The Grateful Dead : The History of a Folk Story Gordon Hall Gerould University of Illinois Press, 2000
http://www.press.uillinois.edu/s00/gerould.html Repackage,with extensive new introduction, of a 1908 study of the Grateful Dead tales. A Grateful Dead tale is one where the protagonist pays to bury the body of a pauper. The pauper's ghost appears as a helpful stranger who helps the protagonist reap some reward. At the end, the helpful stranger reveals himself as the ghost of the pauper. >From the introduction: "The expression has become so associated with the rock band that when a recent collection entitled "Grateful Dead Folktales" was published, its title page had to bear a note that "Grateful Dead" is a registered service mark of Grateful Dead Productions and is used with permission. [The publisher] is not affiliated with Grateful Dead Productions. Gordon Hall Gerould, the scholar who first popularized (if not originated) the English phrase "grateful dead", has long since lost claim to the name in both the public's memory and the machinery of our legal system."
