• Stella Blue
    Lyrics By:
    Music By:

    All the years combine
    They melt into a dream
    A broken angel sings
    From a guitar

    In the end there's just a song
    Comes crying up the night
    Through all the broken dreams (note 1)
    And vanished years

    Stella Blue
    Stella Blue

    When all the cards are down
    There's nothing left to see
    There's just the pavement left
    And broken dreams

    In the end there's still that song (note 2)
    Comes crying like the wind
    Down every lonely street
    That's ever been

    Stella Blue
    Stella Blue

    I've stayed in every blue light cheap hotel
    Can't win for trying
    Dust off those rusty strings just one more time
    Gonna make them shine (note 3)

    It all rolls into one
    And nothing comes for free
    There's nothing you can hold
    For very long

    And when you hear that song
    Come crying like the wind
    It seems like all this life
    Was just a dream

    Stella Blue
    Stella Blue

    (1) Hunter's hand-written lyrics have this line as "From all the lonely streets" and early Grateful Dead versions have Garcia singing "Down all the lonely streets"

    (2) in early versions, Garcia sang "There's still that same old song"

    (3) in early versions, Garcia sang "Can't keep from crying" (this bridge doesn't appear in Hunter's hand-written lyrics)
    (Thanks to Mike Chulick for spotting these)

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(1) Hunter's hand-written lyrics have this line as "From all the lonely streets" and early Grateful Dead versions have Garcia singing "Down all the lonely streets"

(2) in early versions, Garcia sang "There's still that same old song"

(3) in early versions, Garcia sang "Can't keep from crying" (this bridge doesn't appear in Hunter's hand-written lyrics)
(Thanks to Mike Chulick for spotting these)

Lyrics By
Robert Hunter
Music By
Jerry Garcia
Lyrics

All the years combine
They melt into a dream
A broken angel sings
From a guitar

In the end there's just a song
Comes crying up the night
Through all the broken dreams (note 1)
And vanished years

Stella Blue
Stella Blue

When all the cards are down
There's nothing left to see
There's just the pavement left
And broken dreams

In the end there's still that song (note 2)
Comes crying like the wind
Down every lonely street
That's ever been

Stella Blue
Stella Blue

I've stayed in every blue light cheap hotel
Can't win for trying
Dust off those rusty strings just one more time
Gonna make them shine (note 3)

It all rolls into one
And nothing comes for free
There's nothing you can hold
For very long

And when you hear that song
Come crying like the wind
It seems like all this life
Was just a dream

Stella Blue
Stella Blue