Lyrics: Robert Hunter
Music: Jerry Garcia
Recorded on Workingman's Dead. The only dated tracking sheet from the Workingman's Dead
sessions that survives shows the Grateful Dead working on this song, then labelled “New Speedway Blues” at Pacific High Recording on
March 3rd, 1970.
Please don't dominate the rap, JackNotes
If you got nothing new to say
If you please, don't back up the track
This train's got to run today
I spent a little time in the mountain
Spent a little time on the hill
I heard some say "better run away"
Others say "better stand still"
Now I don't know but I've been told
It's hard to run with the weight of gold
Other hand I heard it said
It's just as hard with the weight of lead
Who can deny? Who can deny?
It's not just a change in style
One step done and another begun
In I wonder how many miles?
I spent a little time on the mountain
Spent a little time on the hill
Things went down we don't understand
But I think in time we will
Now I don't know but I was told
In the heat of the sun a man died of cold
Do we keep on coming or stand and wait
With the sun so dark and the hour so late?
You can't overlook the lack Jack
Of any other highway to ride
It's got no signs or dividing lines
And very few rules to guide
I spent a little time on the mountain
Spent a little time on the hill
I saw things getting out of hand
I guess they always will
Now, I don't know but I've been told
If the horse don't pull, you got to carry the load
I don't know whose back's that strong
Maybe find out before too long
One way or another (note a)
One way or another
One way or another
This darkness got to give
[etc]
Grateful Dead Recordings | |||||
Date | Album | ||||
20 Dec 1969 | Dave's Picks Volume 6 (note 1) | ||||
21 Dec 1969 | Dave's Picks Volume 6 (Bonus disc) | ||||
26 Dec 1969 | Dave's Picks Volume 43 | ||||
18 Apr 1970 | Family Dog at the Great Highway | ||||
1 May 1970 | Fallout From The Phil Zone | ||||
studio 1970 | Workingman's Dead (note 2) | ||||
studio 1970 | Workingman's Dead (alternate studio version) (note 3) | ||||
14 May 1970 | Road Trips Vol 3 No 3 | ||||
15 May 1970 | Road Trips Vol 3 No 3 (early show) | ||||
7 Jun 1970 | 30 Days Of The Dead (2016) | ||||
Jul 1970 | Festival Express (DVD) | ||||
20 Sep 1970 | 30 Days Of The Dead (2010) | ||||
17 Mar 1991 | 30 Days Of The Dead (2017) | ||||
17 Jun 1991 | Giants Stadium 1987, 1989, 1991 Boxed Set (CD and DVD) | ||||
12 Jun 1992 | 30 Days Of The Dead (2022) | ||||
Phil Lesh and Friends Recordings | |||||
19 May 2006 | Live At The Warfield | ||||
Bob Weir Recordings | |||||
Jun 2021 | Live In Colorado | Bob Weir & Wolf Bros | |||
(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 | |||
1989 | Doorway To The Angels | Juggling Suns | |||
1996 | DeadBeats Acoustic | DeadBeats | |||
1998 | Backbone | Backbone (Bill Kreutzmann) | |||
2000 | California Stories | The Cyrus Clarke Band | |||
2000 | Dare To Dream | Toni Brown | |||
1 Dec 2001 | Dice With The Universe | Trichromes (Bill Kreutzman) | |||
2004 | Altamont Diary | Black Cab | |||
19 Jun 2004 | Live: Morrison, CO | Robert Hunter (note 4) | |||
2005 | Jerry Jams, Jerry Cares | Toni Brown Band | |||
2006 | Cat | Catherine Russell | |||
24 Oct 2006 | Fall Tour 2006 | Rhythm Devils | |||
2007 | At Fine Arts Center, UMass | The American Beauty Project | |||
2007 | Rhythm Of Hells: Songs Of Angels History | Jimmy Cornett | |||
2007 | Rhythm And Bows | Randy Sabine | |||
2 Aug 2007 | Live Butter: Ashland, OR | Hot Buttered Rum (note 4) | |||
8 Sep 2007 | Live: George's Majestic Lounge, Fayetteville, AR | Steve Kimock & Friends | |||
2008 | Fennario: Songs by Jerry Garcia and Robert Hunter | Emory Joseph | |||
2008 | Live in Chicago | Family Groove Company | |||
2008 | Patience Pays | Rachel Sedacca | |||
2008 | Live In Chicago | Family Groove Company | |||
23 Feb 2008 | Live: St Louis, MO | Yonder Mountain String Band (note 4) | |||
2009 | