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)Notes
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]
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 |
"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"
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