The Lyrics That Changed My Life...

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July 6, 2007 - 10:26am

88 replies

marye

Joined:
May 26, 2007

Here's a place to talk about the words that really grabbed you. That remain a touchstone of your life to this day. That are especially meaningful to you. Etc.

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June 29, 2022 - 9:48pm

#1

General Gau

Joined:
June 29, 2022

Rings Like Fire, a Cash Tribute?

I always enjoyed the song “Franklin’s Tower” even though I didn’t know who Franklin is or why he/she has a tower! When I heard it was Ben Franklin I thought, how clever and appropriate (and potentially lucrative, too ;-) that purveyors of Americana recorded a song about a founding father one year before the bicentennial. We know it’s about a lot more than bell manufacturing, but are other meanings in Hunter’s cryptic lyrics necessarily deeper meanings? Like the phrase “rings like fire.” What does that even sound like? Then I thought of Johnny Cash’s “Ring of Fire.” The latter is a metaphor for love while the former is a simile for…urgency? Volume? Or is Hunter referencing, consciously or unconsciously, the iconic country song? Certainly he was hip enough to know Johnny’s work. Your thoughts?
April 29, 2020 - 1:36pm

#2

gr8fulgal77

Joined:
April 18, 2020

Rainy Ripple

Just got caught walking in the rain while listening to Ripple. It was a beautiful experience 💙
January 30, 2020 - 6:18am

#3

DelilahJoness

Joined:
January 22, 2020

The meaning behind Morning…

The meaning behind Morning Dew always gets me. Such a horribly depressing yet beautiful song. “I can’t walk you out in the morning dew today.” Post apocalypse this song tells of how he is the only one left. There is no baby crying it’s all in his head. The kind of acceptance of the end jerry sings this song with gets me every time. Love this song.
March 31, 2019 - 2:16pm

#4

zozoe29

Joined:
September 17, 2018

Let's start off simple. 🕉 PAGING DAVID DODD!

For the scoop on what this is all about,visit MY G.D. FRIENDS PORTAL on FB, take a poke around, & take in all the riddles & rhymes that Hunter/Garcia have covertly laced, at last count, in 36 songs,,,that's 18 pairings of songs that will change everything you thought you knew about some of your favourite tunes~~ it undoubtedly uncovers where several tunes grew out of...both musically & lyrically. Sure, there are many sites that cover this topic, DAVID DODDS ANNOTATED LYRICS, but no one seems to touch on what I'm getting into, & what Hunter has confirmed to me as being 'real'~ Truly bookworthy!!
kenny (moto) @ kslewitt@gmail.com
🕉
================================
As a guitar player, it was obvious to me that these two songs, though in different keys, are the same song, same changes, & you can pretty much sing/play them side by side....play one & sing the other...beginning to end.......it works!! Then Hunter spreads his words & images, dead on cue~~ And the song titles alone tell the story!!
Here goes:

"Come all you pretty women
with your hair hanging DOWN"

"When they come to take you DOWN
When they bring that wagon round,

"Open up your windows 'cause
the Candyman's in TOWN"

"When they come to call on you
and drag your poor body DOWN"
                    -----------------
"Hand me my old guitar"   >>>
"Just one thing I ask of you"
"Pass the whiskey round" >>>
"Just one thing for me"
                     ----------------
"Want you to tell everybody you meet
the Candyman's in town" >>>
"Please forget you knew my name
My darlin' Sugaree"
                    ----------------
"LOOK OUT, LOOK OUT the Candyman"
"SHAKE IT,   SHAKE IT         Sugaree"

"Here he comes & he's gone again"
"Just don't tell them that you know me"
                     ----------------
"I come in from Memphis
where I learned to talk the jive" >>>
"You thought you was the cool fool
Never could do no wrong"
                      ----------------
So, won't you tell everyone you know that the Candyman's Sugaree?!
kslewitt@gmail.com with your reactions or thoughts or just a smile~~
moto 🕉
================================
November 11, 2018 - 5:44am

#5

bagswalletsfr

Joined:
November 11, 2018

grate fun

It is grate fun to do this with someone who knows what you are talking about
August 3, 2014 - 8:43am

#6

MilesM

Joined:
August 13, 2012

Built to Last

Its later Jerry but i love the line " dont waist your breathe to save your face when you have done your best"
August 2, 2014 - 9:33am

#7

Mark Bee

Joined:
October 4, 2008

Jerry

He once said... "The music doesn't come from me, it comes through me
July 25, 2014 - 5:13am

