Golden Stairs

Lyrics: Robert Hunter
Music: Vince Welnick

A Robert Hunter lyric from "Box Of Rain" that Vince Welnick set to music. See below for variations on the lyrics.

Bet five hundred dollars
Any course you steer
Someone got to argue
Can't get there from here
Easy with that road map
You're flapping in my face
You're a rock-and-roll singer
Not a minister of grace

Chorus
Go down shining
Go down shine
Go down shining
Shine, shine, shine

Before you sign another loan
To free yourself from debt
Take a careful look around
To see who holds the bets
There will be no winners
May not even be a race
Just a lot of starving runners
Staring hunger in the face

[chorus]

Rock around the clock again
You got the time to dare
There's never any hurry
When you take it stair by stair
There are no paid vacations
To alleviate the cares
Of the hungry and the homeless
Climbing up the golden stairs

[chorus]

Blind and lonesome hobo
Flag the mystery train
Something that the cat dug up
Dragged in out of the rain
You got all the makings of
A case beyond repair
But you don't need a licence
To climb the golden stair

[chorus]

Recordings
	Date	Album	Recorded By
	1998	Missing Man Formation	Vince Welnick
	2004	Texistentialism	Jerry Lightfoot And His Band Of Wonder (with Vince Welnick)
	2011	Peace Meal	Carolyn Wonderland

Robert Hunter seems to have written several variations on this. A copy of printed lyrics were included in a "1988-1993 rehearsal folder used by Jerry Garcia while on tour" which was put up for auction in 2026. This was titled "Another Golden Stairs" but seems t be a re-write - it has one verse and the odd line in common. It is marked 'r2', presumably as revision 2.

Guess that could be Liza
Climbing golden stairs
Sable coat and roller skates
Ribbons in her hair
Bet five hundred dollars
It rains before it snows
Anyway the word is out
That's just the way it goes

Chorus
Climbing Golden Stairs
Climbing Golden Stairs
Ten or twenty at a time
Climbing Golden Stairs
Climbing, climbing
Climbing Golden Stairs
Keep it up, you're doing fine
Climbing Golden Stairs

You ain't got no mercy
Beat me round the head
Even make me listen
To the words I said
I got no solution
But to clean up my affairs
Try to keep an eye upon
Those famous Golden Stairs

Give me one good holler
Warn me if I fall
Try to watch for everything
I can't catch it all
Rock around the wristwatch
Time got many hands
They don't tell the time too god
Depends on where you stand

We're all lonesome hobos (note 1)
Waiting for the mystery train
Something that the cat dug up
And dragged out of the rain
We all got the makings of
A case beyond repair
But you don't need no licence
To climb those golden stairs

If we ever fall unto
A parting of the ways
Tell them I was cool at times
And I will sing your praise
Nothing down on paper
Ever was or could be true
The only thing it means at all
Is what it means to you

Notes
(1) this verse is a slight variation on the Box Of Rain version.

Also in the same auction is a "c. 1980s rehearsal folder used by Bob Weir while on tour". This has another variant, marked 'r3'. It is headed "(Esther's Peacock) #5"

Bet five hundred dollars
It rains before it snows
Anyway the word is out
Hold her steady as she blows
Hole up for repair
Swing back into action
And climb those golden stairs

Climbing golden stairs
Climbing golden stairs
Go down climbing
Climbing golden stairs
Go down shining
Climbing golden stairs
Go down shining
Climbing golden stairs

Bet five hundred dollars
Any course you steer
Find someone to tell you
You can't get there from here
Don't camp on your roadmap
And tend to your affairs
Fail and fall and stumble
Right up them golden stairs

Bet five hundred dollars
Once you pay your debt
Ain't much to remember
And far less to forget
Rock around the wristwatch
Wind it if you dare
Sometimes got to worry
Climbing up those golden stairs

[probably another verse obscured in the image I have]

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