The Wheel

I found a strange connection in that the title of the song is also the first known invention for mankind. So the wheel keeps turning . I thought maybe it was a call-out to people who believe progress can be stopped. For example nuclear disarmament or genetic science is just not possible to contain. The wheel can't slow down. This contradicts the hippy ness of the tune.

If thunder is the voice of God, Lightning is His vocal chords. "I AM THAT I AM" The enlightened god-like state of man is brought to him by God Himself, for we are here to experience life, thus helping God know himself..and also to remember who were are. and that is, at one WITH God. No, this is NOT heresy. But it does run counter to organized religions who need fear to exist, and teach that we are separate from (and not one with) God and from each other, Fear that if we're not good little children, God will be angry with us, and leave us in Hell Forever. Is that how a loving God would act? How does the Devil fit in with an Omnipotent Being, anyway? Would such a being have an 'enemy' such as the Devil? There's no struggle between good and evil.. there's only what is, and what is best for your soul and what it wants to become. We are not separate from each other, and from God. It (we) are all One. You are the most creative force in the universe. That's why it is said, 'Think good thoughts', for thoughts are very creative, and we, being part of God, are creative beings. Find Joy, create Joy, BE JOY. LOVE THY NEIGHBOR.

Song is about tripping balls, The thunder is weed, the lightening is lsd. If the thunder don't get you the lightening will.

I think this song is related to the Merry Prankster's Further Bus. The bus was named by artist Roy Sebern, who painted the word “Further” on the destination placard as a kind of one-word poem and inspiration to keep going whenever the bus broke down. The Grateful Dead were members of the Merry Pranksters.

The lyrics in this song serve as encouragement to keep going, just as the name of the bus did.

Round, round robin run round, got to get back to where you belong, Little bit harder, just a little bit more, A little bit further than you gone before.

The Wheel in the song is a metaphor for the world, or life:.

"The wheel is turning and you can't slow down, You can't let go and you can't hold on, You can't go back and you can't stand still,"

or

"Small wheel turn by the fire and rod, Big wheel turn by the grace of God, Every time that wheel turn 'round, Bound to cover just a little more ground".

It is a song of perserverance, and encouragement, and support, as displayed by the repetition of the lyric::

"Won't you try just a little bit harder, Couldn't you try just a little bit more?"

This song is beautiful, very catchy, and maybe one of my favs. It is vague and open for so many interpretations. Like all other songs it is simply about a state of existence. The wheel explains everything that goes on in our created reality while at same time explains nothing. To me its meaning is the circle of life is constant. We will live and we will die. We can make the best of it while we are here on Earth (a circle), floating around the sun, (in a circle) then spinning around the galaxy (another circle/wheel).

The song uses religious references and imagery for sure. Part of the lyric directly references the African-American spiritual "Ezekiel Saw the Wheel", which has the line "And the big wheel run by Faith, good Lord/And the little wheel run by the Grace of God..". in describing Ezekiel's vision in the Old Testament. But wheel symbols turn up elsewhere, notably in Hinduism and Buddhism, and Hunter seems to be getting at the 'cyclic nature of existence' sort of metaphor from those traditions (e.g., samsara).

Thunder is symbolic of God. Lightning is symbolic of Lucifer. Getting back to where you belong is the enlightened god-like state that Lucifer brought the knowlege of to humanity. Cover a little more ground, keep seeking enlightenment. Sorry Christian dead heads, this is "devil music"