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Stella Blue Lyrics
All the years combine, they melt into a dream,
A broken angel sings from a guitar.
In the end there's just a song comes cryin' up the night
Thru all the broken dreams and vanished years.
Stella blue. Stella blue.
When all the cards are down, there's nothing left to see,
There's just the pavement left and broken dreams.
In the end there's still that song comes cryin' like the wind.
Down every lonely street that's ever been
Stella blue. Stella blue.
I've stayed in every blue-light cheap hotel, can't win for trying.
Dust off those rusty strings just one more time,
Gonna make them shine, shine
It all rolls into one and nothing comes for free,
There's nothing you can hold, for very long.
And when you hear that song come crying like the wind,
It seems like all this life was just a dream.
Stella blue. Stella blue.
A broken angel sings from a guitar.
In the end there's just a song comes cryin' up the night
Thru all the broken dreams and vanished years.
Stella blue. Stella blue.
When all the cards are down, there's nothing left to see,
There's just the pavement left and broken dreams.
In the end there's still that song comes cryin' like the wind.
Down every lonely street that's ever been
Stella blue. Stella blue.
I've stayed in every blue-light cheap hotel, can't win for trying.
Dust off those rusty strings just one more time,
Gonna make them shine, shine
It all rolls into one and nothing comes for free,
There's nothing you can hold, for very long.
And when you hear that song come crying like the wind,
It seems like all this life was just a dream.
Stella blue. Stella blue.
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This song really tears me up inside. I listened to this one dark night when my school days were almost an end - i was feeling really depressed because I knew that I had been at that same school so long (11 years) and seemed to be that I had almost nothing to show for it...
The lyrics seemed so appropriate, and the music even more so. I think the song is about how time creeps up on you and then you're just wondering where it all went. You have so many regrets and there's been so much wasted time... it feels so sad but you just have to move on.
I think this song may be related to a Wallace Stevens poem entitled, "The Man With the Blue Guitar"... a lot of the lyrics can be connected to this song. The poem, supposedly, was inspired by the famous painting "Old Man With A Guitar" by Pablo Picasso.
Also, the Stella guitar is a certain type used by many blues guitarists back in the early years.
This site agrees with you: http://artsites.ucsc.edu/GDead/agdl/stella.html
This site agrees with you: http://artsites.ucsc.edu/GDead/agdl/stella.html
I heard once that this song is about a guitar.
If you get a chance you need to hear the version from Richfield Coliseum 03.21.94. I'm not a fan of the vince years (especially the last two) but Garcia rips this one apart at the end.
There are just a few of those songs.... That just speak the truth.
And this is one just for Jerry! This song is Him.
All of us can relate, in our own lives, some of these lyrics.... But all would have been true for him.
IN THE END THERES STILL THAT SONG, THAT COMES CRYING LIKE THE WIND. STELLA BLUE
It's in resonance to the stella guitar, Blue=depression, Which is where the speaker seems to be coming from... Seeing that "A broken angel sings from a guitar", "Dust off those rusty strings just one more time..." However, Stella Blue Sounds like the name of a woman or nickname in contrast to being a metaphor of this beautiful song, and plus Hunter had a strong use of womens names in his songs. But
Blue also relaxes the mind, and after all that treatment people begin to feel depressed...
--and the stellas sounded better than they should've and the shape of the guitar is feminine.
But then it talks about "it seems like all this life was just a dream" so this turns into something as if... talking of illusion, shadow and story.
Stella blue is a about a loving relationship ending, how a song can reawaken a memory of it and give you the inspiration to try again
So maybe Stella Blue was used for it's feminine beautiful ways and great use of being the guitar it was, and it's history.
And the metaphor it gives with Stella=Attractive Woman and blue= Relaxing; Depressed
which goes along with the song....
This song is about the beautiful futility of life. MJC
In a comment on another thread, someone mentioned that the name, Stella Blue, may refer to a character in Vladimir Nabokov's wonderful book, Pale Fire. I think that's entirely plausible. Robert was an erudite guy. My close friend, the late Jon McIntyre (the Dead's road manager) was also an erudite guy who appreciated my background as a philosopher and teacher at Yale, so he introduced us. At our first meeting Robert gave me a copy of his translation of Rilke's Duino Elegies--no small feat!. Later meetings often revolved around his translation and what Rilke really meant. Robert was very smart. We miss him, along with Jerry, Jon, Barlow (also a good friend) . . .
This song has to be, largely, be about life flying by. Grab your moments/memories, as you can. The years WILL fly by, none the less(because they all 'melt into a dream). (It didn't really at the time, but)It tells us tried and true DeadHeads the 'broken angel singing from a guitar' is, OF COURSE, Jerry! 'Cards are down; pavement; broken dreams', speak to life and time marching on, regardless of our efforts, there's nothing left to see, with the enormity of time. 'Nothing you can hold for very long' really needs no interpretation! All there is and EVERYTHING just passes. Very deep and hauntingly beautiful song! Jerry's music and Hunter's lyrics ARE in a totally different place from the norm we know. Hence: 'In the end there's still that song'.