See Ya' Down The Road

[Californiaman]

Down The Road

 

Lyrics: Robert Hunter

Music: Hart, Jenkins, Welnick, Hidalgo

 

Originally played by Mickey Hart with Mystery Box, and then with some of his other bands. Now played by him with The Dead.

 

Down the road to Union Station running through the fog

I thought I saw Joe Hill last night grinning like a dog

"I understand they did you in for everyone to see"

He smiled - shook his head - "that's a lie," said he

"I been on a mountain top observing from a cloud

Been in the hearts of workers milling with the crowd

My tears are shed for freedom and equality of means

My blood and perspiration oil the gears of your machine"

 

Chorus

Down the road again

Down the road again

 

Down the road to Massachusetts driving through the night

I thought I saw Jack Kennedy hitchhiking by a light

I hit the brakes - backed up slow, and Kennedy got in

I said, "It's nice to see you lookin' back in shape again

Correct me if I'm wrong but I believe they gunned you down"

He just shook his head and looked off sadly with a frown

Said, "bullets are like waves, they only rearrange the sand

History turns upon the tides and not the deeds of man"

 

[chorus]

 

Driving down to Fiddler's Green to hear a tune or two

I thought I saw John Lennon there, looking kind of blue

I sat down beside him, said "I thought you bought the store"

He said "I heard that rumour, what can I do you for?"

"Have you written anything I might have never heard?"

He picked up his guitar and strummed a minor third

All I can recall of what he sang, for what it's worth

"Long as songs of mine are sung I'm with you on this earth"

 

[chorus]

 

From the corner of my eye I saw the sun explode

I didn't look directly 'cause it would have burned my soul

When the smoke and thunder cleared enough to look around

I heard a sweet guitar lick, an old familiar sound

I heard a laugh I recognised come rolling from the earth

Saw it rise into the skies like lightning giving birth

It sounded like Garcia but I couldn't see the face

Just the beard and the glass and a smile on empty space

 

[chorus]

 

The song at one time had an additional verse. Hunter sang it in a solo performance on 1 March 1997, and has since posted the lyrics in his journal: for 14 January 2006

 

Driving down the road all night, the sun is rising red

Reciting songs and stories, conversing with the dead

I pulled into Selma, low on gasoline

Been so long on empty, I been riding on a dream

The fellow at the station looked like Martin Luther King

"You're low on oil," he said, with an old familiar ring

"How far to the mountain, friend," I asked him face to face

"You're standing on it now," he said, "You just don't know the place"

[dem00n]

Mabye you should get a 2nd job?

[Rocky4]

I'm in a kind of foolish game, I try to get rich quick,

 

But I'm going insane,

 

The kind of freaks that hang out on 42nd Street

 

They're all pimpin' Judys and poppin' speed, well

 

It's a game of cat and mouse, and I think it's got my soul,

 

I think it's time for thinkin' 'bout a time to roll on

 

Down the road

 

Here comes Big Mike, I kinda owe him some beans,

 

He must be crazy, I guess that's why he's so mean,

 

If I tell him I'm leavin', he would sure enough split my gut,

 

Cause he knows I sold to a sucker, and I owe Big Mike a cut,

 

But I'll slip him a 20-dollar bill till I get out of town,

 

When I hit those white lines, I'm gonna be gone like a

 

Greyhound down the road

[Californiaman]

I love Kansas.

Seen them twice back in the '70s.

[FirstMeasure]

Hey California Man. I didn't know you liked the Grateful Dead.

 

Jack Straw was always my favorite, lyrically. I've quoted the bold print often.

 

We can share the women, we can share the wine.

We can share what we got of yours 'cause we done shared all of mine.

Keep on rollin', just a mile to go;

Keep on rollin' my old buddy, you're movin' much too slow.

 

I just jumped the watchman, right outside the fence.

Took his rings, four bucks in change, ain't that Heaven sent?

Hurts my ears to listen, Shannon, burns my eyes to see;

Cut down a man in cold blood, Shannon, might as well been me.

 

We used to play for silver, now we play for life;

And one's for sport and one's for blood at the point of a knife.

And now the die is shaken, now the die must fall.

There ain't a winner in the game, he don't go home with all.

Not with all.

 

Leavin' Texas, fourth day of July,

Sun so hot, the clouds so low, the eagles filled the sky.

Catch the Detroit Lightnin' out of Sante Fe,

The Great Northern out of Cheyenne, from sea to shining sea.

 

Gotta go to Tulsa, first train we can ride.

Gotta settle one old score, one small point of pride.

There ain't a place a man can hide, Shannon will keep him from the sun

Ain't a bed can give us rest now, you keep us on the run.

 

Jack Straw from Wichita cut his buddy down,

And dug for him a shallow grave and laid his body down.

Half a mile from Tucson, by the morning light,

One man gone and another to go, my old buddy you're moving much too slow.

 

We can share the women, we can share the wine.

[KSG_Standard]

I've tried over the years to be a Dead fan, but there's something about the music that doesn't quite touch me...I have the album Deadicated: A Tribute to the Grateful Dead, by Los Lobos and I love that album...I really dig Los Lobos' versions of Bertha and Jack Straw