This song meaning is so simple and can only be assessed broadly as an abstraction. It about love. Love is they key but love is ephemeral.
That's is. Deconstructing this song further is about yourself. Want to know why? Read on...
First, the people who turn Robert Hunter's lyrics into bible preaching are almost always wrong. Hunter draws on a vast array of literary references, the bible included, for inspiration and meaning. Because he likes to draw on the bible that is the only thing certain people want to hear. Not the Shakespeare. Not the TS Elliot. Not Ben Franklin rolling the dew off his bells with cotton sheets.
Second, Hunter has specifically pointed out that any meaning found in Help On The Way is scatter shot, as he composed multiple versus on the fly, in the studio and Garcia picked some and discarded others mostly based on cadence.
To quote David Dodd, who approached Grateful Dead lyrics as a true scholar he wrote specifically of this song, "Hunter paints a picture that might resonate in a thousand brains differently."
To quote Robert Hunter himself regarding the meaning and/or lack of meaning in Franklin's Tower which is loosely tied to this song (via Slipknot), "My allusions are, admittedly, often not immediately accessible to those whose literary resources are broadly different than my own, but I wouldn't want my listeners' trust to be shaken by an acceptance of the category "meaningless" attached to a bundle of justified signifiers whose sources happen to escape the scope of simplistic reference.”
This quote from Hunter uses the language of semiotics to agree with Dodd's statement above. His words are generally meant to resonate broadly and differently with different people. This is why so many listeners are able to assign biblical prophecy to his lyrics. His lyrics serve as vessels to project your own meaning.
This song meaning is so simple and can only be assessed broadly as an abstraction. It about love. Love is they key but love is ephemeral.
That's is. Deconstructing this song further is about yourself. Want to know why? Read on...
First, the people who turn Robert Hunter's lyrics into bible preaching are almost always wrong. Hunter draws on a vast array of literary references, the bible included, for inspiration and meaning. Because he likes to draw on the bible that is the only thing certain people want to hear. Not the Shakespeare. Not the TS Elliot. Not Ben Franklin rolling the dew off his bells with cotton sheets.
Second, Hunter has specifically pointed out that any meaning found in Help On The Way is scatter shot, as he composed multiple versus on the fly, in the studio and Garcia picked some and discarded others mostly based on cadence.
To quote David Dodd, who approached Grateful Dead lyrics as a true scholar he wrote specifically of this song, "Hunter paints a picture that might resonate in a thousand brains differently."
To quote Robert Hunter himself regarding the meaning and/or lack of meaning in Franklin's Tower which is loosely tied to this song (via Slipknot), "My allusions are, admittedly, often not immediately accessible to those whose literary resources are broadly different than my own, but I wouldn't want my listeners' trust to be shaken by an acceptance of the category "meaningless" attached to a bundle of justified signifiers whose sources happen to escape the scope of simplistic reference.”
This quote from Hunter uses the language of semiotics to agree with Dodd's statement above. His words are generally meant to resonate broadly and differently with different people. This is why so many listeners are able to assign biblical prophecy to his lyrics. His lyrics serve as vessels to project your own meaning.
[Edit: typo]