It Must Have Been The Roses

Lyrics: Robert Hunter
Music: Robert Hunter

One of only two songs where the Dead played Robert Hunter's music as well as his lyrics.

Annie laid her head down in the roses (note a)
She had ribbons, ribbons, ribbons in her long brown hair
I don't know, maybe it was the roses
All I know, I could not leave her there

Chorus (note b)
I don't know, it must have been the roses
The roses or the ribbons in her long brown hair
I don't know, maybe it was the roses
All I know, I could not leave her there

Ten years the waves rolled the ships home from the sea
Thinking well how it may blow in all good company
If I tell another what your own lips told to me
Let me lay 'neath the roses and my eyes no longer see

[chorus]

One pane of glass in the window
No one is complaining, though, come in and shut the door
Faded is the crimson from the ribbons that she wore (note c)
And it's strange how no one comes round any more

[chorus]

Notes
(a) In his solo versions, Robert Hunter repeats this verse at the end. He also sometimes sings the line as "It might have been the roses". In at least one occasion (in 1977, with Comfort), he varied the second line as "She had lilies of the valley in her long brown hair."
(b) In his solo versions, Robert Hunter adds "Rose, rose, rose. Rose, rose, rose" to the end of the chorus.
(c) In the first public performance on 22 February 1974, Jerry sang "Faded is the color of the ribbons that she wore". (thanks to David Gans for pointing this out)

Grateful Dead Recordings
	Date	Album
	22 Feb 1974	Dave's Picks Volume 42 (bonus disc)
	24 Feb 1974	Dave's Picks Volume 13
	12 May 1974	From The Mars Hotel (50th anniversary bonus disc)
	14 May 1974	Dave's Picks Volume 9
	17 May 1974	Pacific Northwest '73-'74
	19 May 1974	Pacific Northwest '73-'74
	21 May 1974	Pacific Northwest '73-'74
	19 Jul 1974	Dave's Picks Volume 17
	31 Jul 1974	Dave's Picks Volume 2
	5 Aug 1974	Dick's Picks Vol 31
	20 Oct 1974	Steal Your Face
	13 Aug 1975	One From The Vault
	28 Sep 1975	30 Trips Around The Sun
	9 Jun 1976	Road Trips Volume 4, Number 5
	11 Jun 1976	June 1976 Box Set
	15 Jun 1976	June 1976 Box Set
	3 Oct 1976	30 Trips Around The Sun
	4 May 1977	Dave's Picks Volume 50
	18 May 1977	30 Days Of The Dead (2014)
	1 Oct 1977	Dave's Picks Volume 45
	29 Oct 1977	Dave's Picks Vol 33
	4 Nov 1977	Dave's Picks Volume 12
	5 Nov 1977	Dick's Picks Vol 34
	6 Apr 1978	Friend Of The Devils: April 1978
	8 Apr 1978	Friend Of The Devils: April 1978
	12 Apr 1978	Friend Of The Devils: April 1978
	22 Apr 1978	Dave's Picks Vol 15
	24 Apr 1978	Dave's Picks Volume 7
	14 May 1978	30 Trips Around The Sun
	8 Jul 1978	July 1978: The Complete Recordings
	10 Oct 1980	The Warfield, San Francisco, CA 10/9/80 & 10/10/80
	23 Oct 1980	Reckoning (note 1)
	26 Oct 1980	Reckoning
	30 Nov 1980	Dave's Picks Volume 8
	10 Mar 1981	In And Out Of The Garden
	7 Aug 1982	Dick's Picks Vol 32
	26 Apr 1983	Dave's Picks Volume 39
	12 Oct 1983	In And Out Of The Garden
	20 Apr 1984	Dave's Picks Volume 35
	14 Jun 1984	30 Days Of The Dead (2018)
	12 Oct 1984	30 Trips Around The Sun
	22 Mar 1990	Spring 1990
	25 Sep 1991	Dick's Picks 17

Dead-related recordings
	Date	Album	Recorded By
	1974	Tales Of The Great Rum Runners (TGRR)	Robert Hunter (note 2)
	1974	TGRR 50th Anniversary bonus disc	Robert Hunter
	studio 1976	Reflections	Jerry Garcia (note 3)
	1985	Live '85	Robert Hunter

(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.)

Covers By Other Artists
	Date	Album	Recorded By
	16 Apr 1987	Stolen Roses	Elvis Costello
	2000	Dead Grass	Vassar Clements
	2000	Might As Well	The Persuasions (note 4)
	2001	Blues Tribute To The Grateful Dead	Various (Charles Butler)
	2003	The Tussler (re-issue)	Motorpsycho
	2005	Jerry Jams, Jerry Cares	Catherine Moon and Josh Rubin
	2008	Fennario: Songs by Jerry Garcia and Robert Hunter	Emory Joseph
	2009	Acoustic Sessions Vol 1	Real Eyes
	2015	Songs Of Their Own	Alex Bleeker & The Freaks
	2018	Cut The Dead Some Slack	Stephen Inglis

Notes
(1) additional version issued as a bonus track in the box set Beyond Description (1973-1990)
(2) also on the Robert Hunter compilation Promontory Rider
(3) although it is included on a Jerry Garcia Band CD, this recording was made by all the members of the Grateful Dead.
(4) re-released in 2011 on "Persuasions of the Dead"

Background
Robert Hunter introduced this song in a 1979 solo performance:

"This is a song I wrote for a friend of mine, Butch Waller of High Country - a great bluegrass band [on the] West Coast. They never got around to doing it, [so] I finally recorded it myself [on my] first record."

In a 2004 interview with Blair Jackson, Robert Hunter said:

"I think I had a bit of [William] Faulkner's story "A Rose for Miss Emily" [sic - the correct title is "A Rose for Emily"] in mind when I wrote it, which is a rather morbid story. There's more than that, but there's a touch of the deep emotionality of "A Rose for Miss Emily" in it".

Nicholas Meriwether contributed an essay, "Robert Hunter, William Faulkner and 'It Must Have Been the Roses', to the book he edited 'All Graceful Instruments: The Context Of The Grateful Dead Phenomenon'. This discusses at length the links between the song and "A Rose For Emily"

In live performances (for example on "Live 85") Robert Hunter sometimes included the Robbie Burns poem "Red, Red Rose":

My love is like a red, red rose
That's laid in summer bloom
My love is like a melody
That's sweetly play'd in tune
As fair art thou, my bonnie lass
So deep in love am I
And I will love thee still
Till all the seas gang dry

Till all the seas gang dry, my love
And the rocks melt wi' the sun
And I will love thee still, my dear
While the sands o' life shall run
And fare thee well, my own true luve,
And fare thee well a while
And I will come again my love
Tho' it were ten thousand mile

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)