12/1/79 C. C. Rider 3/16/92
(Traditional)

Well now C., C. C. Rider, well now see, see what you have done.
Well now C., C. C. Rider, well now see, see what you have done.
Well you made me love you woman, now your man is gone.

So I'm goin' away now baby and I won't be back till fall,
I'm goin' away now baby and I won't be back till fall,
Just might find me a good girl might not be commin' back at all.

Well now C., C. C. Rider, see now the moon is shining bright,
Well now C., C. C. Rider, see now the moon is shining bright,
Just might find me that good girl and everything would be alright.

10/20/89 California Earthquake 10/23/89
(Rodney Crowell)

You don't know what you've done
We may fall into the ocean But we're not gonna run
You are a friend of the devil but we're not afraid of him
We will build up another town so you can tear it down again

(OR it could be)California Earthquake you just don't know what you've done.
We may fall off in the ocean but you'll never make us run.
You're a partner to the devil, (lord) but we ain't afraid of him.
We'll build ourselves another town so you can tear it down again.

11/3/65 Can't Come Down 1/7/66

Well I'm flying down desert streets wrapped in mother's wine and sheets,
Asbestos boots on flaming feet dreaming of forbidden treats,
When uniforms on nighttime beats ask me where I'm going and what I eat.
I answer them with a voice so sweet,

I can't come down till it's plain to see.
I can't come down I've been set free.
Who you are and what you don't make no difference to me.

Well someone trying to tell me where it's at,
And how I do this and why I do that,
With secret smiles like a Chesire cat,
And little wings like a vampire bat,
I fly away to my cold water flat and eat my way to a bone of fat,
And I say to the man with the funny hat,

They say I'll be good to lose my grip,
My hold on reality is starting to slip,
To tell me to got off with this trip,
The say its like a sinking ship,
Life is sweet it's too warm to sip,
And if I drink I'll chuck and flip, I'll just say as I take a nip,

Oh I dream of cotton seas and granite walls and redwood trees,
And ugly eye that only sees endless mirrors and infinite me's,
About the winter's coming freeze this afterthought I say with ease,
To all of you who make your fees.

4/3/70 Candyman 6/30/95
(Jerry Garcia, Robert Hunter)

Come on all you pretty women, with your hair a hanging down,
Open up your windows cuz the Candyman's in town.
Come on boys and gamble, roll those laughing bones,
Seven come eleven, boys I'll take your money home.

Look out, look out the Candyman,
Here he comes and he's gone again.
Pretty lady ain't got no friend till,
The Candyman comes around again

I come in from Memphis where I learned to talk the jive,
When I get back to Memphis be one less man alive.
Good morning Mr. Benson, I see you're doing well,
If I had me a shotgun I'd blow you straight to hell.

Look out, look out the Candyman,
Here he comes and he's gone again.
Pretty lady ain't got no friend till,
The Candyman comes around again

Come on boys and wager if you have got the mind,
If you've got a dollar boys, lay it on the line,
Hand me my old guitar, pass the whiskey round,
Won't you tell everybody you meet that the Candyman's in town.

Look out, look out the Candyman,
Here he comes and he's gone again.
Pretty lady ain't got no friend till,
The Candyman comes around again.

6/20/69 Casey Jones 3/27/93
(Jerry Garcia, Robert Hunter)

Driving that train, high on cocaine,
Casey Jones is ready, watch your speed.
Trouble ahead, trouble behind,
And you know that notion just crossed my mind.

This old engine makes it on time,
Leaves Central Station 'bout a quarter to nine,
Hits River Junction at seventeen to,
At a quarter to ten you know it's travlin' again.

Driving that train, high on cocaine,
Casey Jones is ready, watch your speed.
Trouble ahead, trouble behind,
And you know that notion just crossed my mind.

Trouble ahead, Lady in red,
Take my advice you'd be better off dead.
Switchman's sleeping, train hundred and two is
On the wrong track and headed for you.

