Alligator

Lyrics: Robert Hunter, Ron McKernan (Pigpen)
Music: Phil Lesh, Ron McKernan (Pigpen)

Sleepy alligator in the noonday sun
Lying by the river just like he usually done
Call for his whiskey, he can call for his tea (note 1)
Call all he wants to but he can't call me
Oh no, I've been there before
And I ain't coming back around there no more

Creepy alligator coming all around the bend
Shouting 'bout the time when we was mutual friends
I checked my memory and I checked it quick, yes I will
I checked it running some old kind of trick
Oh no, I've been there before
And I ain't coming back around there no more

Hung up waiting for a windy day (note 2)
Hung up waiting for a windy day
Burn down the Fillmore, gas the Avalon

Sailing down the river in an old canoe (note 3)
A bunch of bugs and an old tennis shoe
Out of the river all ugly and green
Came the biggest old alligator that I've ever seen
Teeth big and pointed and his eyes were bugging out
Contacted the union, put the beggars to rout
Screaming and yelling, he was picking his chops
He never runs, he just stumbles and hops
Just out of prison on six dollar's bail
Mumbling at bitches and a-wagging his tail

Alligator running round my door
Alligator running round my door
Alligator running round my door
Alligator running round my door

Alligator creeping round the corner of my cabin door (note 1)
He's coming round to bother me some more
Notes
(1) on 14 Feb 1970 (DP4) and perhaps on other occasions, Pigpen sang "Call for his coffee, he can call for his tea" (thanks to Dan Franzen for pointing this out)
(2) these lyrics by the Grateful Dead
(3) these lyrics by Pigpen

Grateful Dead Recordings
     Date Album
     1967-1968 Anthem Of The Sun
      5 Aug 1967 30 Days Of The Dead (2010)
     10 Nov 1967 30 Trips Around The Sun (note 6)
     14 Feb 1968 Road Trips Volume 2, Number 2
     24 Feb 1968 Dick's Picks Vol 22
     23 Aug 1968 Anthem Of The Sun and Two From The Vault (note 4)
     25 Jan 1969 Aoxomoxoa (2019 bonus disc)
     28 Feb 1969 Fillmore West 1969 - The Complete Recordings
      2 Mar 1969 Fillmore West 1969 - The Complete Recordings
     24 May 1969 Road Trips Volume 4, Number 1
     12 Dec 1969 Dave's Picks Volume 10 (note 5)
      3 Jan 1970 Dave's Picks Volume 30
     14 Feb 1970 Dick's Picks Vol 4
     29 Apr 1971 Ladies And Gentlemen ... The Grateful Dead
 
(Plus live recordings by The Dead, Furthur, Phil Lesh & Friends etc not listed here. See Grateful Dead Family Discography for a full list.)
 
Covers By Other Artists
     Date Album Recorded By
     2015 Songs Of Their Own Ross James Radio Galaxy

(4) bonus track on remastered version of Anthem Of The Sun, first released as part of the box set The Golden Road (1965-1973). Now also issued on Disk 3 of the reissued version of Two From The Vault
(5) previously released on Best Of The Grateful Dead Hour
(6) a version dated 10 November 1967 was released on 30 Days Of The Dead (2013), but it seems that version may have been from the following night, 11 November. (thanks to Caleb Kennedy for this information).

Further Information
For an online discussion of the lyrics to this song see the
deadsongs.vue conference on The Well.
For more information on recordings see Matt Schofield's Grateful Dead Family Discography
For information on references in the lyrics see David Dodd's Annotated Grateful Dead Lyrics
For online chords and TAB see www.rukind.com
For sheet music, see:
          Grateful Dead Anthology Volume 1 (piano arrangement)

 


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