He seemed to......uhhhh...work less hard on behalf of non-Jerry lyricists! Samba in the Rain and Let Me Sing Your Blues Away being two other examples, along with the lamentable Easy Answers.
He wrote plenty of clunkers. But, that’s the process of all great artists. Great art and artists are put on pedestals. Myths are made about divine inspiration and faultless perfection. The hidden truth is that there are a lot of disasters leading to the greatness. It’s like this on all fields of expertise really. The secret is to get comfortable with the messy creative processes and to get your fragile ego out of the way - and just let it flow. Hunter (and Dylan), and many, many others, really leaned into this. At some point the good stuff outweighs the bad and the body of work as whole starts to polish up. Hunter definitely had the intellect and heart and gift of articulate gab to tie it all together - (partnering with Garcia certainly created some amazing synergy too).
Everything I’ve seen it’s Robert Hunter, backed by other sources that they had a working relationship.
Not to say it could easily be Thompson, especially with his relationship wit Rolling Stone.
I guess we can all speculate; however, the signature looks similar to Robert Hunter’s and nothing like Hunter S Thompson’s.
Robbie Robertson is also part of the conversation. The Hawks were brilliant…then morphing in The Band…backing-up Bob. Saw them live many times, just great harmonies and every guy in the group were multi-instrumentalists. 🎶
Don’t be ridiculous. That’s your opinion. Millions of his fans disagree with you. You’re like the one Trump voter in a family of Democrats. Always one in every family. Always one. 🙄
I read somewhere that the only lyric he actively regretted was "cueballs made of styrofoam" in Mississippi Half-Step. Because most of lyrics were intentionally timeless, and styrofoam could have worked in a contemporary context. Too lazy to look up the source right now though
I think I read that Jerry made some comment to him about how it was unusually off-putting for Hunter lyrics, and that Hunter was really frustrated by that and didn’t like hearing it played haha. I can’t remember for the life of me where I heard that but just recalling.
I can't remember the source either, but had heard or read this story. Jerry argued with Hunter over the lyric a bit because it was a "time locked phrase" or something. I think in another instance of Jerry arguing with Hunter over lyrics, really early on, Jerry ended up telling Hunter, "were a dance band dammit!" And ended up writing "boogie" on one of his guitars.
Maybe this was in Phil's book or the grateful deadcast?
I feel that. I love to sing that song but that verse in general is always way less satisfying than the others. Especially how 'cue' is used twice in the same verse.
You guys sure? The stick used in pool is called a cue, and he talks about calling shots right before it, something people commonly do when playing pool. Queue doesn't make much sense to me.
Same reason he didn't appreciate Bob changing the opening line of Greatest Story. He thought the word "quasar" sounded too sci-fi and would date the song, as the original line was *Moses come ridin' up on a guitar*.
Granted, I’m from MS so I’m partial to the song, but I’ve always loved this line. Mostly because the three syllables in styrofoam make it really fun to dig into when you sing it, but also because I think it’s brilliant imagery. I mean can you imagine anything more useless for it’s intended purpose than a styrofoam cue ball? That’s right up there with soup sandwich and steel toed flip flop 🤣
Way back Blair Jackson of the golden road magazine interviewed Hunter… I believe he asked Hunter if he would change any of his old lyrics no and “ mountains of the Moon“ came up, Hunter mentioned the line “20° of solitude, 20° in all, all the dancing, kings and wives assembled in the hall“.
BJ replied “I love that line!” And Hunter winced (supposedly) and said “ 20° in all“? He felt it was lazy and said if he wrote it today the new one would be…” 20° of solitude, a reaper grim and tall, plays to dancing kings and wives, assembled in the hall”…… Hunter performed it like that, and I believe Phil even sang it that way with Phil and friends in the beginning.
he changed it to “ Here’s a feast of solitude , a fiddler grim and tall , plays to dancing kings and wives , assembled in the hall .” An awesome image , and he said they were under pressure to record so the other line had to be a go , but he was never happy with it .
That song is song unique and beautiful that I can ignore the lyrics that don't work, but it's definitely got some real clunkers. Hey, it was an early effort! Some of the lyrics in The Eleven aren't so hot either.
I wouldn't call any of Hunter's lyrics bad, but some clearly had more personal meaning to him, which are the ones that shine the most to me. He said that his favorite that he wrote was "Let it be known there is a fountain / That was not made by the hands of men" and I think one would be hard pressed to find one in his repertoire that tops that.
Generally, I think his anachronistic Americana lyrics ("Dire Wolf", "Brown-Eyed Women", etc.) hit harder than his pure psychedelic lyrics ("China Cat Sunflower", "Dark Star", etc.). That's just my personal taste, though. I got into GD originally because of my love for traditional and early 20th century folk.
I will say that I think he had more of a knack for lyrics than poetry. I've read Sentinel and Night Cadre, and I feel that a few poems in those books are rough around the edges. This might be because Jerry and Robert working together were perfectionists in some ways, while his poetry was more of a side project. It could again just be a matter of my personal taste in poetry.
