Virrrrtualll Feeeeeling - Marvin Gaye?

I would say the overall feeling is... Jolly. The cowbell and higher more emphasized keyboard motifs really pull you into it. The song is uptempo and you can't help dancing/swaying to it. The sets of notes carry you away as you sway and rise upon your toes, reaching for more. As the camera pans over the concert, you see all the people in the audience dancing and swaying and rocking out and they are all having a great time and so are you! The concert setting provides an extra jolt of energy. Also the fact that skeletons are singing inspires a sense of awe and spooky awesomness. Like, dude! Skeletons are singing! Alright! It seems that the crowd just knows, somehow they just know, that whatever the Grateful Dead play, it will be good. And it will be fun. You can tell by the way they play, that they do it because they love it, they groove on it, they're not doing it for money or fame, they're doing it cuz they get off on it, and they know they can give that same sense to the audience. So they play until they get tired, and then they quit. Simple. Generous. Joyful.

There is a real excited sense about this piece. You feel as if you are participating in the song, and you are on the brink of something fantastic. "Dawn is breaking everywhere," you've just had a great night (probably on some form of psychedelic drug), and you are ready to start a new day. There is a youthful enthusiasm and "I can do anything" attitude, as enhanced by the lyrics "I will survive." It's exciting and carefree, "I don't care cause, it's alright!" The song is like a motivation speech, there is a sense of pride and self-empowerment, and Jerry is smiling and encouraging you on into life.
If you think about it, their songs are about all sorts of things, sad, bluesy, upbeat, funny, hopeful, abstract, but they are never mean. There is never any harshness or ill will expressed. The audience knows they're not gonna get hate outa the Dead.

In a VERY strong way the virtual feeling of this piece parallels the cultural context. If psychedelic music aims at recreating hallucinogenic highs, I can imagine this hits close to home. The Dead were all about a free, laissez-faire sort of attitude that was ever so popular at the time. The excitement and freedom this song conveys were two of the main feelings of the time period.

Yet through all this, there is a surprising contradiction with the lyrics. The jolly upbeat tone of the music, contrasts with the dark and gloomy nature of the lyrics. Yet it is also paralleled through the lyrics' resolutions to said problems. Thus, I shall discuss textual representation.