Lyrics: Robert Hunter
Music: Jerry Garcia, Phil Lesh
I can't stay here 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
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
Lotta poor man make a five dollar bill
Will keep him happy all the time
Some other fellow's making nothing 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
That's where I mainly spend my time
Make good money, five dollars a day
If I made any more I might move away
Lotta poor man got the Cumberland Blues
He can't win for losing
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 going back again
I don't know now, I just don't know
If I'm going back again
Grateful Dead Recordings | |||||
Date | Album | ||||
8 Nov 1969 | Dick's Picks Vol 16 | ||||
11 Dec 1969 | Dave's Picks Volume 10 (bonus disc) | ||||
12 Dec 1969 | Dave's Picks Volume 10 | ||||
20 Dec 1969 | Dave's Picks Volume 6 | ||||
21 Dec 1969 | Dave's Picks Volume 6 (Bonus disc) | ||||
studio 1970 | Workingman's Dead | ||||
2 Jan 1970 | Dave's Picks Volume 30 | ||||
17 Jan 1970 | Workingman's Dead (note 1) | ||||
24 Jan 1970 | Dave's Picks Volume 19 | ||||
2 Feb 1970 | Dave's Picks Volume 6 | ||||
11 Feb 1970 | 30 Days Of The Dead (2021) | ||||
15 Apr 1970 | 30 Trips Around The Sun | ||||
18 Apr 1970 | Family Dog at the Great Highway | ||||
2 May 1970 | Dick's Picks Vol 8 | ||||
15 May 1970 | Road Trips Vol 3 No 3 (early show) | ||||
15 May 1970 | Road Trips Vol 3 No 3 (late show) | ||||
31 Dec 1970 | 30 Days Of The Dead (2018) | ||||
19 Feb 1971 | Three From The Vault | ||||
21 Feb 1971 | Workingman's Dead (50th Anniversary Edition) | ||||
18 Mar 1971 | 30 Trips Around The Sun | ||||
13 Apr 1971 | Dave's Picks Volume 51 | ||||
28 Apr 1971 | Ladies And Gentlemen ... The Grateful Dead | ||||
30 May 1971 | Winterland 1971 | ||||
6 Aug 1971 | Road Trips Number 1, Volume 3 (bonus disc) | ||||
7 Aug 1971 | Dick's Picks Vol 35 | ||||
24 Aug 1971 | Dick's Picks Vol 35 | ||||
22 Oct 1971 | Dave's Picks Volume 3 | ||||
26 Oct 1971 | Download Series Vol 3 | ||||
31 Oct 1971 | 30 Days Of The Dead (2014) (note 6) | ||||
15 Nov 1971 | Road Trips Number 3, Volume 2 | ||||
17 Nov 1971 | Dave's Picks Volume 26 | ||||
20 Nov 1971 | Dave's Picks Volume 48 | ||||
7 Dec 1971 | Dave's Picks Volume 22 | ||||
27 Mar 1972 | Dave's Picks Vol 14 (bonus disc) | ||||
28 Mar 1972 | Dick's Picks Vol 30 | ||||
8 Apr 1972 | Europe '72 (note 2) | ||||
14 Apr 1972 | Europe '72 - The Complete Recordings | ||||
16 Apr 1972 | Europe '72 - The Complete Recordings | ||||
26 May 1972 | Europe '72 - The Complete Recordings | ||||
21 Jul 1972 | Download Series Vol 10 | ||||
21 Sep 1972 | Dick's Picks Vol 36 | ||||
24 Sep 1972 | 30 Trips Around The Sun | ||||
27 Sep 1972 | Dick's Picks Vol 11 | ||||
17 Oct 1972 | Listen To The River: St Louis '71 '72 73 | ||||
17 Nov 1972 | Dave's Picks Volume 11 | ||||
24 Mar 1973 | Dave's Picks Volume 32 | ||||
28 Mar 1973 | Dave's Picks Volume 16 | ||||
14 Nov 1973 | 30 Trips Around The Sun | ||||
24 Feb 1974 | Dave's Picks Volume 13 | ||||
23 Jun 1974 | Dave's Picks Volume 34 | ||||
10 Sep 1983 | Dave's Picks Vol 52 | ||||
12 Oct 1983 | In And Out Of The Garden | ||||
21 Oct 1983 | 30 Trips Around The Sun | ||||
20 Apr 1984 | Dave's Picks Volume 35 | ||||
12 Oct 1984 | 30 Trips Around The Sun | ||||
27 Mar 1987 | Dave's Picks Volume 36 | ||||
27 Mar 1988 | Download Series Vol 5 | ||||
1 Apr 1988 | Road Trips Volume 4, Number 2 | ||||
17 Jul 1989 | Downhill From Here (video/DVD only) | ||||
21 Mar 1990 | Spring 1990 (The Other One) | ||||
28 Mar 1990 | Spring 1990 (The Other One) | ||||
23 Jun 1990 | Dave's Picks Volume 44 | ||||
4 Jul 2015 | Fare Thee Well (CD and DVD) (note 5) | ||||
(Plus live recordings by The Dead, Furthur, Dead & Company, Ratdog, Phil Lesh & Friends etc not listed here. See Grateful Dead Family Discography for a full list.) | |||||
Other Recordings | |||||
Date | Album | Recorded By | |||
1980 | Step Up To Big Pay | Cache Valley Drifters (note 3) | |||
1993 | Dead Ringers | Dead Ringers | |||
1996 | DeadBeats Acoustic | DeadBeats | |||
1997 | Pickin' On The Grateful Dead | David West et al | |||
1998 | High Adventures In Japan | David Nelson Band (note 4) | |||
1998 | Release 1 | The Schwag | |||
1999 | Swingin' To The Grateful Dead | Steve Marsh et al | |||
2001 | The Electric Roses Tour | Elegy | |||
2001 | Live At Twenty North | Jake's Leg | |||
2005 | Jerry Jams, Jerry Cares | Only Footprints | |||
2005 | Deadgrass | Deadgrass | |||
2006 | I Don't Miss Trains | The Orchard Boys | |||
2007 | Live in the Northeast | Hot Buttered Rum (note 7) | |||
2007 | At Fine Arts Center, UMass | The American Beauty Project | |||
21 Mar 2009 | Jerry Jams for Rex | Hot Buttered Rum | |||
2010 | At Page Auditorium, Duke University | The American Beauty Project | |||
2011 | The Wheel: A Musical Celebration of Jerry Garcia | Jesse McReynolds, David Nelson et al | |||
2013 | Move Me Brightly | Bob Weir et al (DVD) | |||
2015 | July 2 2015 Chicago IL | The Infamous Stringdusters and Keller Williams(note 7) | |||
2015 | Songs Of Their Own | Keller Williams | |||
2015 | Grateful Jazz | Jazz Is Dead | |||
2016 | Deal | Wake The Dead | |||
2016 | Day Of The Dead | Charles Bradley and Menahan Street Band | |||
2018 | Dead Songs Vol 2 | Barton Hills Choir | |||
2018 | The Travellin' McCourys | The Travellin' McCourys | |||
2019 | Dead Air | Gold Connections | |||
2021 | The Relix Sessions | Keller Williams |