The complete annotated Grateful Dead lyrics : the collected lyrics of Robert Hunter and John Barlow, lyrics to all original songs, with selected traditional and cover songs

No other band has ever surpassed the enduring popularity of The Grateful Dead. No other group has regularly scheduled radio shows devoted solely to it, or such an extensive fan base stretching over several generations. And, with the surviving members still touring and the official website receiving more that 100,000 hits a week, no other fan base has proved itself more dedicated or more diverse, from professionals to vagabonds to politicians. From David Dodd, who has spent the last ten years building the Annotated Grateful Dead Lyrics website, comes this unique compilation that offers literary, historical and cultural references to all the band's lyrics. Building a better understanding of both the songs and the musical tradition they arose from, this essential guide includes the words to every original song from both recorded and live repertoire. Notes on performance statistics, a series of thematic essays, copious illustrations and a full-colour insert all contribute to an edition worthy of a special place in every Deadhead's collection

When the Grateful Dead's in-house publishing company, Ice Nine, decided that the band's fortieth anniversary was a good time to publish their entire lyric catalog, a wave of excitement swept across the world of Deadheads, or would have had they known. What was that unclear word in Uncle John's Band? Would Revolutionary Hamstrung Blues be included? Which Cassidy is John Barlow writing about? Would Robert Hunter reveal the meaning of anything at all? These questions are finally answered with the publication of this book, but in true Grateful Dead fashion you'll have to dig around to find the answers and have fun doing it.

The Complete Annotated Grateful Dead Lyrics is an authoritative text, providing standard versions of all the original songs so that you can win an occasional bar bet. Or not. There are songs you've never heard and others you've never heard right and still others you didn't know existed, and some, indeed, that may not exist at all. To provide a context for this formidable body of work, of which his part is primary, Robert Hunter has written a foreword that goes to the heart of the matter.

These are some of the best-loved songs in the modern American songbook. You will hear them hummed and spoken among tens of thousands as counterculture code and recorded by musicians of all stripes for their inimitable singability, mysterious presence, and obscure accessibility. How do they do all this? The annotations on sources provide a gloss on the lyrics, which goes to the roots of Western culture as they are incorporated into them. Be it fairy tale or folksong that the lyricists have drawn on, ancient verse, biblical narrative, or T. S. Eliot, the references arehere. This has never been done before. There are things here that would not have otherwise been known or imagined, which also goes for what was in the minds of the lyricists themselves. They would be the first to admit that the incursion of imagery into their creative memory banks was a chancy business.

Annotation is a venerable literary tradition. It's been done for the works of Dante and Shakespeare, and for Finnegans Wake annotations may be essential. Mother Goose and Alice's Adventures in Wonderland have been annotated. All genres of writing can be illuminated by it, and that fundamental revelation that comes from reading books — Oh, I always wondered about that — becomes especially meaningful. David Dodd is well suited to the task of annotation. An avid Grateful Dead concertgoer for two decades, he is a librarian who brings to the work a detective's love of following a clue as far as it will take him. He first began the annotation as a research project in 1995, in the early days of the Web, through the medium of a website. As in all things virtual, it grew, and with input from interested correspondents from around the world, the website evolved continually. With their publication in book form, the Grateful Dead's lyrics can be newly savored, couched in the cultural traditions that spawned them.

With the addition of artist Jim Carpenter's illustrations, whimsical elements in the lyrics, aspects cognitively unreferenceable, and imagery often repeated are brought to light. What he has seen to illustrate itself illustrates the American legend that is present in The Complete Annotated Grateful Dead Lyrics. You won't think of the cultural icon that is the Grateful Dead the same way again.

Publishers Weekly

Even the most hardcore Deadheads will be impressed by this obsessively complete look at the Grateful Dead's lyrics written by Robert Hunter and John Barlow, as well as selected traditional and cover songs that were basic parts of the Dead's repertoire. In 1994, Dodd (The Grateful Dead Reader) founded the first Web site of annotated Dead lyrics, and this book is the product of that project, which united academics and fans in finding new references, resonances, and refractions in favorites like Dark Star and Uncle John's Band. The annotations range from a look at the influence of Swing Low, Sweet Chariot, Stephen Foster's Oh Susanna, and Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde on Hunter's New Speedway Boogie to a recipe for cream puffs by Denver Post food critic John Kessler to illustrate Cream Puff War, an obscure tune by Jerry Garcia. But the heart of the book is Hunter's exquisitely written foreword, which is equal parts love letter to the lyric tradition, impassioned argument on the importance of songwriting and creativity, and reverie for the Grateful Dead themselves and his luck in being their primary lyricist: I lived lyric year in and year out for decades and never lost my taste for it. Illus., photos. (Oct. 27) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

