In regards to the meaning of this song:
Before a live performance on the EP Five Stories Falling, Geoff states “It’s about the last time I went to visit my grandmother in Columbus, and I saw that she was dying and it was the last time I was going to see her. It is about realizing how young you are, but how quickly you can go.”
That’s the thing about Geoff and his sublime poetry, you think it’s about one thing, but really it’s about something entirely different. But the lyrics are still universal and omnipresent, ubiquitous, even. So relatable. That’s one thing I love about this band. I also love their live performances, raw energy and Geoff’s beautiful, imperfectly perfect vocals. His voice soothes my aching soul.
Sitting in Mangrove Valley chasing lightbeams
Everything wanders from baby to Z
Baby, baby, pretty, young on Tuesday
Old like a rum drinking demon at tea
Baby, baby, tell me what's the matter
Why, why tell me, what's your why now?
Tell me why will you never come home?
Tell me what's your reason if you got a good one
Everywhere I go
The people all know
Everyone's doin' that rag
Take my line go fishing for a Tuesday
Maybe take my supper, eat it down by the sea
Gave my baby twenty, forty good reasons
Couldn't find any better ones in the morning at three
Rain gonna come but the rain gonna go, you know
Stepping off sharply from the rank and file
Awful cold and dark like a dungeon
Maybe get a little bit darker 'fore the day
Hipsters, tripsters,
Real cool chicks, sir,
Everyone's doin' that rag
You needn't gild the lily, offer jewels to the sunset
No one is watching or standing in your shoes
Wash your lonely feet in the river in the morning
Everything promised is delivered to you
Don't neglect to pick up what your share is
All the winter birds are winging home now
Hey Love, go and look around you
Nothing out there you haven't seen before now
But you can wade in the water
And never get wet
If you keep on doin' that rag
One eyed jacks and the deuces are wild
The aces are crawling up and down your sleeve
Come back here, Baby Louise,
And tell me the name
Of the game that you play
Is it all fall down?
Is it all go under?
Is it all fall down, down, down
Is it all go under?
Everywhere I go
The people all know
Everybody's doin' that rag
Everything wanders from baby to Z
Baby, baby, pretty, young on Tuesday
Old like a rum drinking demon at tea
Baby, baby, tell me what's the matter
Why, why tell me, what's your why now?
Tell me why will you never come home?
Tell me what's your reason if you got a good one
Everywhere I go
The people all know
Everyone's doin' that rag
Take my line go fishing for a Tuesday
Maybe take my supper, eat it down by the sea
Gave my baby twenty, forty good reasons
Couldn't find any better ones in the morning at three
Rain gonna come but the rain gonna go, you know
Stepping off sharply from the rank and file
Awful cold and dark like a dungeon
Maybe get a little bit darker 'fore the day
Hipsters, tripsters,
Real cool chicks, sir,
Everyone's doin' that rag
You needn't gild the lily, offer jewels to the sunset
No one is watching or standing in your shoes
Wash your lonely feet in the river in the morning
Everything promised is delivered to you
Don't neglect to pick up what your share is
All the winter birds are winging home now
Hey Love, go and look around you
Nothing out there you haven't seen before now
But you can wade in the water
And never get wet
If you keep on doin' that rag
One eyed jacks and the deuces are wild
The aces are crawling up and down your sleeve
Come back here, Baby Louise,
And tell me the name
Of the game that you play
Is it all fall down?
Is it all go under?
Is it all fall down, down, down
Is it all go under?
Everywhere I go
The people all know
Everybody's doin' that rag
Lyrics submitted by itsmyownmind
Doin' That Rag Lyrics as written by Robert C. Hunter Jerome J. Garcia
Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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perhaps the rag is soaked in diethyl ether, which was much more popular back in the day. wadin in the water and never gettin wet may be about how ether evaporates quickly so even with a soaked rag in your face, you wont get wet. i love the hipsters and chicksters part, i wish i could say it all the time.