Driving that train, high on cocaine,
Casey Jones is ready, watch your speed.
Trouble ahead, trouble behind,
And you know that notion just crossed my mind.

Trouble with you is the trouble with me,
Got two good eyes but you still don't see.
Come round the bend, you know it's the end,
The fireman screams and the engine just gleams...

3/23/74 Cassidy 7/6/95
(Bob Weir, John Barlow)

I have seen where the wolf has slept by the silver stream.
I can tell by the mark he left you were in his dream.
Ah child of countless trees, ah child of boundless seas.

What are you, what are you meant to be?
Speaks his name for you were born to me,
Born to me, Cassidy.

Lost now on the country miles in his Cadillac.
I can tell by the way you smile he is rolling back.
Come wash the nighttime clean, come grow the scorched ground green.

Blow the horn, tap the tambourine.
Close the gap on the dark years in between.
You and me, Cassidy.

Quick beats in an icy heart, catch colt draws a coffin cart,
There he goes and now here she starts, hear her cry.

Flight of the seabirds,
Scattered like lost words,
Wheel to the storm and fly.
Fare thee well now, let your life proceed by it's own design.
Nothing to tell now, let the words be yours, I'm done with mine.
Fare thee well now, let your life proceed by it's own design.
Nothing to tell now, let the words be yours, I'm done with mine.

Catfish John

Mama said, "Don't go near that river,
Don't be hanging around old Catfish John."
Come in the morning I'd always be there,
Walking in his footsteps in the sweet Delta dawn.

Take me back to another morning, to a time so long ago,
When the sweet magnolia blossomed, cotton fields as white as snow.

Catfish John was a river hobo who lived and died by the river's bed,
Looking back I still remember I was proud to be his friend.

Mama said, "Don't go near that river,
Don't be hanging around old Catfish John."
Come in the morning I'd always be there,
Walking in his footsteps in the sweet Delta dawn.

Born a slave in the town of Vicksburg, traded for a chestnut mare,
Lord he never spoke in anger though his load was hard to bear.

Mama said, "Don't go near that river,
Don't be hanging around old Catfish John."
Come in the morning I'd always be there,
Walking in his footsteps in the sweet Delta dawn.
Walking in his footsteps in the sweet Delta dawn.

Cats Under the Stars
(Jerry Garcia, Robert Hunter)

Cats on the blacktop, birdie in the treetop,
Someone plays guitar that sounds like clarinet.
I ain't ready to go to bed,
I think I'll take a walk downtown instead.

Cats on the bandstand, Give'em each a big hand,
Anyone who sweats like that must be all right.
No one wants to fight; no blackeye,
Just another cat beneath the stars tonight.

Cats in the limelight, feels like it's alright,
Everybody wants something they might not get.
I ain' ready yet, it ain't complete,
That's why I am headin' down to Alleycat Street.

Satin blouse unbuttoning, satin blouse unbuttoning,
Time is a stripper's doin', it's just for you.
Time is a stripper's doin', it's just for you.

Knock in the brass tacks, cover up your tracks Jack,
You ain't nowhere till you can pay your own way back.
What else do you lack to make it right,
But cats down under the stars tonight.

11/3/65 Caution - Do Not Stop On The Tracks 5/11/72
(Pig Pen = Ron McKernan)

I went down one day, I went down one day to see a Gypsy woman,
Just one old day, yes I did,
I want to find out, I want to find out,
I want to find out, I want to find out now,
What's wring with me and my baby.
We ain't gettin' down like we used to do,
I mean it's pretty good now, but there was a time,
When it didn't work too well.

I went down to see this Gypsy woman, you understand,
I told her my story, I told her what was goin' on.
And she told me, man she said, all you need, all you need,
She said all you got to have, oh Lord,
Just a touch of Mojo's hand, oh bring it back on,
And it feels pretty good, yes indeed.

