Good Ol' Grateful Deadcast: Blues For Allah 50

King Solomon’s Marbles/Stronger Than Dirt or Milkin’ The Turkey

Date: September 25, 2025
Hosts: Rich Mahan & Jesse Jarnow
Highlighted Guests: David Lemieux, Ron Rakow, Eugene Dolgoff, Ned Lagin, Nicholas G. Meriwether, Sean O’Donnell, Chadwick Jenkins, others.

Episode Overview

This episode delves deep into the story behind the Blues For Allah instrumentals, “King Solomon’s Marbles” and “Stronger Than Dirt or Milkin’ The Turkey,” commemorating their 50th anniversary. The Deadcast explores not just the music itself, but also the wild innovations, avant-garde experiments, and cultural context that swirled around the making of Blues For Allah in 1975. From tales of pyramid-shaped records and holographic playback to mind-bending time signatures and the intertwining of psychedelic tech with Deadhead ethos, this episode is a celebration of the Grateful Dead at their most progressive and unorthodox.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Context & Complexity of the Instrumentals

• Album Placement: “King Solomon’s Marbles” and “Stronger Than Dirt” sit at the core of Blues for Allah, as a sequence of interconnected, wild instrumentals.
• Musicianship: David Lemieux: “This is 11-level Grateful Dead in terms of how complex it is and how hard it must be to play—until you know how to play it.” (05:10)
• Origins: Developed in the spring of 1975 during intensive workshop sessions at Bob Weir's Ace's studio; known for their wild time signatures and inventive forms.

2. Progressive Technology and Psychedelic Innovation

• LSD & Tech Culture: The band’s history with LSD and its transformation into a tool for exploration of consciousness set the foundation for their electronic and musical experiments. (07:46)
• Holographic Pyramids: Enter Eugene Dolgoff, a scientist and inventor who pitched a futuristic holographic record player in the shape of a pyramid to the Dead, kickstarting a narrative that blurred fact and hype but reflected the band’s obsession with upending traditional formats. (11:08–25:18)
  • Rakow’s Pyramid Prop: “We painted them black and told everybody that this was the future... the entire library of Grateful Dead albums on the pyramid.” (25:31)
  • Nicholas Meriwether: “This business of the holographic pyramids, I think it's most likely just a riff on the standard bullshit of the whole pyramid power nonsense that was going around.” (26:46)

3. Musical Evolution & Time Signatures

• Grateful Dead’s Odd Time Count: Jesse Jarnow breaks down the Dead’s use of unconventional time signatures. Notable examples:
  • “The 11” in 11/8,
  • “Main Ten” (the seed of “Playing in the Band”) in 10/4,
  • “King Solomon’s Marbles” as a ‘pedal to the floor romp in seven’ (41:56),
  • Proto-Solomon Jams traced back to 1973 improvisations by Lesh (42:54–46:00).
• Sean O’Donnell: Highlights how the band “are just doing this… pedal to the floor in seven,” with Lesh as the most fearless improviser. (41:53)

4. Genesis of “Stronger Than Dirt”

• Naming: Tied directly to the old Ajax commercial’s jingle—“Stronger than dirt!” (51:02)
• Musical Quotation: This classical technique of quoting pop culture, used by Lesh, is compared to jazz and Charles Ives practices.

Ned Lagin: “[The resemblance is there] because of subliminal absorption of things that were going on. Once Jerry or Phil heard stuff, heard the idea of stuff being used, he would do it himself, subliminally or overtly and consciously.” (51:41)

5. Musical Construction & Development

• Chadwick Jenkins (CCNY): Breaks down “King Solomon’s Marbles” harmonically, focusing on its signature major 6th over minor chords and jazzy textures. (55:54–56:15)
• Historical Song Development: Lesh’s inspiration cited as Shelley’s “Ozymandias”—tying King Solomon and Egyptian motifs into the Dead’s lyrical and visual iconography. (59:15)

Phil Lesh (from memoir): “I had sketched out a little Latin-flavored seven-beat instrumental number inspired by Shelley's poem Ozymandias called King Solomon's Marbles.” (59:13)

6. Live Performance and Evolution

• Short-Lived Live Sets: The sequence was played live only a handful of times in 1975:
  • Highlight: August 13, 1975, at the Great American Music Hall—the only version approaching the album’s tightness. (62:00)
  • Poignant observation: “Poof, that was it for King Solomon and his Marbles—never heard on a Dead stage again.” (62:50)
• Phil Lesh & Friends: Revival of the piece in the 2000s. Notably, July 3, 2001, Cuthbert Amphitheater, Eugene, Oregon, described by guest Keith Eaton as “just absolutely bounce—it's like it's suited for Jimmy's Jazz Is Dead style.” (63:07–65:00)