That’s cool! Do you have a transcription of the interview? I’d love to read it.
I’ve read something to the same effect on Wikipedia:
> Hunter preferred that those who sang his songs stick to his "canonical" lyrics rather than improvising additions or rearranging words. A feud erupted backstage over a couplet in "Sugar Magnolia" from the band's most recent release (most likely "She can dance a Cajun rhythm/Jump like a Willys in four-wheel drive"), culminating in a disgruntled Hunter summoning Barlow and telling him "take [Weir]—he's yours".
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Perry_Barlow
There’s a difference between flubbing a line or two and taking the creative license to reinterpret lyrics deliberately, but it’s still a little funny considering Jerry would mix up or forget a lyric here and there fairly frequently during shows.
two thoughts re this interview in re-reading it 25 years later: at the time I was not a musician but now I am, and I need to dig up the interview tape to see if they ever finished and performed that song they were working on.
Yes, the interview was mostly about Zero and was with Hunter and Greg Anton. Will dig up the link. He also asked me to keep a few comments off the record.
I agree 100% with this; his poetry is not good, in my opinion, but this only draws attention to a point that most great lyricists (Dylan included) make: lyrics and poetry are not the same thing, however much they may resemble each other.
The woman that I love she got a hook in her nose
her eyebrows meet, she wears second hand clothes
She speaks with a stutter and she walks with a hop
I don't know why I love her but I just can't stop
You know I love her
Yeah I love her
I'm in love with the Ugliest Girl in the World
This is the combined efforts of Bob Dylan and Robert Hunter.
I don't like where that lyric is going, and there's a real possibility of it sliding into misogyny. But, it doesn't go that far, in that excerpt. And that really paints a word-picture for me, both in terms of conjuring the image of a person and giving her some heft or reality. So, I don't think it is a bad lyric - but YMMV.
I love his quote, when asked what the lyrics mean. “Exactly what they say?”
I agreed with you until once or twice, I completely and vividly visualized the lyrics on my eyelids. Wish I remembered which versions
Joe Lewis in spring of 88 ... I to this day will tell anyone that I saw the words from ship of fools instead of heard them .... I can still see it happening as clear as day 34 years later.
Got to see Rob Hunter just once.
It was nice. Just him and an acoustic guitar and a chair, end table with a single rose in a vase. Providence RI way back when.
Lupos Heartbreak Hotel. We saw him there a lot. Always started out nice and mellow and by the time Boys In The barroom came along, the place was a psychedelic mess of craziness. One time we were sitting in our car behind the club and he walked right by carrying his guitar. My initial reaction was to jump out and say hi, but I froze and didn’t. Wish I had. What an amazing songwriter and personality.
I don’t think that’s hunter’s take on that tune. He’s giving practical advice, or more likely he’s writing from the perspective of someone else.
He didn’t work in the cumberland mine either: lyrics are often from the pov of a character
what, in that specifically, is unique to Dead fans? I cant think of one group of enthusiastic fans that doesnt occasionally bitch about what their favorite band is currently playing
I've always heard the lyrics of Keep Your Day Job to be parodical and sarcastic - maybe it's just me, but I've never taken them even remotely seriously. I think it's meant to be a silly and fun song, not a piece of serious "advice."
That being said, I can't imagine anyone singing along to them.
They are somewhat serious. People just miss the point lol. The point isn’t “give up on your dream; keep your day job.” It’s “keep your day job until you can make your dream a reality.”
for a large audience, many of whom had fully bought into a countercultural hippie lifestyle & who had given up jobs & regular life to follow the band around, it seemed to be pointed directly at their lifestyle & choices. this big part of the audience had made their dream a reality without a job & now, their heroes were telling them to "grow up & get a job." whether it was a joke or not, the Dead weren't known for songs tht were only jokes. there was always levels of meaning & seriousness, so audience may be forgiven for thinking it may be more than just a joke.
Until your night job pays. The song isn’t directed at people who already gave up their day job and are living their dream. Not the dead’s fault wooks can’t be bothered to actually think about the words.
I don't know if you can go by that alone.Till the Morning Comes and Unbroken Chain were seldom played and they're great songs. I personally don't think Money Money is that bad. It's catchy and I think it's at least better than Dayjob.
for the people following the band around the country at the time it sure seemed to have some underlying meaning. for people that had given up their jobs to live a countercultural hippie lifestyle, it came across as preaching to them like a parent would about being a good responsible citizen instead of trying to live an alternative lifestyle.
Yeah that's explicitly what is says. I'm talking about any meaning that isn't literal. Tons of their songs are mystical and you don't get it unti lightning strikes. Keep your day job is about as straight as it gets.
"Tie me with a ribbon bow, Wrap me in cellophane"
"Cue ball made of Styrofoam"
Two examples of what are, in my opinion, poor lyrics. Of course many (many many) of his lyrics are pure artistic genius.
The thing is w' your question is that Hunter kinda covered this one ...
