A sad day for The Horse

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Robert Hunter, lyricist for the Grateful Dead, my favorite rock 'n roll band, died yesterday at age 78. Hunter wrote lyrics to many of the more "cerebral" Grateful Deal songs, along with Jerry Garcia, who wrote the music to most of Hunter's lyrics. Interestingly, one of my favorite Grateful Dead songs is Box of Rain, and that one was written by Hunter in collaboration with my "bass idol," Phil Lesh. It's one of the few Grateful Dead songs on which Phil Lesh sings. I'll attach a link to Wikipedia's discussion of Hunter's life. I hadn't known that he was only pure lyricist ever inducted into the Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame. When the Grateful Dead was inducted in 1994, Hunter was considered a member of the band and included in that induction. I also hadn't known that he had spent part of his childhood in foster care after his alcoholic father abandoned the family. His thoughtful and poetic lyrics were one of the main reasons I became something of a "'Dead Head" in my formative years and have remained so to this day.