Shakedown Street

Original by the Grateful Dead, Cover by Poolside

Last week we took a look at how the band Poolside took the Neil Young classic “Harvest Moon” and covered it in their own style. Poolside also took an already chilled-out “Shakedown Street” by the Grateful Dead and covered it in their signature “Daytime Disco” style.

Shakedown Street was originally written by the prolific songwriting duo of lyricist Robert Hunter and Grateful Dead guitarist Jerry Garcia. Recorded in 1978, it was released as the title track of the album Shakedown Street. The album reached number 41 on the Billboard Top 200 in 1979.

I was fortunate to see the Grateful Dead live a dozen or so times in the early 1990s. I can only imagine the magic of seeing the band perform Shakedown Street live for the first time when they played it at Red Rocks Amphitheater on August 31st, 1978.

Poolside released the song on their album Blame It All On Love in 2023. Poolside’s version is a perfect blend of their own down-tempo electronic style, while keeping the carefree feel of the Grateful Dead’s original arrangement and production.

A good cover song doesn’t always have to reimagine the song in a completely unique way, sometimes it’s just playing the song in the artist’s signature style while maintaining the vibe of the original version. And that’s what Poolside did with Shakedown Street.