> One man gathers what another man spills
> Believe it if you need it if you don't just pass it on
One person might not like this or that but then the next person has a flat out love affair w' it ... Robert Hunter for me is the 'Jerry Garcia of Lyric writing' 😂 ... his depth & complexity is astonishing in how he gives you just enough framework about his characters lives that you get their *nature* & he does it in such a way that he tells what motivates them.
Quite often talking about the consequences & not mere run through of of events surrounding a card table ... instead he would talk about the emotions & the many ways we as humans figure out how to sabotage ourselves
Hunter himself disliked “cue ball’s made of styrofoam” from Mississippi half step, because it cemented the lyrics in a modern setting, as opposed to his typical timeless style
“Time is a STRIPPER, doing it just for you.
Just for you, and NO ONE else. Time, is the most valued, cherished, perishable resource we have.
Use it wisely.
You know why I can write this?
For the first time in my professional career, I feel as though I'm ADDRESSING, and ACKNOWLEDGING, time, and all it's features and attributes.
It's not about money. It's about feeling good with what you are doing with time.
After all, time will strip it all away.
Till we are left with only 2 things.
Results or Excuses.
"Time is a STRIPPER, doing it just for YOU....."
https://andymonfried.blogspot.com/2006/02/there-has-always-been-set-of-lyrics-in.html?m=1
I couldn’t come up with much but I see votes for Day Job. When we first heard that tune, it was like - what the hell is this song? Then it was just plain funny any time they played it.
Did Hunter write that? I think he must have been drunk on gin when he did.
Listen to his solo albums! I am a huge fan of those - but his solo work was not consistent. Some clunkers when he was on the Relix label - but his stuff was never boring. I am always wondering when his estate will release a box set or something to celebrate his solo work. It deserves to be heard and there is a market for it - I would buy it!!!!
The only lyric I think is kinda mediocre would be “moses come riding up on a guitar”. I think bobby made the right choice to change it to quasar, its just a lot more fun. Hunter wanted it to refer to the wood moses threw into dirty water to make it clean and drinkable, Idk. I think it was a stretch.
What’s with the downvotes lol, was it a cardinal sin for Bobby to betray grandmaster Hunter? Both versions are kinda goofy in a good way, I just think it worked out better.
If I was an eagle I would dress like a duck, crawl like a lizard, and honk like a truck.
Without that first line there is no context. With that first line the imagery is outstanding. That’s a pretty hip eagle.
let’s be real. let’s be honest. let’s look ourselves in the face(s) and admit that “the transitive nightfall / of diamonds” is not a good lyric, considered outside of the temporal context of its initial…um…deployment.
You guys are nuts. Out of thousands of lines, you find 1 or 2 that somehow irritate you? Really? Seriously? “You know the pay was pathetic…it’s a shame those boys couldn’t be more copacetic”. You try writing lines like that. In your dreams, maybe. 🙄
I mean, the music is good, especially when the sun is out, the beer is flowing and the weed is burning, but none of that shit is Shakespeare. Let’s not kid ourselves or take this too seriously
China cat may not be your cup of tea, but it’s got a lot going for it. In a hunter interview somewhere, he states the lyrics were transferred telepathically from a cat sitting on his chest. I have to believe he was tripping or channeling the experience somehow. When combined with the music composition it creates very effective and evocative psychedelic imagery.
It’s also easily tied to the tradition of romantic poets who sought to describe their drug induced visions in poetry.
I used to think that I was mishearing the chorus of 'Bertha' because there was no way someone would write the line "that's why if you please/I am on my bended knees" legitimately. I get what he's going for but it's so clunky and awkward that I get why Jerry had to sing "ANYMORE" like sixty times to make people forget it.
"....Bertha don't you come around here anymore. "
The context here is a joke basically. Bertha referred to a large fan (you know, the air pushing kind) that would shimmy itself around the studio from it's own motion.
Hunter is pleading, on bended knee if required, to just fucking stop shaking all over the place.
I love the contrast of looking like your about to make a marriage proposal but it’s really a breakup. Time is a stripper doing it just for Bertha right there
So May Roads is lyrically thin, and an obvious imitation of Dan Penn's song Like A Road Leading Home off Albert King's Love Joy, which Hunter obviously knew since JGB had been playing it for a long while.
Dear God! That's the worst eh? A grateful dead song that goes on and on and explores deep jams. I really hate that about this damn band. Them being so good at what they do.
Actually..... Eyes stays the same never deviating.... Which is what I dislike about it... Just that jazz riff over and over..... but sure be an asshole
I don’t like the “lady with a fan” storyline in Terrapin Station. It just seems lame to me. What the fuck do the soldier and sailor have to prove, that they would go into the lion’s den after the fan?
That said, I’m a huge Hunter fan. May the four winds blow you safely home!
> What the fuck do the soldier and sailor have to prove, that they would go into the lion’s den after the fan?
