Althea - Grateful Dead - MP3 instrumental karaoke

The Grateful Dead's "Althea" opens with a slice-of-life storytelling, written by Robert Hunter from the perspective of a narrator called Jim. "I told Althea I was feeling lost / Lacking in some direction / Althea told me upon scrutiny / That my back might need protection," begins Jim aka Grateful Dead frontman Jerry Garcia; the musical force behind this expansive tale about an ambiguous presence. Reflecting the let-it-all-hang-out sensibilities of the storied band, "Althea" shuffles ahead for nearly seven minutes, pulled along by a freewheeling guitar riff that's as noodly as the day is long. Filled with cultural references, "Althea" takes titular inspiration from Greek mythology (Althea was the Queen of Calydon) while nodding to the nursery rhyme "Monday's Child" in the lyric: "You may be Saturday's child all grown." "Althea" officially reared its head on the Grateful Dead’s eleventh studio album, Go to Heaven, which was released in 1980.