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  • On The Road Again
    Lyrics By:
    Traditional
    Music By:
    Traditional

    Would not my fat girl tell you the reason why? (note 1)
    Fat girls will even do things on the sly
    Look for your dinner to be good and hot
    She never even put a stew-bone in the pot

    She's on the road again, sure as you're born
    Natural born eastman on the road again (note 2)
    She's on the road again, sure as you're born

    Friend comes by, says he's looking for his hat
    Wants to know where's your husband's at
    Say I don't know, he's on the way to the pen
    Come on pretty momma let's get on the road again

    I went to my house, my front door was locked
    Went round to the window, found my window was locked
    Jumped right back, I shook my head
    Big old rounder in my folding bed
    Shot through the window, broke the glass
    Never seen that little rounder run so fast

    A song played by the Dead in 1966 (and before that in Mother McCree's Uptown Jug Champions), then dropped until it was reintroduced for a spell in the early 1980s, primarily in acoustic sets. It was sung by Garcia in the 60's and Weir in the 80's. These are the lyrics sung by Bob Weir: 1) this line is difficult to decipher from the recordings. It's more clearly "fat girl" on the Dead Ahead video than on the Reckoning CD (and both were recorded during the same run of shows in 1980). This fits with what Garcia sang in 1966 - and seems to be a bowdlerisation of the Memphis Jug Band's version which has "black girl" (2) there's often confusion about what's sung here: is it "natural born easy, on the road again" "natural born ease, been on the road again" "natural born, he's been on the road again" or even "natural born easement on the road again"
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17 years 9 months
Submitted by Jonathan Lane on
A song played by the Dead in 1966 (and before that in Mother McCree's Uptown Jug Champions), then dropped until it was reintroduced for a spell in the early 1980s, primarily in acoustic sets. It was sung by Garcia in the 60's and Weir in the 80's. These are the lyrics sung by Bob Weir: 1) this line is difficult to decipher from the recordings. It's more clearly "fat girl" on the Dead Ahead video than on the Reckoning CD (and both were recorded during the same run of shows in 1980). This fits with what Garcia sang in 1966 - and seems to be a bowdlerisation of the Memphis Jug Band's version which has "black girl" (2) there's often confusion about what's sung here: is it "natural born easy, on the road again" "natural born ease, been on the road again" "natural born, he's been on the road again" or even "natural born easement on the road again"
Lyrics By
Traditional
Music By
Traditional
Lyrics

Would not my fat girl tell you the reason why? (note 1)
Fat girls will even do things on the sly
Look for your dinner to be good and hot
She never even put a stew-bone in the pot

She's on the road again, sure as you're born
Natural born eastman on the road again (note 2)
She's on the road again, sure as you're born

Friend comes by, says he's looking for his hat
Wants to know where's your husband's at
Say I don't know, he's on the way to the pen
Come on pretty momma let's get on the road again

I went to my house, my front door was locked
Went round to the window, found my window was locked
Jumped right back, I shook my head
Big old rounder in my folding bed
Shot through the window, broke the glass
Never seen that little rounder run so fast