Watch The National Cover The Grateful Dead’s “Morning Dew” On Colbert

Watch The National Cover The Grateful Dead’s “Morning Dew” On Colbert

In a week and a half, we will finally get to hear all three discs of Day Of The Dead, the massive fundraising Grateful Dead tribute compilation that the National spearheaded. And last night, the National were the musical guests on the Late Show With Stephen Colbert, performing their version of “Morning Dew.” “Morning Dew” isn’t actually the Dead’s song; it belongs to the Canadian folk singer Bonnie Dobson. But the Dead famously covered the song on their self-titled 1967 debut — and, of course, in many, many live shows thereafter. The National’s version is a dour, brooding thing, but it still keeps intact some of the Dead’s flowering psychedelia. And they played it with two drummers, a cool thing to see. Watch the performance below.

Day Of The Dead is out 5/20 on 4AD.

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