7/20/94 Childhood's End 7/9/95
(Phil Lesh)

When I was hoppin' freights and makin' payments on the farm
Here between the angels and the deep blue sea

You were runnin', laughin', growin' sheltered from the storm
Dreamin' of the day the moon would set you free
Yeah, to sing your siren song so sweet and warm

River run deep
River run slow
Get a little restless
Wanna see some whales blow
River run cold
River run clear
That feeling always gets to me
'Round about this time of year

Scoutin' unknown borders under multi-colored moons
In the wildest flights of cosmic mystery
Rang a single soarin' tone that strung the sky in tune
As the silence in my heart rose from the sea
Aaah, to greet you in the dawn with a pale harpoon

River run restless
River run high
Runnin' thru a hailstorm
Try to catch a star on the fly
River run muddy
River flow like tears
Cocoon of life surroundin' us
Holdin' all our hopes and fears

Reach behind the wind
Search beyond the stars
We're the life on Mars

When the day grows dark and scary scatterin' the light
All the colors run away and hide behind your knees
The same sweet thunder tumbles rollin' down the night
Like a mothership that calls for you and me
Come on, and drift along that sky river bright

River run swiftly
River run wide
Feel like sailin'
On the morning tide
River run golden
River run true
Set a course and follow
Ooooh, the star that leads to you

1/22/68 China Cat Sunflower 6/28/95
(Robert Hunter, Jerry Garcia, Phil Lesh)

Look for a while at the China Cat sunflower,
Proud walking jingle in the midnight sun.
Copperdome bodhi drip a silver kimono,
Like a crazy quilt stargown through a dream night wind.

Crazy cat peekin' through a lace bandanna,
Like a one-eyed Cheshire, like a diamond-eye jack.
A leaf of all colors plays a golden-string fiddle,
To a double-E waterfall over my back.

Comic book colors on a violin river Cryin' Leonardo,
Words from out a silk trombone.
I rang a silent bell, beneath a shower of pearls,
In the eagle-winged palace of the Queen Chinee.

2/9/73 China Doll 10/11/94
(Jerry Garcia, Robert Hunter)

A pistol shot, at five o'clock, the bells of heaven ring,
tell me what you done it for, No I won't tell you a thing.
Yesterday I begged you before I hit the ground,
all I leave behind me is only what I found.

If you can abide it, let the hurdy-gurdy play,
stranger ones have come by here before they flew away.
I will not condemn you nor yet would I deny,
I would ask the same of you, but failing, will not die.

Take up your china doll, take up your china doll,
it's only fractured and just a little nervous from the fall.
La-la-la-la-la-la-la.

12/31/71 Chinatown Shuffle 5/26/72
(Ron McNernan)

Take it, you can have it, what I got baby, I can't hold
and if you find the secret tell me how to build the mold.
And I can't handle your problems so don`t try to handle mine,
get yourself a shotgun, a pocketful of shells
and we can while away the time.

Look up the wall, do it right, make a mistake,
you're going to pay for it twice,
but if you need it, got to have it get yourself
a shotgun and bring it back home
Look up the wall, you know you got to call
before you start falling, get ready to fall.
and if you fallin my direction
don't expect no help at all....don't

Get it right, do it nice
and if you make a mistake, you're going to pay for it twice,
but if you need it, got to have it get yourself
a shotgun and bring it back home

Look up the wall, you know you got to call
but if you start falling, be ready to fall,
and if you fall in my direction
don't expect no help at all, don't expect no help at all,
don't expect no help at all, and if you fall in my direction
don't expect no help at all,

Cocaine

Take a snip of this then play a little riff, don't be afraid to try
Don't need no airplane to get off the ground there's more than one way to fly
Have a little taste, Baby, don't hesitate, every hit don`t have to be a song
Gonna take you to the cosmos, Baby, and boogie with you all night long

Riding out on a rail, feels so fine
Talking 'bout that cocaine express, mainline, got a good head of steam

Never lived down on the Bayou, but I been busted in New Orleans, New Orleans
I can roll all night with you, Baby got a land? I'm just in from Marin
Can't get it off, but I can get it on and we'll be truckin' 'till the break of day

