My thought has always been that this song is about the choices we make -- sometimes stealing from Peter to pay off Paul. Sometimes picking the wrong ally for the right reasons. Indebting ourselves to those that are negative influences in our lives.
There's a general feeling that the "hounds" are devil dogs, and that the writer can't sleep until he's in the "protection" of his home, or else the hounds of hell will steal his soul.
I also wonder if this song is about chosing to go against the status quo. "An enemy of my enemy is my friend." Kind of fighting against the church by siding with their enemy. Lashing out at "The Man," in a sort of protest against popular morality.
Just an absolutely amazing song. It was written by Robert Hunter (the lyricist for the Dead - check out the original hand-written version - http://www.dead.net/RobertHunterArchive/files/HandwrittenLyrics/FriendOfDevil.html)
My thought has always been that this song is about the choices we make -- sometimes stealing from Peter to pay off Paul. Sometimes picking the wrong ally for the right reasons. Indebting ourselves to those that are negative influences in our lives.
There's a general feeling that the "hounds" are devil dogs, and that the writer can't sleep until he's in the "protection" of his home, or else the hounds of hell will steal his soul.
I also wonder if this song is about chosing to go against the status quo. "An enemy of my enemy is my friend." Kind of fighting against the church by siding with their enemy. Lashing out at "The Man," in a sort of protest against popular morality.