He's Gone

Lyrics: Robert Hunter
Music: Jerry Garcia

Rat in a drain ditch, caught on a limb
You know better, but I know him

Like I told you, what I said
Steal your face right off your head

Chorus
And now he's gone
Now he's gone, Lord he's gone
He's gone
Like a steam locomotive rolling down the track
He's gone, gone, and nothing's gonna bring him back
He's gone

Nine mile skid on a ten mile ride (note 1)
Hot as a pistol but cool inside

Cat on a tin roof, dogs in a pile (note 1)
Nothing left to do but smile, smile, smile

[chorus]

Going where the wind don't blow so strange
Maybe off on some high cold mountain range (note 2)
Lost one round but the price wasn't anything (note 3)
A knife in the back and more of the same

Same old
Rat in a drain ditch, caught on a limb
You know better, but I know him

Like I told you, like I said
Steal your face right off your head

[chorus]

Ooh, nothing's gonna bring him back
Ooh, nothing's gonna bring him back
Ooh, nothing's gonna bring him back
[etc]
Notes
(1) Jerry Garcia sometimes sings these two verses in the reverse order during the Europe '72 tour.

(2) the Hunter lyrics are "... mountain range" but it certainly sounds as if the Dead sing "... mountain chain." For what it's worth, it's "chain" in the sheet music in the Grateful Dead Anthology Vol 1.

(3) On at least one early performance, in Hamburg in April 1972, Jerry sang "Lost two rounds ..."

(4) Hunter's manuscript includes some verses that never made it into the final version:
So long baby, rip it up today
Write me a letter when you mend your ways

Hanging on a meat hook, coolin' my heels
Sign no papers and make no deals

Take me to the kickshop, hang me up for poor
Just try to see you don't shame me no more
(5) Another version of the handwritten lyrics, put up for aucion in 2015 by Dennis McNally, had further differences and additional verses/fragments (some crossed out). As best I can decipher:
North wind rain, I can't complain
Here come Tony with a hat and cane

Black cloud rain

Hot as a cracker but cool inside

Hanging on a meat hook, checking your file

You may know his sister but I know him

[Chokin'] on a hymn, shot out on a limb

So long Delia, I'm going away
Maybe come back to you some day

Write you a letter when I paid my way

... a long ol' way
[?] to do but that's OK
Robert Hunter was asked about the origins of the song in an interview in Relix Volume #5 Issue #2:
Relix: Who was the inspiration for "He's Gone"?

Hunter: Lenny.

Relix: Lenny of Hart? Great. [laughter]