#8

sisterearth

Joined:
November 26, 2007

you are so right

I used to drive my friend crazy by blurting out some Grateful Dead lyrics that fit the moment. Of course friend was not a deadhead so just looked at me confused until I said its a GD song. It is grate fun to do this with someone who knows what you are talking about....what I want to know is are you kind!
January 23, 2014 - 12:47am

#9

ElectricBoogalooBlue

Joined:
January 22, 2014

Scarlet Begonias

I was talking to a girlfriend I hadn't seen in 2 years and she was telling me the story of how she finally got clean. The person who ended up being the one to help her was a 20 year old kid who spent his whole life on the street, hustling on his bike, and didn't really have anything. He was given some money for Christmas and spent it on helping her. She said of all her big money family she found it odd that he was the one with the least to give whom helped her the most. At which time I could not help but say mama it's true and started singing "Once in a while you get shown the light in the strangest of places if you look at it right..." We both laughed and smiled and thanked the Dead for all their inspiration.
August 28, 2013 - 8:57am

#10

cben

Joined:
November 19, 2007

for me...it's...

what do you want me to do for you, to watch for you while you are sleeping....and, once in a while you get shown the light in the strangest of places if you look at it right... I have so many that have impacted me, today I would say the entire song Black Throated Wind has had the most profound impact on me.

John Perry Barlow

John Perry Barlow

Forums

Grateful Dead

Here's a place to talk about the words that really grabbed you. That remain a touchstone of your life to this day. That are especially meaningful to you. Etc.

Jimmy C. That is one beautiful Tune. Talkin bout Gooseflesh ( well G~Mom is the Mother Duck of the Flock :) Just thinking about it gets me ( Like sooo many of them do.... ) I could give ya'll my top 15 ~ cause I cant narrow it down any further than that , but Crazy Fingers is one of them.... PEACE

lyrics..

'Listen to the river sing sweet songs, to rock my soul'

let it be known

stevie c'let it be known there is a fountain, that was not made by the hands of man'

just so many

But the ones that got me first - 32 teeth in a jawbone-opened my first show, I saw the light and all else after made sense and related to everything I did had experienced etc up to that point and time in my life. Then Chinadol same show really put me in the wind. once in awhile you can get show the light. in the stragest places if you look at it right.

Lyrics

"Small wheel turning by the fire and rod, big wheel turning by the grace of God.Everytime that wheel turns round, you're bound to cover just a little more ground, you're bound to cover just a little more ground."

Current..

"One of these days I'm gonna pull myself together Soon as I finish tearing myself apart." These lyrics sort of represent how I have been feeling lately. A unique nugget from the shows that I saw and the first of only two. Rock on!

Songs

All of them are so beautiful its hard to say... Just A Little Light is a great one to me! "You're as mighty as a flower that will grow the stones away"... China Doll "Stranger ones have come by here before they flew away"......And I like China Cat Sunflower because it reminds me of my friend Leonardo. Thank You!

More Songs

"If mercy's in business I wish it for you, More than just ashes when your dreams come true" "Out on a mountain it will drive you insane..listening to the winds howl...unbroken chain of sorrow and pearls.. unbroken chain of sky and sea...unbroken chain of the western wind, unbroken chain of you and me" "Standing on the moon, but I'd rather be with you... " "Show me something build to last"

Black Peter

See here how everythingLead up to this day And it's just like Any other day That's ever been Sun goin' up Then the sun goinin' down Shine through my window And my friends, They come around Truly an epiphany when one is emerging from the smoking crater.

"Once in a while you get

"Once in a while you get shown the light in the strangest of places if you look at it right." "Strangers stopping strangers just to shake their hand." "She had rings on her fingers and bells on her shoes, And I knew without asking she was into the blues, She wore scarlet begonias, tucked into her curls, I knew right away she was not like other girls" pretty much all of scarlet begonias

Comes A Time

From day to day, just lettin' it rideYou get so far away from how it feels inside. You can't let go, 'cuz you're afraid to fall But the day may come when you can't feel at all. Comes a time, when the blind man Takes your hand, and says, Don't you see? Gotta make it somehow on the dreams you still believe. Don't give it up - you've got an empty cup Only love can fill. Only love can fill. Gets me every time I hear it.