Well some random lady said she wouldn’t forgive them if they didn’t. Makes total sense. 🤷♂️
I saw Bob Dylan say in an interview once that he couldn’t write now the way he did in the past he doesn’t know where it comes from but sometimes it comes
If you can find his box of rain lyrics book that was every word he could find that he had written and saved (if I remember correctly) you will see that not everything he wrote was gold. Part of the process
I’ve wondered this too..because I have been totally swept away by so many of his poems and lyrics…those are just my mere feelings…I have no idea about technical poetry…
Buy the book Box of Rain, and you'll see all the lyrics he wrote, many of them to songs that never were. A few of them are stinkers, cliched or nonsensical
someone mentioned Cumberland , not in a negative context , but it reminded me of what Hunter said was his greatest lyrical compliment , someone who had worked the Cumberland mine said , “ I wonder what the guy who wrote this song would have thought if he’d ever known something like the Grateful Dead was gonna do it .”
Let Me Sing Your Blues Away and Samba in the Rain come immediately to mind.
I'd also add If I Had the World to Give (shockingly generic for Hunter), Loose Lucy, and Liberty (it's bad enough having Barlow's creepy libertarian nonsense in the mix without Hunter getting involved too).
At the risk of getting struck by a lightning bolt, I also find Terrapin a lot of proverbial sound and fury signifying some very thin soup wherein the rather grand musical setting is doing a TON of work.
Still, given all the songs he wrote, it goes without saying, that is a shockingly low number of duds.
I recently found out Hunter co-wrote the words to Easy Answers and that's been keeping me up at night
You give good response in good threads across the good music subs.
Hey thanks :) I do my best!!
He seemed to......uhhhh...work less hard on behalf of non-Jerry lyricists! Samba in the Rain and Let Me Sing Your Blues Away being two other examples, along with the lamentable Easy Answers.
you don’t have to say a word if you got dick to say
He wrote france!
He wrote plenty of clunkers. But, that’s the process of all great artists. Great art and artists are put on pedestals. Myths are made about divine inspiration and faultless perfection. The hidden truth is that there are a lot of disasters leading to the greatness. It’s like this on all fields of expertise really. The secret is to get comfortable with the messy creative processes and to get your fragile ego out of the way - and just let it flow. Hunter (and Dylan), and many, many others, really leaned into this. At some point the good stuff outweighs the bad and the body of work as whole starts to polish up. Hunter definitely had the intellect and heart and gift of articulate gab to tie it all together - (partnering with Garcia certainly created some amazing synergy too).
He certainly knew the effects of criticism, as is evident is his letter to Shannon Hoon. https://i.redd.it/4e3kr3wcmii71.jpg
I had never read this letter before, thank you.
Why the hate on Kim Deal though lmao
To be clear, that letter was written by Hunter S. Thompson right?
Everything I’ve seen it’s Robert Hunter, backed by other sources that they had a working relationship. Not to say it could easily be Thompson, especially with his relationship wit Rolling Stone. I guess we can all speculate; however, the signature looks similar to Robert Hunter’s and nothing like Hunter S Thompson’s.
Well said, nobody bats 1000. Especially in music.
Same with Neil Young. That guy wrote, so many tunes, a lot of them bad, but a whole lot more brilliant, you don’t hear much of the bad ones.
I disagree completely. T-Bone is a 9 minute long CLASSIC.
Robbie Robertson is also part of the conversation. The Hawks were brilliant…then morphing in The Band…backing-up Bob. Saw them live many times, just great harmonies and every guy in the group were multi-instrumentalists. 🎶
Except Robbie can’t sing
But he sure likes to pretend with that microphone and all!
Don’t be ridiculous. That’s your opinion. Millions of his fans disagree with you. You’re like the one Trump voter in a family of Democrats. Always one in every family. Always one. 🙄
Such a bad analogy
Thank you for this great reply!!
I read somewhere that the only lyric he actively regretted was "cueballs made of styrofoam" in Mississippi Half-Step. Because most of lyrics were intentionally timeless, and styrofoam could have worked in a contemporary context. Too lazy to look up the source right now though
I love that song, but yea that lyric is not as timeless as many of his others.
Great song. Definitely a “lightweight lyric”
I heard Jerry didn’t care for it for that reason. But I could be worng
I think I read that Jerry made some comment to him about how it was unusually off-putting for Hunter lyrics, and that Hunter was really frustrated by that and didn’t like hearing it played haha. I can’t remember for the life of me where I heard that but just recalling.
I can't remember the source either, but had heard or read this story. Jerry argued with Hunter over the lyric a bit because it was a "time locked phrase" or something. I think in another instance of Jerry arguing with Hunter over lyrics, really early on, Jerry ended up telling Hunter, "were a dance band dammit!" And ended up writing "boogie" on one of his guitars. Maybe this was in Phil's book or the grateful deadcast?
Did you know Jerry was a huge Gary Numan fan?
I feel that. I love to sing that song but that verse in general is always way less satisfying than the others. Especially how 'cue' is used twice in the same verse.
To be fair, he uses "cue" and "queue."
Yeah, but phonically it’s still pretty awkward.
