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Black Peter Lyrics
All of my friends come to see me last night,
I was laying in my bed and dying.
Annie Bonneau from St. Angel say the weather down there so fine.
Just then the wind came squalling through the dark,
But who can the weather command?
Just want to have a little peace to die,
And a friend or two I love at hand.
Fever roll up to a hundred and five.
Roll on up, gonna roll back down.
One more day I find myself alive,
Tomorrow maybe go beneath the ground.
See here how everything led up to this day,
And it's just like any other day that's ever been.
Sun going up and then the sun going down.
Shine through my window and my friends they come around,
Come around, come around.
The people might know, but the people don't care,
That a man can be as poor as me.
Take a look at poor Peter, he's lying in pain,
Now let's come run and see, run and see,
Run and see, run, run and see, and see.
I was laying in my bed and dying.
Annie Bonneau from St. Angel say the weather down there so fine.
Just then the wind came squalling through the dark,
But who can the weather command?
Just want to have a little peace to die,
And a friend or two I love at hand.
Fever roll up to a hundred and five.
Roll on up, gonna roll back down.
One more day I find myself alive,
Tomorrow maybe go beneath the ground.
See here how everything led up to this day,
And it's just like any other day that's ever been.
Sun going up and then the sun going down.
Shine through my window and my friends they come around,
Come around, come around.
The people might know, but the people don't care,
That a man can be as poor as me.
Take a look at poor Peter, he's lying in pain,
Now let's come run and see, run and see,
Run and see, run, run and see, and see.
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One of Jerry's personal favorites...this song spoke to his mournful soul, he loved a sad ballad, the song is about a man at the end of his days just wanting to have a "friend or two" to be with him when he passes on.
Like most of the songs on this album, Working Man's Dead, all the songs relate to the poor, or misforunate or both. This song is about a man who is so poor he's embarrassed that he's dying and only a "friend or two" will be at his funeral. Also during his lamenting the dying man is thinking how every day is the same, so therefore I think he lost hope.
This is an Amazing song...The Dead will never DIE ! !
It was about a bad acid trip Robert Hunter had one night.
While reading radom things on Wikipedia I came across the entry for "Zwarte Piet", which is Dutch for "Black Peter". The dutch Santa Claus (Sinterklaas) has Black Peter as his sidekick. Some legends say that Black Peter will steal bad children away. I don't imagine this is connected to the song, but it is worth checking out the Wiki for the picture alone. Apparently the Dutch think black-face is hilarious!
There’s a fine version of this song on Dozin' At The Knick. Garcia is in fine voice and plays delicious guitar having survived serious illness as a result of his drug addiction, yet with only 5 years left to live perhaps contemplating his lyric from the Working Man’s Dead album in 1969 .. “One more day I find myself alive tomorrow maybe go beneath the ground” and “Just want to have a little peace to die”
I had heard "Black Peter" hundreds of times but I didn't bother with the lyrics until after Jerry Garcia's death I read that Patti Smith and her band instinctively played "Black Peter" when they got the news during practice that Garcia had died.
Clearly Smith and her bandmates cared about Garcia and knew the Dead's work well. Otherwise they would have played a more obvious choice like "Ripple."
"Black Peter" is brilliant in its simple sad poignance. Few songs in rock compare.
Garcia sang, "The people might know, but the people don't care," on Workingman's Dead. When performing BP live, he sang, "People might know, but the people don't care," and he was right!
when I was first looking for meaning in this song I came across something that said black peter was another name for the devil. when I looked up the lyrics it seemed like robert hunter or jerry was quite sympathetic to this person. So it occurs to me that this might be the Grateful Dead's "Sympathy For The Devil". really really great song.