Fare you well, Mr. Hunter. We love you more than words can tell...
For a man who provided us with so many meaningful words, the soundtrack to our lives, he's left us a bit speechless with his passing. For more than 50 years, since his first lyrical contributions to the Grateful Dead in 1967, Robert Hunter has been just as integral a part of the legacy of the Grateful Dead as those who recorded the music to accompany his words, those who walked out on stage to bring his words to life. More than 2,000 times 1967-1995, these six (or five or seven) proud walkers on the jingle bell rainbow, plus countless thousands of times since then by other performers, the Grateful Dead have brought Hunter's words to life in front of all of us as their witness. Not a single day has gone by since 1984 that Hunter's words haven't been a part of my world; I've heard Jerry, Bob and others sing his words literally every day for the past 35 years.
When the final Fare Thee Well show ended in Chicago in 2015, Mickey Hart famously sent us on our way by asking us to "please, be kind," and that lesson along with its lyrical brethren written by Hunter, "ain't no time to hate," and "are you kind?" are some of the truest words to live by. No matter what meaning, solace, lesson you find in Hunter's lyrics, please go out and do some good with them.
David Lemieux
dead comment
Robert Hunter RIP
Sleep in the stars Mr. Hunter and thank you for your wonderful words of wisdom. Those words will last many lifetimes.
I'm devastated. Robert's lyrics were the poetry to my youth, middle age and old age. Ripple sums up my view of life better than anything else I have l known.
There is a fountain that was not made by the hands of man.
He used to come to the UK a lot. I remember a gig at The Venue in London about 1978 when he played all of Terrapin. Brilliant. My friend Dave who generally didn't do much weed smoked so much his eyes were pointing in different directions!
Probably the only lyricist who had much of an influence on me but 'Once in a while you get shown the light in the strangest of places if you look at it right': that changed my life. And it still does. So many great, great lyrics. And they spring to mind in the strangest of places and the oddest of times. 'One man gathers what another man spills.' RIP Mr Hunter: you will be missed but your words are remembered.
As a tribute, reread Robert’s introduction to The Complete Annotated Grateful Dead Lyric.