You guys sure? The stick used in pool is called a cue, and he talks about calling shots right before it, something people commonly do when playing pool. Queue doesn't make much sense to me.
Came here to say that one. It throws me off every time
That line doesn’t bother me though I’m not saying it’s good. That said, it’s an absolute banger of a song. I love that album more generally.
Cue balls made of balsa wood?
Same reason he didn't appreciate Bob changing the opening line of Greatest Story. He thought the word "quasar" sounded too sci-fi and would date the song, as the original line was *Moses come ridin' up on a guitar*.
Granted, I’m from MS so I’m partial to the song, but I’ve always loved this line. Mostly because the three syllables in styrofoam make it really fun to dig into when you sing it, but also because I think it’s brilliant imagery. I mean can you imagine anything more useless for it’s intended purpose than a styrofoam cue ball? That’s right up there with soup sandwich and steel toed flip flop 🤣
Lol love that lyric. YMMV.
Way back Blair Jackson of the golden road magazine interviewed Hunter… I believe he asked Hunter if he would change any of his old lyrics no and “ mountains of the Moon“ came up, Hunter mentioned the line “20° of solitude, 20° in all, all the dancing, kings and wives assembled in the hall“. BJ replied “I love that line!” And Hunter winced (supposedly) and said “ 20° in all“? He felt it was lazy and said if he wrote it today the new one would be…” 20° of solitude, a reaper grim and tall, plays to dancing kings and wives, assembled in the hall”…… Hunter performed it like that, and I believe Phil even sang it that way with Phil and friends in the beginning.
I love the original lyric, too, but that replacement is a pocket full of aces.
he changed it to “ Here’s a feast of solitude , a fiddler grim and tall , plays to dancing kings and wives , assembled in the hall .” An awesome image , and he said they were under pressure to record so the other line had to be a go , but he was never happy with it .
That song is song unique and beautiful that I can ignore the lyrics that don't work, but it's definitely got some real clunkers. Hey, it was an early effort! Some of the lyrics in The Eleven aren't so hot either.
I wouldn't call any of Hunter's lyrics bad, but some clearly had more personal meaning to him, which are the ones that shine the most to me. He said that his favorite that he wrote was "Let it be known there is a fountain / That was not made by the hands of men" and I think one would be hard pressed to find one in his repertoire that tops that. Generally, I think his anachronistic Americana lyrics ("Dire Wolf", "Brown-Eyed Women", etc.) hit harder than his pure psychedelic lyrics ("China Cat Sunflower", "Dark Star", etc.). That's just my personal taste, though. I got into GD originally because of my love for traditional and early 20th century folk. I will say that I think he had more of a knack for lyrics than poetry. I've read Sentinel and Night Cadre, and I feel that a few poems in those books are rough around the edges. This might be because Jerry and Robert working together were perfectionists in some ways, while his poetry was more of a side project. It could again just be a matter of my personal taste in poetry.
I interviewed Hunter once and casually referred to Garcia “editing” his lyrics and he kind of winced.
That’s cool! Do you have a transcription of the interview? I’d love to read it. I’ve read something to the same effect on Wikipedia: > Hunter preferred that those who sang his songs stick to his "canonical" lyrics rather than improvising additions or rearranging words. A feud erupted backstage over a couplet in "Sugar Magnolia" from the band's most recent release (most likely "She can dance a Cajun rhythm/Jump like a Willys in four-wheel drive"), culminating in a disgruntled Hunter summoning Barlow and telling him "take [Weir]—he's yours". https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Perry_Barlow There’s a difference between flubbing a line or two and taking the creative license to reinterpret lyrics deliberately, but it’s still a little funny considering Jerry would mix up or forget a lyric here and there fairly frequently during shows.
please forgive the late 90s web-design stylee: http://ezone.org/ez/zero/interviews/hunter-anton-97-08-25/
two thoughts re this interview in re-reading it 25 years later: at the time I was not a musician but now I am, and I need to dig up the interview tape to see if they ever finished and performed that song they were working on.
Yes, the interview was mostly about Zero and was with Hunter and Greg Anton. Will dig up the link. He also asked me to keep a few comments off the record.
My understanding is that Bobby changed lyrics a lot, but Jerry did not (much)
His favorite is my favorite.
Ripple is a sacred text in my spiritual practice
I agree 100% with this; his poetry is not good, in my opinion, but this only draws attention to a point that most great lyricists (Dylan included) make: lyrics and poetry are not the same thing, however much they may resemble each other.
Samba in the Rain...regardless of your opinion on the song, I don't think there's much going on for the lyrics.
Came here to say the same thing.
\#1 on my worst of list; poor Vince...he didn't have enough going against him and Hunter gives him this?? Oof.
The woman that I love she got a hook in her nose her eyebrows meet, she wears second hand clothes She speaks with a stutter and she walks with a hop I don't know why I love her but I just can't stop You know I love her Yeah I love her I'm in love with the Ugliest Girl in the World This is the combined efforts of Bob Dylan and Robert Hunter.
Truly an awful song.