Here comes the doo-dah dealer on his Hog three wheeler, 250 pounds of sin
He's made your car the main attraction. you wanna beef up his action
But he will cut you, before he would cut you in, the only place to win

Riding out on a rail, feels so fine
Talking 'bout that cocaine express, mainline, taking a midnight cruise

Never lived up in the Northlands, but I been snowblind out in Sandford Dew
Snowblind in Sanford Dew, that's enough for you, snowblind

7/12/70 Cocaine Habit Blues 8/19/70
(Traditional)

Tell it to me, tell it to me
Drink cold liquor let the cocaine be Cocaine'll kill my honey dead
Walking down the street with a dollar in my hand
Looked for a woman ain't got no man Cocaine'll kill my honey dead
Love my whiskey, I'll love my gin
But the way I love coke is all of a sin Cocaine'll kill my honey dead
Cocaine's dose is not for a man
Doctor said pretty soon, but he don't say when Cocaine'll kill my honey dead

6/20/69 Cold Jordan 8/19/70
(Traditional)

Oh sinning is a gentilized journey, take Jesus as your daily guide
Though you may feel pure and saintly without Him walking by your side
And when you come to make your crossing at the end of the pilgrim's way
If you ever will meet your savior, you will surely meet him on that day

Now look at that cold Jordan, look at its deep water
Look at that wide river Oh heavy mighty billows roll
You better take Jesus with you, he's a true companion
Oh I'm sure without him that you never will make it home

That awful day of judgement is coming in the by and by
We'll see our Lord descending in the glory from on high
Oh, let us get in touch with Jesus and in the special love of God
And maybe ever get ready when he comes on Jordan's tide

Now look at that cold Jordan, look at its deep water
Look at that wide river Oh heavy mighty billows roll
You better take Jesus with you, he's a true companion
Oh I'm sure without him that you never will make it home

Now what you gonna do, Oh what you gonna say
Oh how you gonna feel when you come to the end of the way?

2/23/66 Cold Rain and Snow 6/19/95
(Traditional)

Well I married me a wife, she's been trouble all my life
Run me out in the cold rain and snow.
Rain and snow, run me out in the cold rain and snow

Well she's coming down the stairs, combin' back her yellow hair
And I ain't goin' be treated this ol' way.

Well she went up to her room where she sang her faithful tune
Well I'm goin' where those chilly winds don`t blow.

10/19/71 Comes A Time 10/9/94
(Jerry Garcia, Robert Hunter)

Comes a time when the blind-man takes your hand, says "Don't you see?
Gotta make it somehow on the dreams you still believe."
Don't give it up, you got an empty cup only love can fill,
only love can fill.

Been walking all morning went walking all night
I can`t see much difference between the dark and light
And I feel the wind And I taste the rain
Never in my mind to cause so much pain.

Comes a time when the blind-man takes your hand, says "Don't you see?
Gotta make it somehow on the the dreams you still believe."
Don't give it up, you got an empty cup only love can fill,
only love can fill.

From day to day just letting it ride.
You get so far away from how it feels inside.
You can't let go 'cause you're afraid to fall,
But the day may come when you can't feel at all.

The words come out like an angry stream.
You hear yourself say things you could never mean.
When you cool down you find your mind.
You got a lot of words you've got to stand behind.

Comes a time when the blind-man takes your hand, says "Don't you see?
Gotta make it somehow on the dreams you still believe."
Don't give it up, you got an empty cup only love can fill,
only love can fill, only love can fill, only love can fill.