Post Card to the Grateful Dead

"There is a road, no simple highway, Between the dawn and the dark of night, And if you go no one may follow, That path is for your steps alone." Hello friends! I am new to the website, and this might be out of line but I am looking for your help. I am studying architecture, and my recent assignment was designing a post card that would describe home... This touched me at a profoundly emotional level, since I feel that I am very much "in between places": I was born and raised in Eastern Europe, but I haven't been there in about 7 years; I lived in Maryland with my husband for about 5 years, and we moved together to New England 2 years ago. We separated 6 months after the move, and I now have a roomate situation, while pursuing my degree... The past couple of years have been tumoltuous, and therefore I feel that I do not have a home... except for the music of the Grateful Dead. I was not born in a time or place that allowed me to ever see a true Grateful Dead show, but the spirit, the acceptance and the love I feel while listening to their music has trully given me the support of a family. Going to festivals and shows, meeting beautiful people and most of all beeing touched by the music have been life changing events.I regain direction and hope in life and mankind. So when it came to designing a post card describing home, I though of the Grateful Dead. This is where I need your help. If you were to write a post card to the GD, what would you say? Thank you for taking the time of reading my lenghty post, and I am looking forward to hear what you would say. Sincerely, Delia-May

GD Songs that changed my life.

Three Dead songs really touched and changed my life. Box of Rain, Standing on the Moon and China Doll,{I am a doll collector} so it really makes me happy to hear that song.

Crazy Fingers

"Your rain falls like crazy fingers" (your fingers fall like crazy rain)"Peels of fragile thunder keeping time" "Beneath the sweet, calm face of the sea, swift undertow" Hunter is delving into the unconscious, quivering rhythms that unite us. The Grateful Dead took special care of our precious commodity--music. They served it to us on a velvet pillow, caressing every nerve with their masterful explorations.

WHA ?

a copper domed bhodi drips a silver komono like a crazy quilt star gown in a dream like wind....i never heard anything like that in ANY song made me a fan for life thanks Hunter

So many of my favorites have

So many of my favorites have already been listed and I'm sure that these are somewhere in the fray as well, but here they are again: Inspiration, move me brightly Light the song with sense of colour Hold away despair More than this I will not ask Faced with mysteries dark and vast Statements just seem vain at last --Terrapin

Life full of Consequences

It is... From the Movie " CABIN IN THE SKY"..................

me3

Lyrics that changed my life

........DARK STAR crashes..........listen to "Grayfolded"-------then again---there are way too many.......Keep Smilin!

just a touch

"every silver lining has a touch of gray." i guess cuz i first heard it when i was in a homeless shelter at age 18. i was pretty down and depressed and lonely. my friend that i talked to on facebook sent me a link to touch of gray, and i remember smiling and saying "this is how i feel and have felt for years, but its so upbeat, and hopeful." so then i went and became obsessed with the dead officially. the song still means as much to me now, and helped me do away with alot of my anger and just to let things roll man.

stopped me cold

The lyrics that blew my old mind away to make room for my new mind was from Homeless off the Paul Simon Graceland album. Their appearance on SNL first hit my ears because of the harmony. It really did change my perception of music, and allowed me to wrap around it, and to make it a tool for the rest of my life. But as I listened to it over and over, the lyrics made me realize that home was not going to be my father's house. I was grateful, I was respectful, but I was in his home. I didn't think like my family, and I don't think we had the same motivations. Great parents. I miss them each day. They were mindful of their example, but never stopped me from making my own choices. I have my own house now, but it ain't my home. My home is with my people, and with people who think free, and want to hear other stories to see how it may apply to them, or to change their old thoughts and assumptions. It laid the table for loving the Dead, Dylan, and all the rest.

Favorite Lyrics...

"... I won't leave you drifting down, but whoa, it makes me wild, with thirty years upon my head, to have you call me child..." LOVE that song! Also, "Row Jimmy." One of my favorite lyrics of any song, any where. Aside from the Dead, I really enjoy Dylan, especially "Sooner or Later," "Idiot Wind," and "Every Grain of Sand." Like the Dead though, there are way too many examples of amazing lyrics in Dylan's songbook to even begin. Um... I also really enjoy the lyrics of My Morning Jacket's Jim James, especially on the albums "At Dawn" and "It Still Moves." (I'm telling ya', if you haven't checked them out yet you are really missing out!) Peace, travelers

The Grateful Dead

"Won't you try just a little but harder, Couldn't you try just a little bit more" I did. It still stands as one of my fondest memories. "The Earth will see you on through this time"

Words to live by

For me " Crippled but free. I was blind all the time I was learning to see." that "bout says it all.

Hello Sweet Delia- May...postcard

I would just say "Thanks!". I became a DH in 1985. I had been introduced to the music by college friends in 1980, but I didn't get my ticket to the bus until my first show. It was a life altering event for me. I finally felt at home. The family and esp. the music has been my rock through more hard times and wonderful times than I can recall for you here. I hope that you find the kind of solice and peace that I have been granted by the Grace of the Universe and the Grateful Dead. Peace- Love and Scarlett Begonias- Christie

birthday

Happy Birthday! and hello B.D.

i am posting

i'm not sure if my website is working. it is saying Post new commentAnybody else?

seemingly

it worked. Welcome!

for me...it's...

what do you want me to do for you, to watch for you while you are sleeping....and, once in a while you get shown the light in the strangest of places if you look at it right... I have so many that have impacted me, today I would say the entire song Black Throated Wind has had the most profound impact on me.