Hunter: I warned them about him from the beginning. That song just contained more warning: "Rat in a drain ditch out on a limb/You know better but I know him". People thought it was about Pigpen after Pig died, but they didn't think. It was predated and stuff.
This was discussed by the band during the 28 August rehearsals with Vince Welnick:
Weir: This was about Lenny.
Welnick: Lenny Bruce?
Weir: Lenny Hart, a manager that we had. That's what Hunter says.
Garcia: Yeah, that that's the discrepancy. He keeps saying it's about Lenny, but we wrote this way after Lenny was gone... for a while, he was saying it's about Nixon. But we wrote it way before Nixon was gone. I don't think we can trust Hunter on this. What the fuck does he know? He just writes 'em.
Kidd: [laughs]
Weir: Well, you made Candelario laugh.
Garcia: Is that a bad sign or a good sign?
Grateful Dead Recordings
     Date Album
     17 Apr 1972 Europe '72 - The Complete Recordings
     24 Apr 1972 Rockin' The Rhein (note b)
     26 Apr 1972 Europe '72 - The Complete Recordings
     29 Apr 1972 Europe '72 - The Complete Recordings
      3 May 1972 Europe '72 - The Complete Recordings
      4 May 1972 Europe '72 - The Complete Recordings
      7 May 1972 Europe '72 - The Complete Recordings
     10 May 1972 Europe '72 (note b)
     13 May 1972 Europe '72 - The Complete Recordings
     23 May 1972 Europe '72 - The Complete Recordings
     26 May 1972 Europe '72 - The Complete Recordings
     21 Jul 1972 Download Series Vol 10
     25 Aug 1972 Dave's Picks Volume 24
     27 Aug 1972 Sunshine Daydream (CD only) (note d)
      3 Sep 1972 Dick's Picks Vol 36
     9 Sep 1972 Dave's Picks Volume 46
     17 Sep 1972 Dick's Picks Vol 23
     21 Sep 1972 Dick's Picks Vol 36
     27 Sep 1972 Dick's Picks Vol 11
      2 Oct 1972 30 Days Of The Dead (2018)
     19 Oct 1972 Listen To The River: St Louis '71 '72 73
     24 Oct 1972 30 Days Of The Dead (2022)
     17 Nov 1972 Dave's Picks Volume 11
     18 Nov 1972 Houston, Texas 11-18-1972
     19 Feb 1973 30 Days Of The Dead (2019)
     28 Feb 1973 Dick's Picks Vol 28
     24 Mar 1973 Dave's Picks Volume 32
     13 May 1973 Here Comes Sunshine
     26 May 1973 Here Comes Sunshine
      9 Jun 1973 Here Comes Sunshine
     10 Jun 1973 Here Comes Sunshine
     22 Jun 1973 Pacific Northwest '73-'74
     26 Jun 1973 Pacific Northwest '73-'74
      8 Sep 1973 Dave's Picks Volume 38
      2 Dec 1973 Dick's Picks Vol 14
     19 Dec 1973 Dick's Picks Vol 1
     23 Feb 1974 Dave's Picks Volume 42
     19 Jul 1974 Dave's Picks Volume 17
     29 Jul 1974 Dave's Picks Volume 2 (Bonus disc)
      5 Aug 1974 Dick's Picks Vol 31
     18 Sep 1974 30 Trips Around The Sun
     17 Oct 1974 Grateful Dead Movie (CD only)
     19 Oct 1974 Grateful Dead Movie (CD only)
     21 May 1977 Dick's Picks Vol 29
     25 May 1977 Dave's Picks Volume 1
      7 Jun 1977 Winterland June 1977 - The Complete Recordings
      3 Sep 1977 Dick's Picks Vol 15
      5 Nov 1977 Dick's Picks Vol 34
      6 Apr 1978 Friend Of The Devils: April 1978
     19 Apr 1978 30 Days Of The Dead (2011)
     21 Oct 1978 Road Trips Volume 1, Number 4 ("From Egypt With Love") (bonus disc)
     5 May 1979 30 Days Of The Dead (2023)
     27 Oct 1979 30 Trips Around The Sun
      9 Nov 1979 Road Trips Volume 1, Number 1
      5 Dec 1979 30 Days Of The Dead (2021)
     26 Dec 1979 Dick's Picks Vol 5
      6 May 1980 Road Trips Volume 3, Number 4
      3 Sep 1980 Download Series Vol 7
     30 Oct 1980 Dead Ahead (DVD)
     26 Feb 1981 30 Days Of The Dead (2015)
      6 May 1981 Dick's Picks Vol 13
      9 Dec 1981 Dave's Picks Volume 20
     21 Sep 1982 In And Out Of The Garden
     15 Apr 1983 Dave's Picks Volume 39
     24 Jun 1985 30 Trips Around The Sun
     26 Mar 1987 Dave's Picks Volume 36
     16 Sep 1987 30 Days Of The Dead (2020)
     30 Jun 1988 30 Days Of The Dead (2019)
     13 Jul 1989 RFK Stadium 1989 Box
     18 Mar 1990 Spring 1990 (The Other One)
     16 Sep 1990 Dick's Picks Vol 9
      1 Nov 1985 Dick's Picks Vol 21
     26 Mar 1987 30 Days Of The Dead (2010)
     16 Sep 1987 30 Days Of The Dead (2020)
     21 Mar 1990 Spring 1990 (The Other One)
      2 Apr 1990 Spring 1990
      6 Jul 1990 View From The Vault (DVD & CD soundtrack)
     24 Mar 1991 30 Days Of The Dead (2022)
     20 Jun 1991 Download Series Vol 11
     29 Mar 1993 30 Days Of The Dead (2021)
 
(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
     1998 Release 1 The Schwag
     2000 Crazy Fingers The Grass Is Dead
     2000 Might As Well The Persuasions (note c)
     2003 Undone Randy Midwood
     2007 Blue Light Cheap Hotel Wake The Dead
     2008 American Stranger Jeff Sherman
     2013 Keys Keller Willams
     2013 Move Me Brightly Bob Weir et al (DVD)
     2013 Follow The Sound The Unseen Strangers
     25 May 2013 Cumberland, MO The Infamous Stringdusters (note e)
      2 Jul 2015 Chicago, IL The Infamous Stringdusters & Kller Williams(note e)
     2016 Zen-rhymed songs of Grateful Dead vol. 1 Warlocks of Tokyo
     2018 Grateful Dub Roots of Creation
     2018 Dead Songs Vol 2 Barton Hills Choir
Notes
(a) the track listing on the cover of the Grateful Dead Movie includes "He's Gone," but that seems to be a mistake - it's not on the video.
(b) also on the box set Europe '72 - The Complete Recordings
(c) re-released in 2011 on "Persuasions of the Dead"
(d) also on the Long Strange Trip Soundtrack
(e) The list above includes only one illustrative example of the series of live recordings by these artists. For a full list see the Grateful Dead Family Discography.


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 online chords and TAB see www.rukind.com
For sheet music, see:
          Grateful Dead Anthology Volume 1 (piano arrangement)
          Garcia/Hunter Songbook (vocal line and chords/TAB)

 


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