A Complete Collection Of Annotated Lyrics By The Prolific Rock Band, Published To Coincide With Their Fortieth Anniversary, Features Literary, Historical, And Cultural References For Every Original Song. Can't Come Down -- Caution (do Not Stop On Tracks) -- Mindbender -- The Only Time Is Now -- Cold Rain And Snow -- I Know You Rider -- You See A Broken Heart -- Beat It On Down The Line -- You Don't Have To Ask -- Cream Puff War -- Tastebud -- New, New Minglewood Blues -- Don't Ease Me In -- Cardboard Cowboy -- Standing On The Corner -- Keep Rolling By -- Alice D. Millionaire -- Me And My Uncle -- Morning Dew -- New Potato Caboose -- The Golden Road (to Unlimited Devotion) -- Alligator -- Turn On Your Love Light -- That's It For The Other One (suite) -- Born Cross-eyed -- Dark Star -- Clementine -- China Cat Sunflower -- The Eleven -- And We Bid You Goodnight -- Saint Stephen -- Not Fade Away -- Cosmic Charlie -- Rosemary -- Dupree's Diamond Blues -- Mountains Of The Moon -- Doin' That Rag -- Dire Wolf -- Casey Jones -- What's Become Of The Baby? -- High Time -- Easy Wind -- Cumberland Blues -- Black Peter -- Uncle John's Band -- Mason's Children -- New Speedway Boogie --^ Friend Of The Devil -- Candyman -- Attics Of My Life -- Sugar Magnolia/sunshine Daydream -- To Lay Me Down -- Brokedown Palace -- Operator -- Ripple -- Truckin' -- Till The Morning Comes -- Goin' Down The Road Feelin' Bad -- Box Of Rain -- Bertha -- Greatest Story Ever Told -- Loser -- Playing In The Band -- Wharf Rat -- Bird Song -- Deal -- Mister Charlie -- Sugaree -- Brown-eyed Woman -- Empty Pages -- Tennessee Jed -- Jack Straw -- Mexicali Blues -- Comes A Time -- One More Saturday Night -- Ramble On Rose -- Chinatown Shuffle -- Black-throated Wind -- Looks Like Rain -- The Stranger (two Souls In Communion) -- He's Gone -- Stella Blue -- Mississippi Half-step Uptown Toodleloo -- China Doll -- Eyes Of The World -- Here Comes Sunshine -- Loose Lucy -- They Love Each Other -- Row Jimmy -- Weather Report Suite, Part I -- Weather Report Suite, Part 2 (let It Grow) -- Let Me Sing Your Blues Away -- Peggy-o -- U.s. Blues -- It Must Have Been The Roses -- Ship Of Fools -- Casssidy --^ Scarlet Begonias -- Money, Money -- Pride Of Cucamonga -- Unbroken Chain -- Blues For Allah -- Crazy Fingers -- Help On The Way -- Franklin's Tower -- Showboat -- The Music Never Stopped -- Lazy Lightnin'/supplication -- Might As Well -- Samson And Delilah -- The Wheel -- Mission In The Rain -- Terrapin Station (suite) -- Estimated Prophet -- Fire On The Mountain -- Sunrise -- Iko Iko -- Passenger -- Equinox -- I Need A Miracle -- Stagger Lee -- If I Had The World To Give -- From The Heart Of Me -- Shakedown Street -- France -- Althea -- Lost Sailor -- Easy To Love You -- Saint Of Circumstance -- Alabama Getaway -- Far From Me -- Feel Like A Stranger -- Never Trust A Woman -- Keep Your Day Job -- West L.a. Fadeaway -- Touch Of Grey -- Throwing Stones -- My Brother Esau -- Maybe You Know -- Little Star -- Hell In A Bucket -- Don't Need Love -- Tons Of Steel -- Revolutionary Hamstrung Blues -- Black Muddy River -- When Push Comes To Shove -- Victim Or The Crime -- Foolish Heart --^ Blow Away -- I Will Take You Home -- Believe It Or Not -- Gentlemen, Start Your Engines -- Built To Last -- Standing On The Moon -- We Can Run But We Can't Hide -- Just A Little Light -- Picasso Moon -- Reuben And Cérise -- So Many Roads -- Wave To The Wind -- Corrina -- Way To Go Home -- Eternity -- Lazy River Road -- Liberty -- Days Between -- Easy Answers -- Samba In The Rain -- If The Shoe Fits -- Childhood's End -- All That We Are -- A Little Piece Of You -- Night Of A Thousand Stars -- No More Do I -- Strange World -- The Banyan Tree -- Only The Strange Remain -- October Queen -- Even So -- Baba Jingo -- Self-defense -- Time Never Ends -- You Remind Me -- Down The Road. Annotations By David Dodd ; Illustrated By Jim Carpenter ; Edited By Alan Trist And David Dodd. