Grateful Dead - Foolish Heart (Official Music Video) [HD]

You're watching the official music video remastered in HD for 'Foolish Heart' by the Grateful Dead from the 1989 studio album 'Built To Last'.

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Will you come with me? Won't you come with me? There's no better place to take a long strange trip with the Grateful Dead than right here. We've got music from every single studio album and a bevy of live albums, to boot. There are celebrated live performances from the 70s and 80s and official videos with more skeletons than you can shake your bones at, an exclusive seaside series on what's to come from the band's rich catalog and details on meet-ups all across the promised land. If it's community you’re after, try your hand at our yearly DEAD COVERS PROJECT competition and connect with fellow Dead Heads around the world. Heck, keep your eyes peeled you might even catch a glimpse of Pigpen on keys, Jerry in a GROOVE, Bobby tellin' tales, Mickey talkin' space, Phil and friends, Bill on the beach, or anyone from our extended family.

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[calburge]

The Grateful Dead’s the only band that DOESNT have songs that sound the same !!

[jeffdawson]

Videos like this make me cry. So much of the history of American music is in their sound, bluegrass, country, rock and roll, psychedelia, folk, pop, jazz-like improvisation. And even after all the changes on their long, strange trip, they never lost their original sound. I was a long-time skeptic and critic of them. I had to get older, with my own touches of grey, before I understood what they were doing. That was, they were celebrating life. Now I am more grateful.

[stevieray]

80’s-era Grateful Dead is often overlooked when fans consider their studio output. Their lone big chart hit “Touch Of Grey” is the one song that stands above the rest in terms of popularity from that time period. The 1989 album Built To Last is somewhat of a trivial footnote as the band’s final studio album, but the music on it is largely forgotten.

The lead single and opening song from that album is a piece of work that’s good enough to stand toe-to-toe even with the band’s finest. “Foolish Heart” is a marvelous combination of the band’s inimitable instrumental chemistry and lyricist Robert Hunter’s profound ponderings. Throw in a great performance by Jerry Garcia and you’ve got a true gem in the Dead’s imposing catalog.

Garcia, who wrote the song’s music, spoke about its unique construction in a 1989 interview. “The thing that’s interesting about ‘Foolish Heart’ is it doesn’t have any pads in it, ” he said. “Nobody’s playing chords in the song, not anybody. Everybody’s playing lines, and the lines hook up and tell you everything you need to know about the harmonic content of the song. You don’t wonder where it’s going. It’s so beautifully designed, it’s like a clock. It’s really lovely. It surprised me it came out so interesting and so perfect and so totally its own personality. That’s the Grateful Dead in action, really.”

You can hear what he’s talking about in the way that his guitar and Bob Weir’s weave around the keyboard hook of Brett Mydland. Against that backdrop, Hunter spins a series of commands that come off like a beguilingly gritty cross between Bob Dylan’s “Forever Young” and Polonius’ speech to Laertes in Hamlet with a little Confucian wisdom thrown in as well. These lyrics are life advice that can keep your mind sane and your heart pure if you can tune in to its cosmic wavelength.

This advice, at times heartfelt (“Learn to speak/Speak with the wisdom of a child/Directly from the heart”), at times irreverent (“Sign the Mona Lisa/With a spraycan, call it art”), gets serious when Hunter addresses the dangers of playing fast and loose with your love. “A foolish heart will call on you, ” Garcia sings in the bridge with harmony help from his bandmates, “To toss your dreams away.” This kind of recklessness, the song suggests, is the most harmful thing you can encounter: “A selfish heart is trouble/But a foolish heart is worse.”

In the final verse, Garcia brings it all home with a twinkle in his vocal like a mischievous sage. “Stoke the fires of paradise, ” he sings, “With coals from Hell to start/But never give your love, my friend/Unto a foolish heart.” For either the diehard Deadhead who hasn’t heard it in a while or the casual fan who hasn’t heart it at all, “Foolish Heart” is worth the listen as a shining example of late-period Grateful Dead that sounds like the band in its prime.

[BCMiller-kd]

"A selfish Heart is trouble, but a Foolish Heart is worse..."
I could live in the next 10 seconds forever...

[DriftinAndDreamin]

Miss you more than ever, brother. I'm passing the message to the next generation. LONG LIVE THE GRATEFUL

[staceymacquinn]

Whoever posted this. Thankyou so much. My life sucks and this helped me

[MiLikesVids]

This song was a sanity savor after a bad relationship long ago. A song of truth.

[BillKinsman]

I can't imagine how many heartbreaks Bob Weir has had to endure. He is inspiring to me to be able to carry on with the best vibe possible.

[sacluvsBM]

The Dead. You either get it or you don't. And if you don't please don't act like you do. It's not becoming. Peace.

[davelev]

Jerry looks so healthy here, It's so sad that a mere four years later he passed away.

[davedranginis]

80's hair even got the Boys. LOVE this tune, man.

[codyeynon]

The wisdom in this song is more apparent with age.

[lawrencewarren]

i knew every time i hear this song...! a lovely person Bless Him

[atlbobr]

On that morning in August of 1995 I remember waking up in that crappy attic apartment in Little Five Points here in Atlanta to the announcer on WSB 750AM saying "Rock & roll lost a legend and in the little pause after I whispered "Jerry" - made sense with how crazy that summer had been on tour and how sick he looked near the end. The station started playing this song of all songs by the GD to pick to associate with the band (doubt this one was ever heard more than a few times on the not Truckin' or Touch or Uncle John's I will never understand). So, this song will always remind me of that sad day and my wet shirt from the tears my lady Deadhead friends cried into my shoulder. I kept my composure intact though, even at the memorial we had at Piedmont Park to honor Jerry that night. It wasn't until a few months later when I heard a Stella Blue from 89 on tape and Jerry sang "when it seems like all this life was just a dream..." that I finally let it all go and grieved. Still miss you, Jerry. Anyway, this is a pretty good later-era Jerry tune with some really great lines from Bobby (he's practically playing lead throughout the verses - this song is a great representation of his unique playing style). Wonder why Billy didn't make the video shoot?

[Veritas]

"Carve your name in ice and wind" just beautiful poetry.

[oiramsq]

Jeez… Jerry would have been 80 next year. I really wish we had the last 26 years with him.

[tomlampros]

(Paraphrasing) Jerry, in his 1989 interview, said "a studio recording is like a painting, everything is polished. Playing music live is like a snapshot, a Polaroid."
True this.

[thegracienetwork]

I love 1989...so nice to see Jerry healthier and (I think) happier

[bobschenkel]

My friends and I drove out to Alpine Valley in the heat of the summer of 1988 to catch all four shows by The Dead at that amazing venue. The first night, 6/19, we were treated to the performance premier of "Foolish Heart", and as I recall, the crowd loved it. The next night we got the premier of "Blow Away", and the second version of "Victim Or The Crime". After a night in Milwaukee watching the A's versus the Brewers, we were back at Alpine to hear the first "I Will Take You Home", and the fourth night we got the first "Believe It Or Not" and the first cover of The Beatles "Blackbird". Pretty damn good I would say. Thank You Grateful Dead for making the world a much better place.

[WildAlchemicalSpirit]

This is one of the very best things that ever happened in this world. I'm glad I was alive for it. Gives me the feels. Always and forever grateful. ❤⚡💙