Grateful Dead - Friend Of The Devil

About "Friend Of The Devil"

"Friend of the Devil" is a song recorded by the Grateful Dead. The music was written by Jerry Garcia and John Dawson and the lyrics are by Robert Hunter. It is the second track of the Dead's 1970 album American Beauty. Like most of American Beauty, the song is largely acoustic and opens with Garcia playing a descending G major scale (G F# E D C B A G) in the bass register.

The song was introduced in concert on March 20, 1970 at the Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, NY. Following the group's October 1974-June 1976 touring hiatus, the song was performed in a significantly slower arrangement with extended guitar and keyboard solos. Loggins and Messina, whose version of the song was slowed down, might have inspired the Dead to do the same. In more recent history, Phil Lesh and Friends have performed a more uptempo version similar to the original.

Hunter plays a slightly different version on his album (released only in LP format) Jack O'Roses. He adds a final verse:

"You can borrow from the Devil/

You can borrow from a friend/

But the Devil'll give you twenty/

When your friend got only ten"