View source for Fire on the Mountain (Grateful Dead song)

{{Distinguish|Fire on the Mountain (The Marshall Tucker Band song)}}
{{Other uses|Fire on the Mountain (disambiguation){{!}}Fire on the Mountain}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2024}}
{{Infobox song|
| name     = Fire on the Mountain
| cover    =
| alt      =
| type     =
| artist   = the [[Grateful Dead]]
| album    = [[Shakedown Street]]
| released = November 15, 1978
| format   =
| recorded = 1978
| studio   =
| venue    =
| genre    = [[Rock music|Rock]]
| length   = 3:46
| label    = [[Arista Records|Arista]]
| composer = [[Mickey Hart]]
| lyricist = [[Robert Hunter (lyricist)|Robert Hunter]]
| producer = [[Lowell George]]
}}
"'''Fire on the Mountain'''" is a [[song]] by the [[Grateful Dead]]. The lyric is by [[Robert Hunter (lyricist)|Robert Hunter]] and the music by drummer [[Mickey Hart]].<ref name="aglfire">{{Cite web|url=http://arts.ucsc.edu/gdead/agdl/fire.html|title=The Annotated "Fire on the Mountain"|accessdate=January 31, 2007|author=Dodd, David|work=The Annotated Grateful Dead Lyrics}}</ref> It was commercially released on the album ''[[Shakedown Street]]'' in November 1978. An earlier instrumental version titled "Happiness is Drumming" appeared in 1976 on Mickey Hart's album ''Diga'' with the Diga Rhythm Band.
Prior to the Dead recording, the song premiered at a concert on March 18, 1977, in San Francisco.<ref name="sound">{{Cite web|url=https://archive.org/details/gd1977-05-08.aud.moore.cribbs.28301.shnf|title=Grateful Dead Live at Barton Hall - Cornell University on 1977-05-08|date=May 8, 1977 }}</ref> That night, as almost always, it was coupled with "[[Scarlet Begonias]]" during live performances, producing lengthy musical improvisations. The paired songs were soon nicknamed "Scarlet Fire".<ref name="aglfire"/> The sequence typically timed from 20 to 25 minutes.  The November 1, 1979, performance at Nassau Coliseum, Uniondale, New York, likely the longest, clocks in over 34 minutes.
"Fire on the Mountain" was performed in concert by the Grateful Dead 253 times between 1977 and 1995.<ref>{{cite book |title=DeadBase XI: The Complete Guide to Grateful Dead Song Lists |last=Scott |first=John W. |author2=Dolgushkin, Mike|author3=Nixon, Stu |year=1999 |publisher=DeadBase |location=Cornish, New Hampshire |isbn=1-877657-22-0 |page=102}}</ref>  It appears on numerous Grateful Dead albums.<ref>[http://www.deaddisc.com/songs/Fire_On_The_Mountain.htm "Fire on the Mountain"] on the Grateful Dead Family Discography</ref>  An outtake of the song appeared as a bonus track on the 2004 reissue of ''[[Terrapin Station]]''.
This song is also featured as downloadable content for the video game ''[[Rock Band]]''.
==Other versions==
*[[Leftover Salmon]] parodied the song with a version called "Pasta On the Mountain", which appeared on their 1993 release ''Bridges to Bert''.
*In a 2000 show at Solebury High School in New Hope, Pennsylvania, the band [[Ween]] played the song live.
*In 2008, [[Keller Williams]] released a [[Bluegrass music|bluegrass]] version of the song on the album ''[[Rex (Live at the Fillmore)]]''.<ref name="Rex">{{cite web|title=Keller Williams Releases Grateful Grass DOS for Rex|url=http://www.rexfoundation.org/2014/08/03/keller-williams-releases-grateful-grass-dos-for-rex/|website=Rex Foundation|access-date=May 28, 2017|archive-date=August 28, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160828193005/http://www.rexfoundation.org/2014/08/03/keller-williams-releases-grateful-grass-dos-for-rex/|url-status=dead}}</ref>
*[[Daniel Donato]] recorded the song on his 2020 album A Young Man's Country
*[[Mt. Joy (band)|Mt. Joy]] played the song at the [[Capitol Theatre (Port Chester, New York)|Capitol Theatre]] on April 11, 2022.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://twitter.com/capitoltheatre/status/1513874709129084933 |access-date=April 15, 2022 |website=Twitter |language=en}}</ref>
==See also==
*[[Dark Star (song)|Dark Star]]
==References==
{{reflist}}
==External links==
*[http://dead.net/ Dead.net], the official site of the [[Grateful Dead]]
{{GratefulDead}}
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[[Category:1978 songs]]
[[Category:Grateful Dead songs]]
[[Category:Songs with lyrics by Robert Hunter (lyricist)]]