- To: list@rhizome.org
- Subject: RHIZOME_RAW: Don't tread on me
- From: Nmherman@AOL.COM
- Date: Sat, 26 Jan 2002 17:24:08 EST
- Reply-to: Nmherman@AOL.COM
The Annotated "Uncle John's Band"
An installment in TheAnnotated Grateful Dead Lyrics.
By David Dodd
1997-98 Research Associate, Music Dept., University of California at Santa Cruz Copyright notice "Uncle John's Band"
Words by Robert Hunter; music by Jerry Garcia
Copyright Ice Nine Publishing; used by permission
Well, the first days are the hardest days,
don't you worry anymore
When life looks like Easy Street
there is danger at your door
Think this through with me
Let me know your mind
Wo-oah, what I want to know
is are you kind?
It's a Buck Dancer's Choice, my friend,
better take my advice
You know all the rules by now
and the fire from the ice
Will you come with me?
Won't you come with me?
Wo-oah, what I want to know,
will you come with me?
Goddamn, well I declare
Have you seen the like?
Their walls are built of cannonballs,
their motto is Don't Tread on Me
Come hear Uncle John's Band
by the riverside
Got some things to talk about
here beside the rising tide
It's the same story the crow told me
It's the only one he know -
like the morning sun you come and like the wind you go
Ain't no time to hate,
barely time to wait
Wo-oah, what I want to know,
where does the time go?
I live in a silver mine
and I call it Beggar's Tomb
I got me a violin
and I beg you call the tune
Anybody's choice
I can hear your voice
Wo-oah what I want to know,
how does the song go?
Come hear Uncle John's Band
by the riverside
Come with me or go alone
He's come to take his children home
Come hear Uncle John's Band
playing to the tide
Come on along or go alone
he's come to take his children home
http://arts.ucsc.edu/GDead/AGDL/uncle.html
This page has a lot of interesting annotations
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