Lyrics: Robert Hunter
Music: Jerry Garcia
Gone are the days when the ox fall down (note a)Notes
Take up the yoke and plow the fields around
Gone are the days when the ladies said "please
Gentle Jack Jones won't you come to me" (note b)
Chorus
Brown-eyed women and red grenadine
The bottle was dusty but the liquor was clean
Sound of the thunder with the rain pouring down
And it looks like the old man's getting on
Nineteen twenty when he stepped to the bar
Drank to the dregs of the whiskey jar
Nineteen thirty when the Wall caved in (note c)
He made his way selling red-eyed gin (note d)
[chorus]
Delilah Jones was the mother of twins
Two times over and the rest were sins (note h)
Raised eight boys, only I turned bad (note e) (note j)
Didn't get the lickings that the other ones had
[chorus]
Tumble-down shack in Big Foot County
Snowed so hard that the roof caved in
Delilah Jones went to meet her God (note i)
And the old man never was the same again
Daddy made whiskey and he made it well
Cost two dollars and it burned like hell (note f)
I cut hickory just to fire the still
Drink down a bottle and you're ready to kill (note g)
[chorus]
And it looks like the old man's getting on
[?] my older brother, his name was Ben
My sister died at the age of ten
We followed up to the burying ground
Was the first time Daddy's tears hit the ground
First came school, and then came the law
[...] and the wall [...]
But I grew up just a little too slow
I moved over into Arkansas
When I went back it was twenty years' later
[?]
[?]
Tears were falling at the place again
[I think the next bit is a fragment from a different song]
My moma they were gone [...], lay down, lay down
[...] in her arms, saying baby, babe lay down
Lay down
Lay down
And I see your slumber [...]
Covers etc | |||||
Date | Album | Recorded By | |||
1986 | Fiesta En La Biblioteca | Pontiac Brothers (note 2) | |||
1990 | Box Of Rain | Robert Hunter | |||
1995 | Live At The Dock Street Theatre | Blue Dogs | |||
2000 | Dead Grass | Vassar Clements | |||
2003 | Bringin It Back | The Orchard Boys | |||
2004 | 20 Degrees Of Solitude | The Grass Is Dead | |||
2004 | Werewolves Of Atlanta: Halloween 2004 | Dark Star Orchestra | |||
8 Feb 2006 | Live At The Fillmore | Grateful Grass | |||
2007 | U Liners | U Liners | |||
2007 | On The Spirit Trail | Woody | |||
2008 | From The Hillside | Matt Miklus & Friends | |||
2008 | Fennario: Songs by Jerry Garcia and Robert Hunter | Emory Joseph | |||
2008 | Ithica 30 Years Later | Dark Star Orchestra | |||
2008 | Under the Influence: Drinking Songs, Vol. 1 | P.J.Elliott | |||
2009 | North By Northeast | Three Quarter North | |||
2009 | Where Was The Love | Lesti Huff Band | |||
2010 | Welcome To The Smalltimore | Howard Markham | |||
2010 | One Hesher, Two Punks And A Hippy | Punk Is Dead | |||
26 May 2011 | Jerry Jams for Rex II | Chris Robinson Brotherhood | |||
2012 | Vacilador | The Giving Tree Band | |||
2012 | D'Eadphibians | D'Amphibiand | |||
2012 | Run For The Roses | Tim Bluhm et al (Rex Foundation) | |||
2012 | Jun 26 2012, San Francisco CA | Chris Robinson Brotherhood (note 3) | |||
2012 | Aug 3 2012, San Rafael CA | Yonder Mountain String Band (note 3) | |||
2014 | Oct 30 2014 New York NY | The Infamous Stringdusters (note 3) | |||
2015 | The Promised Land: Acoustic Sessions | Sagol 59 & Ami Yares | |||
14 May 2015 | Dear Jerry: Celebrating The Music Of Jerry Garcia | Trampled By Turtles | |||
2015 | Jun 30 2015, San Rafael CA | Reid Genauer | |||
2015 | Songs Of Their Own | Keller Williams | |||
2016 | Day Of The Dead | Hiss Golden Messenger | |||
2019 | Dead Air | Lord Nelson | |||
2020 | World Full Of Blues | Rob Ickes & Trey Hensley | |||
2021 | Jerry's Smilin': Guitar Tribute To The Grateful Dead | Damià Timoner |