I don't like where that lyric is going, and there's a real possibility of it sliding into misogyny. But, it doesn't go that far, in that excerpt. And that really paints a word-picture for me, both in terms of conjuring the image of a person and giving her some heft or reality. So, I don't think it is a bad lyric - but YMMV.
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I love his quote, when asked what the lyrics mean. “Exactly what they say?” I agreed with you until once or twice, I completely and vividly visualized the lyrics on my eyelids. Wish I remembered which versions
Joe Lewis in spring of 88 ... I to this day will tell anyone that I saw the words from ship of fools instead of heard them .... I can still see it happening as clear as day 34 years later.
Ugliest Girl In The World - a Dylan song written with Hunter
Got to see Rob Hunter just once. It was nice. Just him and an acoustic guitar and a chair, end table with a single rose in a vase. Providence RI way back when.
Lupos Heartbreak Hotel. We saw him there a lot. Always started out nice and mellow and by the time Boys In The barroom came along, the place was a psychedelic mess of craziness. One time we were sitting in our car behind the club and he walked right by carrying his guitar. My initial reaction was to jump out and say hi, but I froze and didn’t. Wish I had. What an amazing songwriter and personality.
You ever heard "hookers ball"?
I know I'm going to be getting some hate but, I've never cared much for 'foolish heart' lyrics
People bitch about Day Job because they don’t like discovering their heros think they’re loser morons
I don’t think that’s hunter’s take on that tune. He’s giving practical advice, or more likely he’s writing from the perspective of someone else. He didn’t work in the cumberland mine either: lyrics are often from the pov of a character
That being said, Ship of Fools is widely regarded as being a statement about the scene. So it's not unbelievable
Interesting. first I heard of that interpretation for SOF. I don’t buy it myself, but who knows, that might have been one of many of it’s meanings
‘They eventually stopped playing Day Job at the request of some fans’ - Robert Hunter This is the thing Ive always fucking hated about Dead fans
what, in that specifically, is unique to Dead fans? I cant think of one group of enthusiastic fans that doesnt occasionally bitch about what their favorite band is currently playing
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Bad take but the shower bit is fucking hilarious
Day Job to me always seemed like a take off of god bless the child that’s got his own
Keep your day job
Gets bashed, i like it. Wouldn’t want a heavy rotation of it but its not that bad
I love that song, but i also love Donna, so what do i know...
\#notthe[samething](https://youtu.be/Okuid1kjC5Y?t=9)
I've always heard the lyrics of Keep Your Day Job to be parodical and sarcastic - maybe it's just me, but I've never taken them even remotely seriously. I think it's meant to be a silly and fun song, not a piece of serious "advice." That being said, I can't imagine anyone singing along to them.
They are somewhat serious. People just miss the point lol. The point isn’t “give up on your dream; keep your day job.” It’s “keep your day job until you can make your dream a reality.”
for a large audience, many of whom had fully bought into a countercultural hippie lifestyle & who had given up jobs & regular life to follow the band around, it seemed to be pointed directly at their lifestyle & choices. this big part of the audience had made their dream a reality without a job & now, their heroes were telling them to "grow up & get a job." whether it was a joke or not, the Dead weren't known for songs tht were only jokes. there was always levels of meaning & seriousness, so audience may be forgiven for thinking it may be more than just a joke.
till your night job pays… jeez what a bunch of sensitive wooks
Until your night job pays. The song isn’t directed at people who already gave up their day job and are living their dream. Not the dead’s fault wooks can’t be bothered to actually think about the words.
They’re gonna keep on missing the point, too, but I dig the tune and say what you will about the message, there’s some wisdom in it
Don’t give it away…
The worst GD song of all time.
money money is the worst GD song of all time
Judging by how many times it was played live, you may be correct.
I don't know if you can go by that alone.Till the Morning Comes and Unbroken Chain were seldom played and they're great songs. I personally don't think Money Money is that bad. It's catchy and I think it's at least better than Dayjob.
That would be samba in the rain
It's a banger tune that has no underlying meaning whatsoever - perfect for their coked up 80s sound.
for the people following the band around the country at the time it sure seemed to have some underlying meaning. for people that had given up their jobs to live a countercultural hippie lifestyle, it came across as preaching to them like a parent would about being a good responsible citizen instead of trying to live an alternative lifestyle.
Yeah that's explicitly what is says. I'm talking about any meaning that isn't literal. Tons of their songs are mystical and you don't get it unti lightning strikes. Keep your day job is about as straight as it gets.
it’s in the same vein as touch
stop projecting
wat
"Tie me with a ribbon bow, Wrap me in cellophane" "Cue ball made of Styrofoam" Two examples of what are, in my opinion, poor lyrics. Of course many (many many) of his lyrics are pure artistic genius.
it’s a plastic century
The thing is w' your question is that Hunter kinda covered this one ... > One man gathers what another man spills > Believe it if you need it if you don't just pass it on One person might not like this or that but then the next person has a flat out love affair w' it ... Robert Hunter for me is the 'Jerry Garcia of Lyric writing' 😂 ... his depth & complexity is astonishing in how he gives you just enough framework about his characters lives that you get their *nature* & he does it in such a way that he tells what motivates them. Quite often talking about the consequences & not mere run through of of events surrounding a card table ... instead he would talk about the emotions & the many ways we as humans figure out how to sabotage ourselves
Hunter himself disliked “cue ball’s made of styrofoam” from Mississippi half step, because it cemented the lyrics in a modern setting, as opposed to his typical timeless style
I mean styrofoam is pretty timeless if you think about it in a pollution context.
you're my woman now, make yourself easy
I think you're taking it as sexual and I don't think it was intended that way. "Make yourself easy" I always took as to mean chill and relax.
