was originally considered for included on ''Workingman's Dead'', but did not make the final tracklisting. == Composition and lyrics ==

The music of "Brokedown Palace" has been described as a "simple, slow gospel-inspired blues melody" by Matthew Greenwald. Lyrically, it takes inspiration from the experiences Hunter had around the time of the album, with a hope for the future. == Release and reception ==

"Brokedown Palace" was included as the second track on the second side of the American Beauty record. And is seen as a highlight on the album as well as one of the band's best songs and ballads. When ranking the 20 best Grateful Dead songs for Paste magazine, Matt Mitchell placed it at number 18, calling it "sublime and gentle", while noting that "it’s saccharine in a way that the band just never gets hit in the same way ever again." he concludes by saying that he personally prefers the track as a "tender, solemn moment of farewell and of soul’s set adrift." Various writers of Rolling Stone placed it at 46 in a ranking of Jerry Garcia's 50 greatest songs, Stating that "Garcia paired Hunter’s lyrics about letting go with a dollop of Southern gospel, heightened by the Dead’s woodsy harmonies" Writing for Pitchfork Andy Cush called it an "uncomfortably intimate window on their process, which hardly anyone needs to hear more than once." == Personnel ==

Grateful Dead • Jerry Garcia – lead vocals, electric guitar • Bill Kreutzmann – drums • Bob Weir – rhythm guitar • Phil Lesh – bass • Mickey Hart – percussion Other musicians • Howard Wales – piano == References ==