The Eleven

Lyrics: Robert Hunter
Music: Phil Lesh

These are the words as set out in Robert Hunter's "Box Of Rain":

No more time to tell how
This is the season of what
Now is the time of returning
With our thought jewels polished and gleaming

Now is the time past believing
The child has relinquished the reign
Now is the test of the boomerang
Tossed in the night of redeeming

Eight-sided whispering hallelujah hatrack
Seven-faced marble eye transitory dream doll
Six proud walkers on jingle-bell rainbow
Five men writing in fingers of gold
Four men tracking the great white sperm whale
Three girls wait in a foreign dominion
Ride in the whalebelly
Fade away in moonlight
Sink beneath the waters
To the coral sands below
Now is the time of returning

In practice, the Grateful Dead missed out some of the lines and sang the two halves interspersed. My best effort at how they sang it is:

Weir & Lesh
No more time to tell how
This is the season of what
Garcia
Eight-sided whispering hallelujah hatrack
Weir & Lesh
Time of returning
Thought jewels polished and gleaming
Garcia
Six proud walkers on the jingle-bell rainbow (note a)
Weir & Lesh
Time past believing
The child has relinquished the reign
Garcia
Five men writing with fingers of gold (note a)
Weir & Lesh
Now is the test of the boomerang
Garcia
Three girls waiting in a foreign dominion
{Weir & Lesh
{Tossed in the night of redeeming
{Garcia
{Riding in the whalebelly, fade away in moonlight
Garcia
Sink beneath the waters to the coral sands below

Notes
(a) in outtakes from "Aoxomoxoa", Garcia sings the lines "Five men writing ..." and "Four men tracking ..." but not "Six proud walkers ..."

The liner notes to "Live/Dead" reproduce the lyrics in the order set out by Robert Hunter, but with some minor variations that reflect the way Garcia sang some of the lines:

Seven-faced marble eyed transitory dream doll
Six proud walkers on the jingle-bell rainbow
Five men writing with fingers of gold
Four men tracking down the great white sperm whale
Three girls waiting in a foreign dominion
Riding in the whalebelly

With "The Other Ones" Bob Weir sang the lyrics in the order Hunter set them out (using the version in the "Live/Dead" liner notes). Phil Lesh & Friends sing the lyrics with the two parts overlapping in the way the Grateful Dead did the song. With Dead & Company, Weir sings essentially the same version as with The Other Ones and Dead & Company:

No more time to tell how
This is the season of what now
Now is the time of returning
With our thought jewels polished and gleaming

Now is the time past believing
The child has relinquished the reign
Now is the test of the boomerang
Tossed in the night of redeeming

Eight-sided whispering hallelujah hatrack
Seven-faced marble-eyed transitory dream doll
Six proud walkers on the jingle-bell rainbow
Five men writing with fingers of gold
Four men tracking down the great white sperm whale
Three girls waiting in a foreign dominion
Riding in the whalebelly
Fade away in moonlight
Sink beneath the waters
To the coral sands below
Coral sand below
Coral sand below

No more time to tell how
This is the season of what now
This is the season of what now
This is the season of what now
What now
What now
What now

Grateful Dead and Related Recordings
	Date	Album
	23 Jan 1968	Road Trips Volume 2, Number 2 (bonus disc)
	14 Feb 1968	Road Trips Volume 2, Number 2
	23 Feb 1968	Dick's Picks Vol 22
	24 Feb 1968	Dick's Picks Vol 22
	16 Mar 1968	So Many Roads (1965-1995)
	17 Mar 1968	Download Series Vol 6
	13 Aug 1968	Aoxomoxoa (note 1) (note 2)
	21 Aug 1968	Grateful Dead Origins
	24 Aug 1968	Two From The Vault
	13 Oct 1968	30 Days Of The Dead (2018)
	20 Oct 1968	30 Trips Around The Sun
	7 Dec 1968	30 Days Of The Dead (2023)
	23 Jan 1969	Download Series Vol 12
	26 Jan 1969	Live Dead
	11 Feb 1969	Fillmore East 2-11-69 (note 2)
	22 Feb 1969	30 Trips Around The Sun
	27 Feb 1969	Fillmore West 1969 -The Complete Recordings
	28 Feb 1969	Fillmore West 1969 - The Complete Recordings
	1 Mar 1969	Fillmore West 1969 - The Complete Recordings
	2 Mar 1969	Fillmore West 1969 - The Complete Recordings
	26 Apr 1969	Dick's Picks Vol 26
	27 Apr 1969	Dick's Picks Vol 26
	23 May 1969	Road Trips Volume 4, Number 1
	24 May 1969	Road Trips Volume 4, Number 1
	30 Aug 1969	30 Days Of The Dead (2024)
	2 Nov 1969	Dave's Picks Volume 43
	8 Nov 1969	Dick's Picks Vol 16
	11 Dec 1969	Dave's Picks Volume 10 (bonus disc)
	20 Dec 1969	Dave's Picks Volume 6
	2 Jan 1970	Dave's Picks Volume 30
	28 Sep 1975	30 Trips Around The Sun (note 2)
	17 Jul 1998	The Strange Remain (The Other Ones)

Phil Lesh and Friends Recordings
	30 Mar 2002	There And Back Again (note 3)
	19 May 2006	Live At The Warfield

Other Recordings
	Date	Album	Recorded By
	1989	Juggling Suns	Solar Circus
	2001	Great Sky River	Jazz Is Dead
	2015	Twangin' The Dead	Matt Rae
	2018	Don't Let Me Down	California Kind (note 5)
	2019	Phantom Ships With Phantom Sails	Live Dead '69
	2020	Seeking All That's Still Unsung	Holly Bowling
	2021	Grateful Deadication	David McMurray

Notes
(1) bonus track on remastered album, first released as part of the box set The Golden Road (1965-1973)
(2) jam only - no lyrics
(3) included on a bonus disk with early copies of "There And Back Again"
(4) a recording from Mickey and the Heartbeats playing at the Matrix on 30 Oct 1968 (jam only: no lyrics) has also been issued on CD, though not officially by the Dead
(5) jam included as part of the single "Don't Let Me Down"

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 David Dodd's discussion of this song on dead.net see Greatest Stories Ever Told
For online chords and TAB see www.rukind.com