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Mr. Charlie Lyrics
I take a little powder, take a little salt, put it in my shotgun, I go walkin'
Jubba jubba, wolly bully, looking high, looking low,
Gonna scare you up and shoot ya, Mister Charlie told me so.
I won't even take your life, won't even take a limb,
Just unload my shotgun, take a little skin.
Jubba jubba, wolly bully, looking high, looking low,
Gonna scare you up and shoot ya, Mister Charlie told me so.
Well you take my silver dollar, take those silver dimes,
Fix it up together in some alligator wine.
I can hear the drums, voodoo all night long,
Mister Charlie tells me I can't do nothing wrong.
Jubba jubba, wolly bully, looking high, looking low,
Gonna scare you up and shoot ya, Mister Charlie told me so.
Now Mister Charlie told me, won't you like to know,
Give you little warning before I let you go.
Jubba jubba, wolly bully, looking high, looking low,
Gonna scare you up and shoot ya, Mister Charlie told me so.
Gonna scare you up and shoot ya, Mister Charlie, Mister Charlie told me so.
Jubba jubba, wolly bully, looking high, looking low,
Gonna scare you up and shoot ya, Mister Charlie told me so.
Just unload my shotgun, take a little skin.
Jubba jubba, wolly bully, looking high, looking low,
Gonna scare you up and shoot ya, Mister Charlie told me so.
Fix it up together in some alligator wine.
I can hear the drums, voodoo all night long,
Mister Charlie tells me I can't do nothing wrong.
Jubba jubba, wolly bully, looking high, looking low,
Gonna scare you up and shoot ya, Mister Charlie told me so.
Give you little warning before I let you go.
Jubba jubba, wolly bully, looking high, looking low,
Gonna scare you up and shoot ya, Mister Charlie told me so.
Gonna scare you up and shoot ya, Mister Charlie, Mister Charlie told me so.
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I have read elsewhere that, sadly, this is a song about heroin abuse. After McKernan died, the GD quit performing it. The "drums" apparently refer to a throbbing noise in the ears while in the throes of using heroin. The "shotgun" refers to a loaded syringe. Sad. Eurpoe '72 is, in my opinion, the quintessential GD album and McKernan really carries it. He died at the insanely early age of 23 or so.
@TPV I always thought of some hopped up country loon who goes around indiscriminately shooting people with rock salt. Perhaps Mr. Charlie is his hound telling him to do so. You could be right - but I like the literal interpretation.
@TPV I always thought of some hopped up country loon who goes around indiscriminately shooting people with rock salt. Perhaps Mr. Charlie is his hound telling him to do so. You could be right - but I like the literal interpretation.
@TPV This song is about psychopath Charles Manson (Mr. Charlie) and his murderous harem who broke into Director Roman Pokaski’s house and killed his pregnant wife, Sharon Tate by stabbing her multiple times. This heinous act ended the innocence of the summer of love. The Dead did not associate with Manson but The Beach Boys did-they even recorded a song with lyrics by Manson
@TPV This song is about psychopath Charles Manson (Mr. Charlie) and his murderous harem who broke into Director Roman Pokaski’s house and killed his pregnant wife, Sharon Tate by stabbing her multiple times. This heinous act ended the innocence of the summer of love. The Dead did not associate with Manson but The Beach Boys did-they even recorded a song with lyrics by Manson
Ron McKernan, or known affectionately as "Pigpen" or "Piggy" was the front man for the Grateful Dead in its early years. Long after Piggy's death, Jerry would remark that if you've not heard Pigpen sing, you really hadn't heard the band. "Mr. Charlie" is about hard drug abuse. The shotgun is a syringe, ready to go once it "takes a little skin" by piercing through so the shotgun can "unload." It doesn't require a life or limb. I suggest the "voodoo all night long," the drums and Mr.Charlie persuading the user that he "can't do nothin' wrong" all describe the perceived euphoria caused by the drug. I don't know that Piggy used heroin; but he, often with his buddy Janis, seemed constantly to share a bottle of Southern Comfort. McKernan drank himself to death at age 27. Jerry, of all people, died from being hooked on heroine. And Janis died at 27 as well. Tragic.