Sugaree

Jerry Garcia is an absolute genius. Such a simple song, yet so amazing, One of my favorites of all time.

Thats what the official word is but I like this meaning a little better

Robert Reifenberg writes:

This song, it seems to me, captures the plea of a fugitive American slave to his covert wife that she not reveal their relationship ("forget my name") to the slave master. The appeal, therefore, is not so much for the benefit of the escaped, but rather, for the one who remains. The speaker seeks to spare his wife punishment at the hands of the master once his absence is revealed. Hunter's affinity for the dark side of American history is exemplified in this simple verse which evokes profound imagery in the tradition of the American folk song. Hunter uses the imagined dialect of the time with language such as "poor body" and "my darlin." Reference to bringing the "wagon round" connotes the common method of transporting slaves to market where they would be bought or sold. She is being called out to go to market by the "one last voice." The desperate tone is tempered by the hope that they will see each other again after the "Jubilee" (emancipation), or "if that Jubilee don't come" when they both escape and are "on the run."

Robert Reifenberg Chicago

I thought I had this one down, but your guyses interpretations are great!\n\nWell they are the Grateful “Dead” after all, and my interpretation of this song is about death. This may seem like a long shot. My mind works sort of backwards than most people, but maybe I’m onto something here.\n\nAhem…\n\nWhen they come to take you down (The Dead coming to take you to join them in death)\nWhen they bring that wagon around (wagon of death)\nWhen they come to call on you (your numbered line ticket to death)\nAnd drag your poor body down (under the soil into death)\n\nJust one thing I ask of you\nThere\'s just one thing for me\nPlease forget you knew my name\nMy darlin\' Sugaree\n\nShake it, shake it Sugaree\nJust don\'t tell them that you know me \nShake it, shake it Sugaree\nJust don\'t tell them that you know me\n\n(My darling Sugaree, just because the dead came to “take YOU down”, doesn’t mean I gotta go too, so “please forget you knew my name”, just leave that detail out when the reaper/dead asks, and don’t tell them “that you know me”. That’d be swell)\n\n(Basically, “shake it Sugaree” means don’t fear the reaper. Just shake it! All elegant and groovy on your way down to hell)\n\nYou thought you was the cool fool\nAnd never could do no wrong \nHad everything sewn up tight (invincible)\nHow come you lay awake all night long? (Cause of your creeping death in your subconscious)\n\nYou know, in spite of all you gained (Worldly possessions/status)\nYou still had to stand out in the pouring rain (you still had to die, and lose everything)\nOne last voice is calling you (death)\nAnd I guess it\'s time you go (to your grave)\n\n(This next verse is definitely the most long shot interpretation)\n\nShake it up now Sugaree (don’t fear the reaper)\nI\'ll meet you at the jubilee (I’ll see you in hell)\nAnd if that jubilee don\'t come \nBaby, I\'ll meet you on the run (??????????)\n\nShake it, shake it Sugaree\nJust don\'t tell them that you know me\nShake it, shake it Sugaree\nJust don\'t tell them that you know\n\n(This song could be some sort of joke by contradictorily saying, “hey baby you don’t need to fear the reaper, just shake it, Sugaree! But hey I’m afraid to die so when you join them, don’t tell them you know me”.)

Wrong

From Hunter's liner notes for the re-issue of "Garcia" in the box set "All Good Things":

"Sugaree was written soon after I moved from the Garcia household to China Camp. People assume the idea was cadged from Elizabeth Cotten's Sugaree, but, in fact, the song was originally titled 'Stingaree,' which is a poisonous South Sea manta. The phrase 'just don't tell them that you know me' was prompted by something said by an associate in my pre-Dead days when my destitute circumstances found me fraternizing with a gang of minor criminals. What he said, when departing, was: 'Hold your mud and don't mention my name.'

"Why change the title to 'Sugaree'? Just thought it sounded better that way, made the addressee seem more hard-bitten to bear a sugar-coated name. The song, as I imagined it, is addressed to a pimp. And yes, I knew Libba's song, and did indeed borrow the new name from her, suggested by the 'Shake it' refrain."

I miss Jerry.

This song reminds me of the one man I have ever loved in a covert way.

"When they come to take you down.. Please forget you know my name, my darling Sugaree!"

holy shit, jerry's tune is unbelievable. a very underrated song. this is one of my favorites. its funny no one has commented on this one.

This song is pretty sick live with Warren

those aren't song meanings, losers.

in your opinion, what the hell does sugaree mean to you?

Yours wasn't a meaning either sweet cheeks

Sugaree is a reference to an old Elizabeth Cotten tune, "Shake Sugaree"