Help On The Way

Lyrics: Robert Hunter
Music: Jerry Garcia

Paradise waits
On the crest of a wave her angels in flame
She has no pain
Like a child she is pure, she is not to blame
Poised for flight, wings spread bright
Spring from night into the sun
Don't stop to run
She can fly like a lie, she can't be outdone

Tell me the cost
I can pay, let me go, tell me love is not lost
Sell everything
Without love day to day, insanity's king
I will pay, day by day
Anyway, lock, bolt and key
Crippled but free (note 1)
I was blind all the time I was learning to see

Help on the way
Well I know only this, I've got you today
Don't fly away
'Cause I love what I love and I want it that way
I will stay, one more day
Like I say, honey, it's you
Making it too
Without love in the dream it'll never come true

Notes
(1) Hunter's handwritten lyrics have this line as "dropped in the sea"

See below for an early version of the lyrics.

Grateful Dead Recordings
	Date	Album
	studio 1975	Blues For Allah (note 4)
	13 Aug 1975	One From The Vault
	28 Sep 1975	30 Trips Around The Sun
	10 Jun 1976	June 1976 Box Set
	14 Jun 1976	June 1976 Box Set
	17 Jun 1976	Dave's Picks Volume 28 (note 3)
	19 Jun 1976	June 1976 Box Set
	24 Sep 1976	Dave's Picks Vol 4
	9 Oct 1976	Dick's Picks Vol 33
	31 Dec 1976	Live At The Cow Palace
	26 Feb 1977	Dave's Picks Volume 29
	9 May 1977	May 1977: Get Shown The Light Box
	22 May 1977	Dick's Picks Vol 3
	9 Jun 1977	Winterland June 1977 - The Complete Recordings
	11 Oct 1977	Road Trips Volume 1, Number 2
	26 Apr 1983	Dave's Picks Volume 39
	2 Sep 1983	Dave's Picks Volume 27
	11 Sep 1983	Dave's Picks Vol 52
	12 Oct 1983	In And Out Of The Garden
	1 Apr 1984	30 Days Of The Dead (2014)
	17 Apr 1984	30 Days Of The Dead (2018)
	21 Apr 1984	30 Days Of The Dead (2021)
	8 Oct 1989	Warlocks Box
	22 Oct 1989	30 Days Of The Dead (2017)
	24 Mar 1990	Spring 1990
	30 Mar 1990	Without A Net (note 1)
	18 Jul 1990	Dave's Picks Volume 40
	24 Mar 1991	30 Days Of The Dead (2016)
	5 May 1991	30 Days Of The Dead (2010)
	14 Jun 1991	View From The Vault II (video/DVD & CD soundtrack)
	10 Sep 1991	30 Trips Around The Sun
	25 Sep 1991	Dick's Picks Vol 17
	1 Oct 1994	30 Trips Around The Sun (note 5)
	3 Jul 2015	Fare Thee Well (CD and DVD)

Phil Lesh and Friends Recordings
	19 May 2006	Live At The Warfield

(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
	1996	Blues For Allah	Joe Gallant and Illuminati
	1997	Jake's Leg	Jake's Leg
	1998	Blue Light Rain	Jazz Is Dead
	2001	Live At The Green Mill	Sabertooth
	2007	29 Jun 2007 Groveland, CA	New Monsoon
	2012	27 Apr 2012 UMBowl II, Park West, Chicago, IL	Umphrey's McGee (note 2)
	2012	D'Eadphibians	D'Amphibiand
	2012	Live At The 2012 Peach Music Festival	Dark Star Orchestra
	2015	Twangin' The Dead	Matt Rae
	2015	17 Apr 2015 Morrison, CO	Disco Biscuits (note 2)
	14 May 2015	Dear Jerry: Celebrating The Music Of Jerry Garcia	Billy & The Kids
	2015	Songs Of Their Own	The New Mastersounds
	2016	Day Of The Dead	Bella Fleck
	2016	Better Left Unsung	Holly Bowling
	2018	Garcia Songbook	Joe Craven & The Sometimers
	31 Dec 2018	Rising Up To Paradise	Big Swell

Notes
(1) also on the box set Spring 1990
(2) The list above includes only one illustrative example of the series of live recordings by these bands. For a full list see the Grateful Dead Family Discography.
(3) also included in 30 Days Of The Dead (2012)
(4) also released on the Grateful Dead 7" singles volume 11 and 12.
(5) also included in 30 Days Of The Dead (2022)

Thanks to Jesse Jarnow for posting an early typed version of the lyrics. Only a few words or phrases (in italics) made it through to the final version. I have left the layout with the asterisks, brackets and indentations as in the typescript, .

Help on the way: well I know * yeah I know it's foretold thing
Help on the way: well a bird * who can fly's * worth many that just sing

Due today (on a long shot)
Did you say (make a quick stop)
Love, love, love * may be today

What can I say? without love * day to day * insanity's king

Solomon says * make it sweet * get right back to your feet
It's all a guess: right or wrong * you belong * in your own driver's seat

You can steer (ain't much to it)
Change the gear (double clutch it)
Drive, drive, drive * due retreat

What else is true? but your love * and the blues * that you learned on the street

Honey it's you: if you stop * let it drop * none of us can come true
Broken in two * let it slide * let it slip * till there's nothing to do

Back in tune (in amomng her)
Just for you (any wonder?) You make rain * I'll make thunder

Ease off the pain: down the drain * it's so plain * why that other dream blew

What have you heard? get the word * get the word * right back down on the [street?]
Who was that bird? it was clear * I could hear * just who did sing retreat

Just roll on (like a river)
Right or wrong (still deliver)
So so sweet * you'll recover

Changin' the beat * got to rise * what you got * or never be complete

Chase of the year: if your soul * is intact * you've got nothing to fear
Justice in tears: someone shall * has to fall * get caught in the [?]

Run through blind (like a lover)
Stop in time (you'll recover)
Use your ears * what do you hear?
Dark night of mirrors: everything * the reverse * of what it may appear

No one's correct: intellect * in a wreck * and it just blocks the trail
Liberty frail: for the crime * of a mind * can still wind up in jail

Talk, talk, talk (I can't listen)
Walk, walk, walk (Every ill wind)
Blows today * (but) help's on the way

Get out and wail: if your blues * seem to fail * baby who wrote the [tale?]

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
For sheet music, see:
          Grateful Dead Songbook Volume 2 (piano arrangement)
          Without A Net Songbook (piano arrangement)
          Garcia/Hunter Songbook (vocal line and chords/TAB)