11/3/65 Confusion Prince / Mind Bender 11/29/66
(Phil Lesh)

If only I could be less blind, if only I knew what to find
Everywhere and all of the time, it's bending my mind
Confusion Prince is at my door
The crown I wear is the one he wore
He's here to bring me down some more and bend my mind

The friendly stranger call my name
He only wants me for his game
But it don't matter just the same I bend his mind
I'll wave my flags into the sun
I fought my wars and now they're won
And I didn't need nobody's gun, I bend their mind

2/23/92 Corrina 7/9/95
(Robert Hunter, Bob Weir)

Hog of a Sunday
Dog of a Monday
Get it back someday
What'd I say?
Movin' in close
Cut from a long shot
Fade on a downbeat
Ready or not ready or not

Chorus:

Corrina, Wake it up baby
Corrina, Shake it on down
Corrina, Corrina

Cruise through a stop sign
Loggin' up short time
Bird on a phone line
Soakin' up the Sun
Salt on a crowtail
What can I do?
I'm down by law
But I'm true to you true to you

Chorus:

If, what, where and when
Told at the proper time
Big black wings beat on the wind
But they don't hardly climb
There's a silver ocean
Silver clouds and silver sea
A bird on the horizon
Silver wingin' back to me

Chorus:

Wake it up baby
Shake it down easy
Bring it back someday
What'd I say?
Movin' in closer
Cut from a long shot
Fade on a downbeat
Ready or not ready or not

Corrina-Wake it up baby
Corrina-Shake it down easy
Corrina-Shake it up now
Corrina-Shake it back down

If, what, where, when and how
No it don't mean a thing to me
I would love you even if
you flew away from me
I'll just stand here waiting
on the far side of the sea
There is no fear that lovers born
will ever fail to meet

Chorus:

10/8/68 Cosmic Charlie 9/25/76
(Robert Hunter, Jerry Garcia, Phil Lesh)

Cosmic Charlie how do you do? Truckin' in style along the avenue.
Dum de dum de dooodley do. Go on home your mama's calling you.
Kalico, Kahlia, come tell me the news.
Calamity's waiting for a way to get to her.
Rosy red and electric blue I bought you a paddle for your paper canoe.

Say you'll come back when you can, whenever your airplane happens to land.
Maybe I'll be back here, too. It all depends on what's with you.
Hung up waiting for a windy day, kite one ice since the first of February.
Mama keeps saying that the wind might blow,
But standing here, I say, I just don't know.

New ones comin' as the old ones go.
Everything's moving here but much too slow now,
A little bit quicker and we might have time,
To say "How do you do?" before we're left behind.
Calliope wail like a seaside zoo. The very last lately inquired about you,
It's really very one or two. The first you wanted, the last I knew.

I just wonder if you shouldn't feel,
Less concerned about the deep unreal.
The very first word is "How do you do?",
The last "Go home your mama's callin' you."

Calling you, calling you, calling you, calling you,
Go on home your mama's calling you.

6/17/75 Crazy Fingers 7/5/95
(Jerry Garcia, Robert Hunter)

Your rain falls like crazy fingers
Peals of fragile thunder keeping time
Recall the days that still are to come some sing blue.
Hang your heart on laughing willow stray
Down to the water, deep sea of love
beneath the sweet calm face of the sea swift undertow.

Life may be sweeter for this, I don't know,
See how it feels in the end.
May Lady Lullaby sing plainly for you soft, strong, sweet and true.
Cloud hands reaching from a rainbow tapping at the window, touch your hair
So swift and bright strange figures of light float in air.

Who can stop what must arrive now? Something new is waiting to be born
Dark as the night you're still by my side shine inside .
Gone are the days we stopped to decide where we should go, we just ride.
Gone are the broken eyes we saw through in dreams gone, both dream and lie.

Life may be sweeter for this, I don't know,
Feels like it might be alright,
While Lady Lullaby sings plainly through you Love still rings true.
Midnight on a carousel ride reaching for the gold ring down inside,
Never could reach it, just slips away but I try.

