"Beat It Down the Line" is a country-blues song written byJesse Fuller and first recorded in 1961.[1] The lyrics mention "Joe Brown's Coal Mine", which refer toJoseph E. Brown, four timesgovernor of Georgia and president of the Dade Coal Company who ran numerous coal mines in the state.[2]
The song was covered by theGrateful Dead and was one of the first songs the band played live, even being performed in their pre-Deadjug band incarnation as Mother McCree's Uptown Jug Champions in 1964[3][4] and appeared on theirfirst album. It remained in the band's sets throughout their career, being performed at least 323 times between 3/12/66 and 10/3/94, every year except 1976 and 1995.[5][6]
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