• Black Peter
    Lyrics By:
    Music By:

    All of my friends come to see me last night
    I was laying in my bed and dying
    Annie Beauneu from Saint Angel (note 1)
    Say "the weather down here so fine"

    Just then the wind came squalling through the door (note 2)
    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 going up and then
    The sun going down
    Shine through my window
    And my friends they come around
    Come around, come around

    The people might know, but the people don't care
    That a man can be as poor as me (note 3)
    Take a look at poor Peter, he's lying in pain
    Now let's come run and see
    Run and see
    Run and see
    Run, run and see, and see

    (1) There seems to be some confusion over the spelling of "Beauneu." That is the spelling used by Hunter in his books of lyrics "Box Of Rain." But the spelling in the sheet music as originally published ("Grateful Dead" with music for Workingman's Dead and American Beauty) is "Bonneau", which sounds closer to what Garcia sings. That spelling is also used in the sheet music in "Anthology Vol II." But just to make matters even more confusing, the spelling in "Selections From Workingman's Dead" is "Beuneau" - almost certainly a mistake I would guess! (2) Some of the songbooks have "... squalling through the dark", but this seems to be a mistake: the lyrics in Hunter's "Box Of Rain" have "... through the door" and that sounds to be what Garcia sings. (3) in the performance from 8 July 1990 on View From The Vault, Jerry sings "That a man could be as strong as me." I believe he may also have sung that on other occasions around that time. (thanks to Todd Prusin for pointing this out to me).

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(1) There seems to be some confusion over the spelling of "Beauneu." That is the spelling used by Hunter in his books of lyrics "Box Of Rain." But the spelling in the sheet music as originally published ("Grateful Dead" with music for Workingman's Dead and American Beauty) is "Bonneau", which sounds closer to what Garcia sings. That spelling is also used in the sheet music in "Anthology Vol II." But just to make matters even more confusing, the spelling in "Selections From Workingman's Dead" is "Beuneau" - almost certainly a mistake I would guess! (2) Some of the songbooks have "... squalling through the dark", but this seems to be a mistake: the lyrics in Hunter's "Box Of Rain" have "... through the door" and that sounds to be what Garcia sings. (3) in the performance from 8 July 1990 on View From The Vault, Jerry sings "That a man could be as strong as me." I believe he may also have sung that on other occasions around that time. (thanks to Todd Prusin for pointing this out to me).

Lyrics By
Robert Hunter
Music By
Jerry Garcia
Lyrics

All of my friends come to see me last night
I was laying in my bed and dying
Annie Beauneu from Saint Angel (note 1)
Say "the weather down here so fine"

Just then the wind came squalling through the door (note 2)
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 going up and then
The sun going down
Shine through my window
And my friends they come around
Come around, come around

The people might know, but the people don't care
That a man can be as poor as me (note 3)
Take a look at poor Peter, he's lying in pain
Now let's come run and see
Run and see
Run and see
Run, run and see, and see