10/7/66 Cream Puff War 3/18/67
(Jerry Garcia)

No, no! She can't take your mind and leave
I know it's just another trick she's got up her sleeve
I can't believe that she really wants you to die
After all it's more than enough to pay for your lie

Wait a minute, watch what you're doin' with your time
All the endless ruins of the past must stay behind, yeah

Well, can't you see that you're killing each other's soul
Well, you're both out in the streets and you got no place to go
Your constant battles are getting to be a bore
So go somewhere else and continue your cream puff war

Cruel White Water
(Robert Hunter)

Up near the border where the cruel white water
drowns the vagabond who sleeps too low
me and my companion, the famous Jack Of Lanterns
tracked the misty mountains through the snow

I ran across the hidden chord but I could not learn the changes
the blue Pacific called and I had to go
there was holy on the ivy in the apparition mountains
but the warmest bed I found was ten below

courted lady Greensleeves, she pushed me out the window
I landed like a feather in the trees
took off across New Mexico and landed in the bayou
but the catfish were too lean, and I had to blow

don't lie for gold--no no no no!
don't lie for love--that turns out cold
if life depends, just get out whole...
but don't lie for less, no no no no!

Marie Marie, Marie Helena
you're my amour, you're my own heart
Marie Marie, Marie Helena
Marie Marie, Marie Helena!

Left a life of ease and caught that black iron steamer
across the barren waste to your arcade
singing 'take me to your leader' in my strangest country tenor
but the bad I set to lay was half way made

leftover pieces weren't exactly what I needed
they didn't have much meaning on their own
there was some talk of deviation, but from what was never mentioned
so I set out to find my wrong way home
home inside the hour, I was tuning my guitar

where I got that sudden urge I know too well
I finished my rendition of 'Don't Pity My Condition'
and then looked around to find what I could sell

You can't sell your soul! Leave that alone!
You can't change your role Big Daddy Lowe
Don't break your back for less than love!
and don't trade your love for stars above!

Marie Marie, Marie Helena
you're my amour, you're my own heart
Marie Marie, Marie Helena
Marie Marie, Marie Helena!

Caught up with Jack Of Lanterns in a town called Make It Hurt
preaching three card monte in the Live And Let It church
the choir was down and dirty, drawing bad and betting worse
we left at ten past six in a padded hearse

I might find companions in after hours taverns
to tell a tale or two I've never heard
but the strangest song I know
is what the thunder said to lightening
and I never could recall a single word
except...

Up near the border where the cruel white water
drowns the vagabond who sleeps too low
me and my companion, the famous Jack Of Lanterns
tracked the misty mountains through the snow

don't lie for gold--no no no no!
don't lie for love--that turns out cold
if life depends, just get out whole...
but don't lie for less--no no no no!

Marie Marie, Marie Helena
by firelight you steal my heart

Marie Marie, Marie Helena
Marie Marie, Marie Helena!

11/11/67 Cryptical Envelopment 9/3/85
(Jerry Garcia)

The other day they waited, the sky was dark and faded,
Solemnly they stated, "He has to die, you know he has to die."
All the children learnin', from books that they were burnin',
Every leaf was turnin', to watch him die, you know he had to die.

The summer sun looked down on him, his mother could but frown on him,
And all the others sound on him, but it doesn't seem to matter.

And when the day had ended, with rainbow colors blended,
His mind remained unbended, he had to die, you know he had to die.

11/8/69 Cumberland Blues 7/9/95
(Robert Hunter, Jerry Garcia, Phil Lesh)

I can't stay much longer, Melinda, The sun is getting high.
I can't help you with your troubles, If you won't help with mine.
I gotta get down, I gotta get down, I gotta get down to the mine.

You keep me up just one more night, I can't sleep here no more.
Little Ben clock says quarter to eight; You kept me up 'till four.
I gotta get down, I gotta get down, Or I can't work there no more.

A lotta poor man make a five dollar bill, Keep him happy all the time.
Some other fella's makin nothin' at all And you can hear him cry,
"Can I go, buddy, can I go down Take your shift at the mine?"

Gotta get down to the Cumberland Mine.
Gotta get down to the Cumberland Mine.
That's where I mainly spend my time.
Make good money, five dollars a day. Made anymore, I might move away.

Lotta poor man got the Cumberland Blues He can't win for losin'
Lotta poor man got to walk the line Just to pay his union dues.
I don't know now, I just don't know If I'm goin' back again.

This page was made by John Tupper
If you have anything to say mail me: [email protected]