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Grateful Dead – That's It For The Other One Lyrics 14 years ago
For the uninitiated (although, if you're reading this, you're chances of being initiated already are 99.99%) grab the Skull and Roses LP and listen to The Other One if you want to know what IT's all about. Of course, there are more complex Other One's, but I like the simplicity in that '71 mean ol' bitch of an Other One. :)

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Grateful Dead – Terrapin Station Lyrics 14 years ago
"While the firelight's aglow, strange shadows from the flames will grow,
Till things we've never seen will seem familiar."

That's eerily similar to something from Plato's Book VII. The fire/shadow part of Book VII has these people in a cave looking at a fire and seeing shadows. But as time went on their eyes became adjusted to the dark of the cave, and the began to see the shadows take familiar forms; i.e. they learned, they grew.

I actually emailed Hunter in 1997 regarding a small problem with his then website and used the opportunity to ask him about Terrapin with regards to Plato's Book VII. He's been known to divuldge his thought processes occasionally. Anyway, he thanked me kindly for pointing out the problem, but steered 100% clear of my lyrical question. ... Which made me think I was on to something :)

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Grateful Dead – Mexicali Blues Lyrics 14 years ago
My personal favorite among the Bobby-Cowboy tunes, I have a few thoughts:

1. The closing line could have been "just runnin' and gunnin' across those desert saAAANDs.. yeah!" I think that adds more punch :)

2. Is there a better up-tempo crowd-pleasin sing-/dance-along?

3. No.

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Grateful Dead – Comes A Time Lyrics 14 years ago
From day to day just letting it ride.
You get so far away from how it feels inside.
You can't let go 'cause you're afraid to fall,
But the day may come when you can't feel at all.

Great lyric but it was EXCEPTIONAL when sung in concert, including the John Kadlicek versions in Dark Star Orchestra. Very powerful stuff.

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Grateful Dead – So Many Roads Lyrics 14 years ago
You've got the obvious "where do I go with my life? which road do I take?" thing going on all while Hunter throws in musical references throughout. Very clever. "Blackbird", "Bluebird Hill", "Whining Boy", "Ain't That a Shame?", "KC", "Kokamo", "jug band", "If You Don't, Who Else Will", "I Call Your Name" are all songs, lyrics, and/or some sort of musical reference, and I'm sure I missed some.

Love the last part, with its striking imagery:

From the land of the midnight sun
where the ice blue roses grow
'long those roads of gold and silver snow

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Phish – The Squirming Coil Lyrics 14 years ago
Just always kinda thought that the coil that got away from Satan was DNA, i.e., that human beings escaped from Satan/Hell (unless they're sent there later lol). To go even further, maybe the King never returned, the "birth" was never completed, and Jimmy was sent to camp, i.e. Hell. Phish lyrics :)

submissions
Grateful Dead – Attics Of My Life Lyrics 14 years ago
Attics is a very spiritual song, almost hymn-like in its presentation, and in its lyrics. I'm not a very spiritual person myself, but nevertheless I've always found the song enthralling. If I'm not mistaken, I've read a Robert Hunter quote that this song dealt with the concept of "grace". My personal interpretation of the lyric is that it's about creation. That God created us from nothing. The closing lines in each stanza (if that is the proper poetic term) seem to signify this:

When there was no ear to hear, you sang to me

When there were no strings to play, you played to me

When I had no wings to fly, you flew to me

When there was no dream of mine, you dreamed of me

Other potential symbols include the book of love (perhaps the bible), and the secret space of dreams, when the secrets all are told.. is that heaven? At any rate, that's how I see the song, kind of a companion to Ripple, another spiritual Hunter lyric. :)




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