Scarlet Begonias

I was talking to a girlfriend I hadn't seen in 2 years and she was telling me the story of how she finally got clean. The person who ended up being the one to help her was a 20 year old kid who spent his whole life on the street, hustling on his bike, and didn't really have anything. He was given some money for Christmas and spent it on helping her. She said of all her big money family she found it odd that he was the one with the least to give whom helped her the most. At which time I could not help but say mama it's true and started singing "Once in a while you get shown the light in the strangest of places if you look at it right..." We both laughed and smiled and thanked the Dead for all their inspiration.

you are so right

I used to drive my friend crazy by blurting out some Grateful Dead lyrics that fit the moment. Of course friend was not a deadhead so just looked at me confused until I said its a GD song. It is grate fun to do this with someone who knows what you are talking about....what I want to know is are you kind!

Jerry

He once said... "The music doesn't come from me, it comes through me

Built to Last

Its later Jerry but i love the line " dont waist your breathe to save your face when you have done your best"

grate fun

It is grate fun to do this with someone who knows what you are talking about

Let's start off simple. 🕉 PAGING DAVID DODD!

For the scoop on what this is all about,visit MY G.D. FRIENDS PORTAL on FB, take a poke around, & take in all the riddles & rhymes that Hunter/Garcia have covertly laced, at last count, in 36 songs,,,that's 18 pairings of songs that will change everything you thought you knew about some of your favourite tunes~~ it undoubtedly uncovers where several tunes grew out of...both musically & lyrically. Sure, there are many sites that cover this topic, DAVID DODDS ANNOTATED LYRICS, but no one seems to touch on what I'm getting into, & what Hunter has confirmed to me as being 'real'~ Truly bookworthy!!
kenny (moto) @ kslewitt@gmail.com
🕉
================================
As a guitar player, it was obvious to me that these two songs, though in different keys, are the same song, same changes, & you can pretty much sing/play them side by side....play one & sing the other...beginning to end.......it works!! Then Hunter spreads his words & images, dead on cue~~ And the song titles alone tell the story!!
Here goes:

"Come all you pretty women
with your hair hanging DOWN"

"When they come to take you DOWN
When they bring that wagon round,

"Open up your windows 'cause
the Candyman's in TOWN"

"When they come to call on you
and drag your poor body DOWN"
                    -----------------
"Hand me my old guitar"   >>>
"Just one thing I ask of you"
"Pass the whiskey round" >>>
"Just one thing for me"
                     ----------------
"Want you to tell everybody you meet
the Candyman's in town" >>>
"Please forget you knew my name
My darlin' Sugaree"
                    ----------------
"LOOK OUT, LOOK OUT the Candyman"
"SHAKE IT,   SHAKE IT         Sugaree"

"Here he comes & he's gone again"
"Just don't tell them that you know me"
----------------
"I come in from Memphis
where I learned to talk the jive" >>>
"You thought you was the cool fool
Never could do no wrong"
----------------
So, won't you tell everyone you know that the Candyman's Sugaree?!
kslewitt@gmail.com with your reactions or thoughts or just a smile~~
moto 🕉
================================

The meaning behind Morning…

The meaning behind Morning Dew always gets me. Such a horribly depressing yet beautiful song. “I can’t walk you out in the morning dew today.” Post apocalypse this song tells of how he is the only one left. There is no baby crying it’s all in his head. The kind of acceptance of the end jerry sings this song with gets me every time. Love this song.

Rainy Ripple

Just got caught walking in the rain while listening to Ripple. It was a beautiful experience 💙

Rings Like Fire, a Cash Tribute?

I always enjoyed the song “Franklin’s Tower” even though I didn’t know who Franklin is or why he/she has a tower! When I heard it was Ben Franklin I thought, how clever and appropriate (and potentially lucrative, too ;-) that purveyors of Americana recorded a song about a founding father one year before the bicentennial. We know it’s about a lot more than bell manufacturing, but are other meanings in Hunter’s cryptic lyrics necessarily deeper meanings? Like the phrase “rings like fire.” What does that even sound like? Then I thought of Johnny Cash’s “Ring of Fire.” The latter is a metaphor for love while the former is a simile for…urgency? Volume? Or is Hunter referencing, consciously or unconsciously, the iconic country song? Certainly he was hip enough to know Johnny’s work. Your thoughts?