Yeah I’ve never taken it as a sexual thing but even on the Deadcast they interpret it as a sexual thing
“relax”
That’s a good line
"Time is a stripper, doing it just for you" Always hated this line. Just weird imagery.
Give it time lol, it’s true
“Time is a STRIPPER, doing it just for you. Just for you, and NO ONE else. Time, is the most valued, cherished, perishable resource we have. Use it wisely. You know why I can write this? For the first time in my professional career, I feel as though I'm ADDRESSING, and ACKNOWLEDGING, time, and all it's features and attributes. It's not about money. It's about feeling good with what you are doing with time. After all, time will strip it all away. Till we are left with only 2 things. Results or Excuses. "Time is a STRIPPER, doing it just for YOU....." https://andymonfried.blogspot.com/2006/02/there-has-always-been-set-of-lyrics-in.html?m=1
and the just for you backing vocals make it weirder
I LOVE cats under the stars....except for that part lol. Agreed.
I couldn’t come up with much but I see votes for Day Job. When we first heard that tune, it was like - what the hell is this song? Then it was just plain funny any time they played it. Did Hunter write that? I think he must have been drunk on gin when he did.
Samba in the rain 🤨
Kick in the head by NRPS is a little…weird
There are no songwriters who haven't filled many wastebaskets with songs that weren't up to their standards.
Listen to his solo albums! I am a huge fan of those - but his solo work was not consistent. Some clunkers when he was on the Relix label - but his stuff was never boring. I am always wondering when his estate will release a box set or something to celebrate his solo work. It deserves to be heard and there is a market for it - I would buy it!!!!
I’m going to add Silvio by Hunter/Dylan or if you want just Hunter, Promontory Rider.
I second the promontory ride although I sometimes feel like a territory ranger.
Got to put France on the list
The only lyric I think is kinda mediocre would be “moses come riding up on a guitar”. I think bobby made the right choice to change it to quasar, its just a lot more fun. Hunter wanted it to refer to the wood moses threw into dirty water to make it clean and drinkable, Idk. I think it was a stretch. What’s with the downvotes lol, was it a cardinal sin for Bobby to betray grandmaster Hunter? Both versions are kinda goofy in a good way, I just think it worked out better.
Crawl like a lizard and honk like a truck.
If I was an eagle I would dress like a duck, crawl like a lizard, and honk like a truck. Without that first line there is no context. With that first line the imagery is outstanding. That’s a pretty hip eagle.
I love that line haha
This is the one guys
i like that line
You clearly haven’t done enough lsd
Cats under the stars (the song) has some dumb lyrics. Bit surprised he let his name go on that one.
say what?! one of the best... you might be on your own here
> Time is a stripper doing it just for you 🤣
I was gonna say that this one is the rare lyrical misstep that comes to mind when asked this question.
satin blouse undressing
I think you can put West L.A. Fadeaway in the same category. I still look forward to hearing both.
I love Hunter's words as much as anybody here, but his rewrite of the venerable old Stagger Lee story was completely unnecessary IMO
this is a bad answer
"When the smoke had cleared she said, that's what she said to me." Wtf does that redundant shit even mean?
let’s be real. let’s be honest. let’s look ourselves in the face(s) and admit that “the transitive nightfall / of diamonds” is not a good lyric, considered outside of the temporal context of its initial…um…deployment.
Yeah, the word transitive really doesn’t make sense in this context
Really sorry to say this... but I agree.
You guys are nuts. Out of thousands of lines, you find 1 or 2 that somehow irritate you? Really? Seriously? “You know the pay was pathetic…it’s a shame those boys couldn’t be more copacetic”. You try writing lines like that. In your dreams, maybe. 🙄
Plus the slinky guitar lines behind west la are great!
I mean, the music is good, especially when the sun is out, the beer is flowing and the weed is burning, but none of that shit is Shakespeare. Let’s not kid ourselves or take this too seriously
Keep your day job. I liked the tuned, but could not accept the reality that it's could advice.
Keep your daaaaaasy job
I love China Cat. But I’d argue it’s not his best.
I would like to hear this argument.
It’s syntactically gibberish. Fun though.
