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Uncle
John's Band
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Well, the first days are the hardest days,
don't you worry anymore
When life looks like Easy Street
there is danger at your door
Think this through with me
Let me know your mind
Whoa-oh, what I want to know,
is are you kind?
It's a Buck Dancer's Choice my friend,
better take my advice
You know all the rules by now
and the fire from the ice
Will you come with me?
Won't you come with me?
Whoa-oh, what I want to know,
will you come with me?
Goddamn, well I declare
Have you seen the like?
Their walls are built of cannonballs,
Their motto is Don't tread on me
Come hear Uncle John's Band
by the riverside
Got some things to talk about
here beside the rising tide |
It's the same story the crow told me
It's the only one he know--
like the morning sun you come
and like the wind you go
Ain't no time to hate,
barely time to wait
Whoa-oh, what I want to know,
where does the time go?
I live in a silver mine
and I call it Beggar's Tomb
I got me a violin
and I beg you call the tune
Anybody's choice
I can hear your voice
Whoa-oh, what I want to know,
how does the song go?
Come hear Uncle John's Band
by the riverside
Come with me or go alone
He's come to take his children home
Come hear Uncle John's Band
playing to the tide
Come on along or go alone
he's come to take his children home
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|
High Time
|
You told me good-bye
How was I to know
You didn't mean good-bye
You meant please
don't let me go
I was having a high time
living the good life
Well, I know
The wheels are muddy
Got a ton of hay
Now listen here, baby
'cause I mean what I say
I'm having a hard time
living the good life
Well, I know
I was losing time
I had nothing to do
No one to fight
I came to you
Wheels broke down
The leader won't draw
The line is busted
the last one I saw |
Tomorrow come trouble
Tomorrow come pain
Now don't think too hard, baby
'cause you know what I'm saying
I could show you a high time
living the good life
Don't be that way
Nothing's for certain
It could always go wrong
Come in when it's raining
Go on out when it's gone
We could have us a high time
living the good life
Well, I know
|
| Dire
Wolf |
In the timbers of Fennario
the wolves are running round
The winter was so hard and cold
froze ten feet 'neath the ground
Don't murder me
I beg of you, don't murder me
Please
don't murder me
I sat down to my supper
'Twas a bottle of red whiskey
I said my prayers and went to bed
That's the last they saw of me
Don't murder me
I beg of you, don't murder me
Please
don't murder me
When I awoke the Dire Wolf
Six hundred pounds of sin
Was grinning at my window
All I said was "Come on in"
Don't murder me
I beg of you, don't murder me
Please
don't murder me |
The wolf came in, I got my cards
We sat down for a game
I cut my deck to the Queen of Spades
but the cards were all the same
Don't murder me
I beg of you, don't murder me
Please
don't murder me
In the backwash of Fennario
The black and bloody mire
The Dire Wolf collects his due
while the boys sing round the fire
Don't murder me
I beg of you, don't murder me
Please
don't murder me
Don't murder me
I beg of you, don't murder me
Please
don't murder me
|
| New
Speedway Boogie |
Please don't dominate the rap, Jack
if you got nothing new to say
If you please, don't back up the track
This train's got to run today
Spent a little time on the mountain
Spent a little time on the hill
Heard some say: Better run away
Others say: You better stand still
Now I don't know but I been told
it's hard to run with the weight of gold
Other hand I heard it said
it's just as hard with the weight of lead
Who can deny? Who can deny?
it's not just a change in style
One step done and another begun
and I wonder how many miles?
Spent a little time on the mountain
Spent a little time on the hill
Things went down we don't understand
but I think in time we will
Now I don't know but I been told
in the heat of the sun a man died cold
Do we keep on coming or stand and wait
With the sun so dark ad the hour so late? |
You can't overlook the lack, Jack
of any other highway to ride
It's got no signs or dividing lines
and very few rules to guide
Spent a little time on the mountain
Spent a little time on the hill
I saw things getting out of hand
I guess they always will
I don't know, but I been told
if the horse don't pull you got to carry the load
I don't know whose back's that strong
Maybe find out before too long
One way or another
One way or another
One way or another
this darkness got to give
One way or another
One way or another
One way or another
this darkness got to give
"Written as a reply to an indictment of the Altamont
affair by pioneer rock critic Ralph J. Gleason." - Robert Hunter
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| Cumberland
Blues |
I can't stay much longer, Melinda
The sun is getting high
I can't help you with your troubles
If you won't help with mine
I gotta get down
I gotta get down
Got to get down to the mine
You keep me up just one more night
I can't sleep here no more
Little Ben clock says quarter to eight
You kept me up till four
I gotta get down
I gotta get down
Or I can't work there no more
Lotta poor man make a five-dollar bill
Keep him happy all the time
Some other fellow making nothing at all
And you can hear him cryin' . . .
