[2] Written by band members Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir, Phil Lesh, and lyricist Robert Hunter, "Truckin'" molds classic Grateful Dead rhythms and instrumentation.

[3] The lyrics refer to a drug raid of the band's hotel lodgings in New Orleans during a concert tour earlier in 1970: Busted, down on Bourbon Street Set up, like a bowling pin Knocked down, it gets to wearing thin They just won't let you be[4] The song's climactic refrain, "What a long, strange trip it's been", has achieved widespread cultural use in the years since the song's release.

"[2] The communal, shared-group-experience feel of the song is brought home by the participation of all four of the group's chief songwriters (Garcia, Weir, Lesh, and Hunter), since, in Phil Lesh's words, "we took our experiences on the road and made it poetry," lyrically and musically.

"Truckin'" was the highest-charting pop single the group would have until the surprise top-ten performance of "Touch of Grey" sixteen years later.

A longer rendition, that turns into a jam, was included on the popular 1972 live album Europe '72 segueing into "Epilogue", followed by "Prelude".