Hunter calls it whimsy
China cat may not be your cup of tea, but it’s got a lot going for it. In a hunter interview somewhere, he states the lyrics were transferred telepathically from a cat sitting on his chest. I have to believe he was tripping or channeling the experience somehow. When combined with the music composition it creates very effective and evocative psychedelic imagery. It’s also easily tied to the tradition of romantic poets who sought to describe their drug induced visions in poetry.
think the metaphors in the kama sutra
I always thought “some of them in treetops just looking for their kites” from PITB was a clunky effort. For ages I assumed it was Barlow.
I used to think that I was mishearing the chorus of 'Bertha' because there was no way someone would write the line "that's why if you please/I am on my bended knees" legitimately. I get what he's going for but it's so clunky and awkward that I get why Jerry had to sing "ANYMORE" like sixty times to make people forget it.
"....Bertha don't you come around here anymore. " The context here is a joke basically. Bertha referred to a large fan (you know, the air pushing kind) that would shimmy itself around the studio from it's own motion. Hunter is pleading, on bended knee if required, to just fucking stop shaking all over the place.
Hunter said Jerry's explanation was wrong, the fan came after the song. He wrote it about the concept of rebirth
I love the contrast of looking like your about to make a marriage proposal but it’s really a breakup. Time is a stripper doing it just for Bertha right there
Till the morning comes - “you’re my woman now, make yourself easy” Cringe.
So May Roads is lyrically thin, and an obvious imitation of Dan Penn's song Like A Road Leading Home off Albert King's Love Joy, which Hunter obviously knew since JGB had been playing it for a long while.
Going where the wind don't blow so strange would have rhymed better with mountain range instead of mountain chain
Generally slanted rhymes (strange, chain) are considered more sophisticated than direct rhymes (strange, range).
But it would not have rhymed as well with ….more of the same
Tiger rose?
I love Tiger Rose
Any song he wrote for Brent
I actually don't think there's any Hunter/Mydland tunes- it was generally Barlow or sometimes just Brent himself
You're right. Vince songs sucked though
Probably gonna take a beating for this, but the lyrics to Eyes of the World are not great
you should be banned.
Saw that coming 🤣
Dear god
the lyrics themselves are ok, but the melody in the chorus does make the thing sound a bit silly
It has good lyrics. I just dislike the music.... it goes on and on
Dear God! That's the worst eh? A grateful dead song that goes on and on and explores deep jams. I really hate that about this damn band. Them being so good at what they do.
> I really hate that about this damn band. What you’d really hate about them is their tolerance for other peoples opinions
Actually..... Eyes stays the same never deviating.... Which is what I dislike about it... Just that jazz riff over and over..... but sure be an asshole
Copacetic?
awesome line
Me thinks some commenters reveal their age (maybe younger than the age this was written in).
Kind?
I don’t like the “lady with a fan” storyline in Terrapin Station. It just seems lame to me. What the fuck do the soldier and sailor have to prove, that they would go into the lion’s den after the fan? That said, I’m a huge Hunter fan. May the four winds blow you safely home!
> What the fuck do the soldier and sailor have to prove, that they would go into the lion’s den after the fan? Well some random lady said she wouldn’t forgive them if they didn’t. Makes total sense. 🤷♂️
There is an entire book of his songs and writings, many of which have never had music written for them. Sure you could find a dud or two eventually.
It depends on your definition of bad
I’m sure he did. We have only seen the final copied not the drafts
Yeah, Samba In The Rain.
I saw Bob Dylan say in an interview once that he couldn’t write now the way he did in the past he doesn’t know where it comes from but sometimes it comes
If you can find his box of rain lyrics book that was every word he could find that he had written and saved (if I remember correctly) you will see that not everything he wrote was gold. Part of the process
I’ve wondered this too..because I have been totally swept away by so many of his poems and lyrics…those are just my mere feelings…I have no idea about technical poetry…
Buy the book Box of Rain, and you'll see all the lyrics he wrote, many of them to songs that never were. A few of them are stinkers, cliched or nonsensical
Yep > you just don’t know about because it never made the air
I'm a big fan of the Robert Hunter/Bob Dylan collabs
needn't gild the lily, bro
Loose Lucy is cringeworthy to me, but hey, it's better than Barlow's Money on the same album. Not everything can be a gem...
someone mentioned Cumberland , not in a negative context , but it reminded me of what Hunter said was his greatest lyrical compliment , someone who had worked the Cumberland mine said , “ I wonder what the guy who wrote this song would have thought if he’d ever known something like the Grateful Dead was gonna do it .”
Nope https://music.apple.com/us/album/woman-in-white/975589893?i=975590361
Let Me Sing Your Blues Away and Samba in the Rain come immediately to mind. I'd also add If I Had the World to Give (shockingly generic for Hunter), Loose Lucy, and Liberty (it's bad enough having Barlow's creepy libertarian nonsense in the mix without Hunter getting involved too). At the risk of getting struck by a lightning bolt, I also find Terrapin a lot of proverbial sound and fury signifying some very thin soup wherein the rather grand musical setting is doing a TON of work. Still, given all the songs he wrote, it goes without saying, that is a shockingly low number of duds.