1002 David Gans: Let's talk about "Only the Strange Remain." Mickey Hart: Ooh, David. That's a pretty dangerous thought. "Only the strange remain. . ." DG: One of the central truisms of this universe. MH: It is indeed. If you are not strange, you will not remain, that is for sure. And science is proving this. Not only did Hunter know about it a long time ago, but um -- now this was the only song that was written years ago. It was so good, you know, that I just -- it was my song, anyway, you know, and I was gonna sing it with the Grateful Dead, but we just never got to it, for some reason or other. I mean, Jerry kept encouraging me, and Bob did, and I just, we just never got around to doing it. But it was such a perfect song, and it meant so much to me, and -- yeah, strange remain. I had a *ball* with that one. I really got into that. I laid it *thick.* Not just the vocal track, but the instrumental stuff was really a lot of fun. Gary Lambert: And Hunter says the lyrics have been really overhauled. He's tinkered with 'em since that -- MH: Well, we had a lot of verses -- GL: Yeah. MH: -- and the one I might have done before -- oh, yeah, he has written some new ones. But he writes -- you know, he gave me like *40* verses or something. You know, Hunter really got into this. So he gave me like about 35 more than I can use, or something. So, he kept writing 'em and writing 'em and writing 'em, and then. . . It was a long time before we could all get 'em all in a way for them to flow through the song that made it. 'Cause he writes -- and you know, it's a flow of consciousness thing with him. He doesn't necessarily -- sometimes he doesn't just tell a story. He tells a *lot* of stories. So the order is something very critical, and he doesn't think of order sometimes. When he wants to, he can, but he wasn't trying to in this. He was just letting it all hang out. It's like a conversation, you know, you're having with somebody in a nightclub. "Hey, tell me, friend, have you noticed of late, how the strange remain? Hey, I'm speakin' about the *cream* of the strange, not the merely weird." You know, I mean it's like you're telling somebody about your story, you know, and you're drinking a glass of, a little glass of whiskey when you're telling someone, "Hey, man, I've seen *everything* that goes on in the night, man. Things that are twisted and hide from the light." You know, and it's like a great story. GL: You come away believing it, too. MH: Yeah, you believe it. This guy, you know, he's tellin' a story. So, you know, that's what it is with "Strange." DG: And when you sing, will you be standing up in front? MH: I don't know what I'm gonna to do about that yet, David. I'm gonna be comfortable, whatever I do. DG: Sittin' in a big chair, maybe? MH: I don't think I'll be sitting down, no. But I don't know where I will be on the stage yet, because we haven't really decided exactly where we *are* gonna be on the stage, and when that time comes, then I'll know. The idea is to be comfortable, feel good, have a good time, play it loose. It's no big thing, you know. You sing when you have a song, and Hunter gave me these songs, and he told me, "You go sing these songs." So I'm going to go and sing these songs. And if people don't like it, well, they can just blame Hunter. GL: MH: You know what I mean? I mean, it wasn't *my* idea. GL: MH: But if -- you know, Hunter's a good friend, and if he wants me to go out there and sing some of these songs, I'll sing 'em, you know. DG: He wouldn't steer ya wrong, Mick. MH: How would *you* know? He might want to out there and laugh at me, too. DG, GL: MH: I tell ya, it's fun. I mean, these songs -- and it's not like really a great singing prowess or anything, you know, you're just going out there sort of rappin'. It's like, Gary called it "proto-rap" or something. . 0