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Touch of Grey

1987 single by the Grateful Dead

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General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionAug 24, 2026
Entity authorityQ1247572
Source-derived summary

"Touch of Grey" is a 1987 single by the Grateful Dead, and is from the album In the Dark.

The music was composed by Jerry Garcia, and the lyrics were written by Robert Hunter. The song was released as the first single from In the Dark and became the band's only top 10 hit on Billboard Hot 100. Peaking at No. 9, it also reached No. 1 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart.

Background

"Touch of Grey" was first performed as an encore on September 15, 1982, at the Capital Centre in Landover, Maryland, and was finally released on In the Dark in 1987. It was released as a single with "My Brother Esau" and later "Throwing Stones", and has appeared on a number of albums and collections.

The song's refrain features the lines "I will get by / I will survive" and combines dark lyrics in the verses with upbeat pop instrumentation. The final chorus changes the pronoun to "We will get by / We will survive".

Editorial summary

“Touch of Grey” enters the record as 1987 single by the Grateful Dead. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Touch, Grey and single can confirm, complicate or overturn.

Editorial reviewA concise reference frame for defining the subject, testing terminology and identifying the institution closest to the evidence. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1987, 1982—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1987. Its strongest next move is a source search built around Touch, Grey and single.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

“Touch of Grey” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Touch, Grey and single provides the most credible route into that argument.

Evidence profile

Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 24, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1247572. None of the 1 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1987 and 1982.

Critical limits

A concise general-reference account can conceal disagreements about scope, terminology or the weight assigned to individual sources. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

Best used for
  • Subject orientation
  • Search vocabulary
  • Locating named sources
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The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Touch of Grey”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Touch of Grey primary sources, Touch of Grey archive and Touch research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Touch of Grey”?
  2. Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
  3. What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Touch of Grey” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.