7. Other Lesh Compositions and the “Eternal Now”

• Lesh brought other complex pieces to the Blues for Allah sessions, some of which only survive in rehearsal tapes or would be repurposed in later albums (e.g., beyond “Description” and Terrapin outtakes). (67:34–77:58)
• Band Collaboration: The internal, real-time debate and improvisation in the studio reflect their mission to “cut ourselves loose from the past, basically, and develop new levels to go off of.” (34:41, 42:54)

8. Interconnected Side Projects and the San Francisco Scene (Spring 1975)

• The Dead’s hiatus was creatively fertile: Legion of Mary, Kingfish, Keith & Donna Band, Seastones, and Diga Rhythm Band operated simultaneously, with frequent cross-pollination. (83:07–88:50)
• In Golden Gate Park, the Diga Rhythm Band debuted alongside Jefferson Starship, showing the vibrant, grassroots continuity of the Bay Area community. (88:09–91:50)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• David Lemieux on Complexity:
  “This is 11-level Grateful Dead in terms of how complex it is and how hard it must be to play—until you know how to play it.” (05:10)

• Nicholas Meriwether’s Pyramid Power Reality Check:
  “This business of the holographic pyramids… it's most likely just a riff on the standard bullshit of the whole pyramid power nonsense that was going around.” (26:46)

• Phil Lesh, on Musical Mission:
  “We always have felt free to do that. In fact, compelled.” (34:12)

• Jerry Garcia on New Musical Spaces:
  "It's also more—considerably more—experimental… we're certainly sort of into defining new spaces for ourselves musically." (34:54)

• On Naming 'Stronger Than Dirt': Jesse Jarnow: “There’s a ridiculously easy way to remember which part is called King Solomon’s Marbles and which part is called Stronger than Dirt. Specifically, can you sing the phrase ‘Stronger than dirt’ over it?” (50:59)

• Phil Lesh on his Inspiration: "I had sketched out a little Latin-flavored seven-beat instrumental number inspired by Shelley's poem Ozymandias called King Solomon's Marbles." (59:15)

• Jesse Jarnow on the fleeting live life: “Poof, that was it for King Solomon and his Marbles—never heard on a Dead stage again.” (62:50)

Important Timestamps

| Timestamp | Segment/Topic | |-----------|---------------| | 04:20 | Introduction to King Solomon’s Marbles/Stronger Than Dirt | | 11:12 | Eugene Dolgoff’s story: holography, Lennon, credit card tech; Dead connection | | 25:18 | Dead announce “holographic intentions” and pyramid player hype | | 34:12 | Garcia on freeing themselves from past musical habits | | 41:53 | Sean O’Donnell: “Pedal to the floor romp in seven” | | 51:02 | The Ajax “Stronger Than Dirt” jingle connection | | 55:54 | Chadwick Jenkins breaks down the harmony and jazz influence | | 59:13 | Phil Lesh’s inspiration: “Ozymandias” and the name | | 62:00 | August 13, 1975: definitive live performance | | 63:07 | Phil Lesh & Friends rendition in 2001, Eugene, OR | | 67:34 | Other Lesh-penned pieces from the Blues for Allah sessions | | 88:09 | Michael Parrish recalls the Diga Rhythm Band debut in Golden Gate Park | | 91:16 | Ed Perlstein assists the Diga band, Zakir Hussain as frontman |

Flow, Tone, and Final Thoughts

The episode is an exuberant and detailed trip through the Dead’s most boundary-pushing period. The hosts and guests keep the language playful and in-the-know (“11-level complexity,” “subliminal absorption,” “cut ourselves loose”), blending musical nerdery, stories of tech utopia, and the Dead’s particular brand of cultural weirdness with affection and insight. The five-decade hindsight allows for both myth-busting and celebration, capturing the ever-present “nowness” that kept the band from ever resting on their laurels.

Endnote:
King Solomon’s Marbles and Stronger Than Dirt occupy a unique place in the Dead’s discography: bold experiments in rhythm and form, the echo of a brief yet luminous creative flash. The episode closes by celebrating this moment of “perpetual experimentation” as a reflection of the Dead’s ethos—never afraid to “venture into uncharted territory.”