"Can I go, buddy
can I go down
Take your shift at the mine?" |
Got to get down to the Cumberland Mine
That's where I mainly spend my time
Make good money/five dollars a day
Make anymore I might move away--
Lotta poor man got the Cumberland Blues
He can't win for losin'
Lotta poor man got to walk the line
Just to pay his union dues.
I don't know now
I just don't know
If I'm goin' back again
I don't know now
I just don't know
If I'm goin' back again
"The best compliment I ever had on a lyric was from
an old guy who'd worked at the Cumberland mine. He said, 'I wonder what
the guy who wrote this song would've thought if he'd ever known something
like the Grateful Dead was gonna do it'." -- Robert Hunter
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| Black
Peter |
All of my friends come to see me last night
I was laying in my bed and dying
Annie Beauneu from Saint Angel
say, "The weather down here so fine"
Just then the wind
came squalling through the door
but who can
the weather command?
Just want to have
a little peace to die
and a friend or two
I love at hand
Fever roll up to a hundred and five
Roll on up
gonna roll back down
One more day
I find myself alive
tomorrow
maybe go
beneath the ground
See here how everything
lead up to this day
and it's just like
any other day
that's ever been
Sun goin' up
and then the
sun it goin' down
Shine thru my window and
my friends they come around
come around
come around |
People might know but
the people don't care
that a man could be
as poor as me. . . .
"Take a look at poor Peter
he's lyin' in pain
now let's go run
and see
Run and see
hey, hey,
run and see
"I wrote this as a brisk piece like Kershaw's 'Louisiana
Man.' Garcia took it seriously, though, dressing it in subtle changes and
a mournful tempo.
"The bridge verse-- 'See here how everything lead
up to this day....' --was written after the restructuring of the piece
and reflects the additional depth of possibility provided for the song
by his treatment." --Robert Hunter
|
| Easy
Wind |
I been ballin' a shiny black steel jackhammer
Been chippin' up rocks for the great highway
Live five years if I take my time
Ballin' that jack and a drinkin' my wine
I been chippin' them rocks from dawn till doom
While my rider hide my bottle in the other room
Doctor say I better stop ballin' that jack
If I live five years gonna bust my back, yes I will
Easy wind cross the bayou today
There's a whole lotta women, mama,
Out in red on the streets today
And the river keep a talkin'
But you never hear a word it say |
Gotta find a woman be good to me
Won't hide my liquor, try to serve me tea
'Cause I'm a stone jack baller and my heart is true
And I'll give everything that I got to you, yes I will
Easy wind cross the bayou today
There's a whole lotta women, mama,
Out in red on the streets today
And the river keep a talkin'
But you never hear a word it say
|
| Casey
Jones |
Driving that train
High on cocaine
Casey Jones, you better
watch your speed
Trouble ahead
Trouble behind
and you know that notion
just crossed my mind
This old engine
makes it on time
Leaves Central Station
at a quarter to nine
Hits River Junction
at seventeen to
at a quarter to ten
you know it's trav'lin' again
Driving that train
High on cocaine
Casey Jones, you better
Watch your speed
Trouble ahead
Trouble behind
and you know that notion
just crossed my mind
Trouble ahead
The Lady in Red
Take my advice
you be better off dead
Switchman sleepin'
Train a hundred and two
is on the wrong track and
headed for you |
Driving that train
High on cocaine
Casey Jones, you better
Watch your speed
Trouble ahead
Trouble behind
and you know that notion
just crossed my mind
Trouble with you is
The trouble with me
Got two good eyes
but we still don't see
Come 'round the bend
You know it's the end
The fireman screams and
The engine just gleams
Driving that train
High on cocaine
Casey Jones, you better
Watch your speed
Trouble ahead
Trouble behind
and you know that notion
just crossed my mind--
And you know that notion
just crossed my mind
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