“Scarlet Begonias” by The Grateful Dead

"Scarlet Begonias" turned up on the Grateful Dead's 1974 album From the Mars Hotel, with Jerry Garcia's music bouncing under Robert Hunter's words. It opens in London's Grosvenor Square, winks at "Tea for Two", and slips in the low-stakes gambling imagery that runs all through the Dead's songbook, all set to a lilting, sun-dappled groove that practically asks the room to sway.

The band first played it live on March 23, 1974, at the Cow Palace in Daly City, California. Once "Fire on the Mountain" joined the repertoire in 1977, the two were often welded together into the pairing the faithful call "Scarlet > Fire", first played that way on March 18, 1977. And in 1979 Keith and Donna Godchaux named their post-Dead group, the Heart of Gold Band, after a phrase in it.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.