I once heard Jerry say at the start of this song during a 69 show- This song is dedicated to the zodiac, and to paranoid fantasies everywhere.
The song is brilliant. He begs and begs not to be murdered, yet is helpless before the greater powers.
It's one of those songs with a lot of possible meanings.
It could be a reference to Robert Hunter's participation in CIA drug testing- the government being the wolf. The "boys" being the test subjects. Hence, as soon as he wakes up- the wolf is right there smiling with another dose and battery of questions (the game.) But the deck is soon cut to the queen of spades (death). Naturally, it would become something of a mantra to not want to be murdered- praying that this trip won't be so bad.
It could also be a larger reference to all the inherent misunderstandings (possibly resulting from the aforementioned zodiac) between us, and the burden of responsibility we place on one another which, in effect, "murders us" with guilt. Or else just behaving shabbily towards one another.
The best part of the song, by far, is the chorus, which on many occasions during shows, Jerry would stop to remind of us saying something like- "This is a song with a real easy chorus- you can even sing with it- it's fun." Given the catchyness and almost mandatory sing-along effect of the song, we have to assume this was intentionally made to be a mantra repeated over and over- a message of better understanding between us and our fellow humans.
I once heard Jerry say at the start of this song during a 69 show- This song is dedicated to the zodiac, and to paranoid fantasies everywhere.
The song is brilliant. He begs and begs not to be murdered, yet is helpless before the greater powers. It's one of those songs with a lot of possible meanings.
It could be a reference to Robert Hunter's participation in CIA drug testing- the government being the wolf. The "boys" being the test subjects. Hence, as soon as he wakes up- the wolf is right there smiling with another dose and battery of questions (the game.) But the deck is soon cut to the queen of spades (death). Naturally, it would become something of a mantra to not want to be murdered- praying that this trip won't be so bad.
It could also be a larger reference to all the inherent misunderstandings (possibly resulting from the aforementioned zodiac) between us, and the burden of responsibility we place on one another which, in effect, "murders us" with guilt. Or else just behaving shabbily towards one another.
The best part of the song, by far, is the chorus, which on many occasions during shows, Jerry would stop to remind of us saying something like- "This is a song with a real easy chorus- you can even sing with it- it's fun." Given the catchyness and almost mandatory sing-along effect of the song, we have to assume this was intentionally made to be a mantra repeated over and over- a message of better understanding between us and our fellow humans.