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 427-432) And Indexes. Celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the most popular and enduring band ever: "Even the most hardcore Deadheads will be impressed by this obsessively complete look at the Grateful Dead's lyrics" ( Publishers Weekly ). The Complete Annotated Grateful Dead Lyrics is an authoritative text, providing standard versions of all the original songs you thought you knew forwards and backwards. These are some of the best-loved songs in the modern American songbook. They are hummed and spoken among thousands as counterculture code and recorded by musicians of all stripes for their inimitable singability and obscure accessibility. How do they do all this? To provide a context for this formidable body of work, of which his part is primary, Robert Hunter has written a foreword that goes to the heart of the matter. And the annotations on sources provide a gloss on the lyrics, which goes to the roots of Western culture as they are incorporated into them. An avid Grateful Dead concertgoer for more than two decades, David Dodd is a librarian who brings to the work a detective's love of following a clue as far as it will take him. Including essays by Dead lyricists Robert Hunter and John Perry and Jim Carpenter's original illustrations, whimsical elements in the lyrics are brought to light, showcasing the American legend that is present in so many songs. A gorgeous keepsake edition of the Dead's official annotated lyrics, The Complete Annotated Grateful Dead Lyrics is an absolute must-have for the fiftieth anniversary—you won't think of this cultural icon the same way again. In fact, founding band member Bob Weir said: "This book is great. Now I'll never have to explain myself." This is an authoritative text, providing standard versions of all the original songs so that you can win an occasional bar bet. Or not. There are songs you have never heard and others you have never heard right and still others you did not know existed, and some, indeed, that may not exist at all. To provide a context for this formidable body of work, of which his part is primary, Robert Hunter has written a foreword that goes to the heart of the matter. These are some of the best-loved songs in the modern American songbook. You will hear them hummed and spoken among tens of thousands as counterculture code and recorded by musicians of all stripes for their inimitable singability, mysterious presence, and obscure accessibility. How do they do all this? The annotations on sources provide a gloss on the lyrics, which goes to the roots of Western culture as they are incorporated into them. Be it fairy tale or folksong that the lyricists have drawn on, ancient verse, biblical narrative, or T.S. Eliot, the references are here. This has never been done before. There are things here that would not have otherwise been known or imagined, which also goes for what was in the minds of the lyricists themselves. They would be the first to admit that the incursion of imagery into their creative memory banks was a chancy business When the Grateful Dead's in-house publishing company, Ice Nine, decided that the band's fortieth anniversary was a good time to publish their entire lyric catalog, a wave of excitement swept across the world of Deadheads, or would have had they known. What was that unclear word in "Uncle John's Band"? Would "Revolutionary Hamstrung Blues" be included? Which Cassidy is John Barlow writing about? Would Robert Hunter reveal the meaning of anything at all? These questions are finally answered with the publication of this book, but in true Grateful Dead fashion you'll have to dig around to find the answers and have fun doing it. The Complete Annotated Grateful Dead Lyrics is an authoritative text, providing standard versions of all the original songs so that you can win an occasional bar bet. Or not. There are songs you've never heard and others you've never heard right and still others you didn't know existed, and some, indeed, that may not exist at all. To provide a... All the original lyrics of the Grateful Dead are presented, with annotations for biographical, historical, literary, and geographical references within the lyrics. Profusely illustrated with original drawings by Jim Carpenter. Foreword by Robert Hunter; Afterword by John Perry Barlow. Indexes. , xxviii, 480 pages including an index, with illustrations throughout mainly in black and white