what is the word

For a Grateful Dead nerd (I am resisting the term Deadhead) like myself, this is heaven. In the summertime I lose all sense of shame about how much I adore the Dead. Much as I loathe the words "extended jam," when the windows are open & the sun is shining in, I see nothing wrong with letting a beautiful song go on twelve minutes too long. Nothing makes me want to dance my hippie heart out, & then not shower afterwards, like the jam at the end of Row Jimmy on Dozin'.
People are always asking me whether I like Phish too, because I like the Dead. This is a bullshit question. For me, there is no comparison between the two. I've seen Phish live & one might say they are talented, but other than their categorization as a jam band, I don't think they're anything like the Dead. For one thing, Phish fans can be awfully creepy. Sure, some of them are hippies, but lots of them are ravers & frat boys & sketchy types in general. But the biggest problem with Phish is that their lyrics are shit. The Dead had fucking incredible lyrics, because Robert Hunter wrote them. The Phish lyrics I'm familiar with are annoying & meaningless.
Here is a well-known Phish lyric: Set the gearshift for the high gear of your soul / You've got to run like an antelope out of control.
Whatever that means.
Here is a well-known Dead lyric: Counting stars by candlelight, all are dim but one is bright: the spiral light of Venus rising first and shining best.
That isn't my favorite Dead lyric ever but it came to mind first. My favorite Dead song ever is Saint Stephen. I also think its lyrics are gorgeous.
But nothing's better than this tiny little gem:

Lady Simplicity
Bright like a ribbon bow
Everything everywhere
Just for the show
Believe it implicitly
Love is tranquillity
If you don't know that
Then nothing is known

I don't know why I wanted to write about the Dead today. It's been raining a lot lately & I haven't been listening to them at all. Last nite I listened to Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlands about five times, over about five glasses of wine. Yum!