The Boy In The Bubble

Lyrics: Paul Simon
Music: Paul Simon, Forere Motlobeloa

This was played during the rehearsals with Bob Dylan, but with Bob Weir singing lead.

It was a slow day
And the sun was beating
On the soldiers by the side of the road
There was a bright light
A shattering of shop windows
The bomb in the baby carriage
Was wired to the radio

Chorus
These are the days of miracle and wonder
This is the long distance call
The way the camera follows us in slo-mo
The way we look to us all
The way we look to a distant constellation
That's dying in a corner of the sky
These are the days of miracle and wonder
And don't cry baby, don't cry
Don't cry

It was a dry wind
And it swept across the desert
And it curled into the circle of birth
And the dead sand (note 1)
Falling on the children
The mothers and the fathers
And the automatic earth

[Chorus]

It's a turn-around jump shot
It's everybody jump start
It's every generation throws a hero up the pop charts (note 2)
Medicine is magical and magical is art
The Boy in the Bubble
And the baby with the baboon heart

And I believe
These are the days of lasers in the jungle (note 3)
Lasers in the jungle somewhere
Staccato signals of constant information
A loose affiliation of millionaires
And billionaires and baby

[Chorus]

Notes
(1) Weir misses out this line in the rehearsal tape
(2) Weir gets this line wrong: he sings "Every situation does a [battle] [?] the pop charts" and mumbles the next line. Garcia realises Weir has forgotten the words and so finishes off the verse for him!
(3) This verse is a mess, with Garcia helping out where Weir forgets the words




Further Information
For more information on recordings see Matt Schofield's Grateful Dead Family Discography

 


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