Hangin' On

Lyrics: Peter Monk
Music: C J Stetson

Recorded Mickey Hart's first solo album, Rolling Thunder, with David Freiberg on vocals. I had assumed that "C.J.Stetson" was a pseudonym for some of the performers, but see this.

Lay down last night
With a tear in my eye
Woke up this morning
Tear was still there

Hangin' on by my habits
Nowhere's the next stop from here
Never get off, the wheel keeps a-turning
Nobody goes anywhere

Last face that I saw
Just before passing out
Was the blind gal who taught me
To stare

Hangin' on by my habits
Ain't enough to survive
Never get out, he's born to keep on moving
Nobody inside's alive

Lucks runs a line like a razor
Hanging's the last dance in jail
Holding on to the wheel by my teeth
Like a rattlesnake biting his tail

No sun this morning
Just one thing to do
[??]

Hangin' on by my habits
Nowhere is next down the line
Too late to get off, the clock keeps on ticking
Nobody leaves here alive

"C.J. Stetson is not a pseudonym that the performers used, but is a real person. His real name is "Texas" Jim Stalarow. He was a regular in the San Francisco music scene in the late 60s/early 70s, and prior to that briefly managed The Thirteenth Floor Elevators. I know this because his sister was, until quite recently, my landlady. One day we got to talking about Roky Erikson and The Thirteenth Floor Elevators when she brought up her brother Jim and asked if I had ever heard the Mickey Hart album "Rolling Thunder". She let me borrow an old dog-eared copy she had on vinyl, saying that "he was going by the name C.J. Stetson at the time". Then she showed me the photo montage on the album cover and pointed him out, and I knew she wasn't lying. They look very much alike. His headshot is in the lower right hand corner of the montage--- the person with the fu-manchu beard to the immediate right of the guy in the striped shirt. She said he had passed away, but she didn't tell me when."