Music: Lesh, Hart, Kreutzmann
This is an instrumental on the "Blues For Allah" album. There are inconsistencies over titles and authorship of the various components.
The original "Blues For Allah" LP listed two tracks:
- King Solomon's Marbles (Lesh)
- Stronger Than Dirt Or Milkin' The Turkey (Hart, Kreutzmann, Lesh)
The CD of "Blues For Allah" lists the tracks differently:
- King Solomon's Marbles
- Part 1: Stronger Than Dirt
- Part 2: Milkin' The Turkey
(the CD doesn't say who wrote the music, though the "Grateful Dead Anthology II" songbook lists both Part 1 and Part 2 as by "Lesh-Hart-Kreutzmann")
The "One From The Vault" CD just lists
- King Solomon's Marbles (Lesh)
(what is played is the full suite as on "Blues For Allah")
It seems simplest to regard it as one suite. But the components listed on the CD don't match up to what is played. "Stronger Than Dirt" is a quote from an old Ajax commercial, and the musical quote comes at the beginning of the second sub-track (as on the LP). I guess it really doesn't matter too much
Hank Harrison's "The Dead Book" reproduces a "handwriting sample" from Phil Lesh dating from 1962. It includes the words "Stronger Than Dirt" (in block capitals). The notes in the book say this "was an allusion to an Ajax scouring powder commercial of the day. Phil has mentioned that he often heard classical riffs in commercials and this is probably one of them."
"The Dead" Concert Recordings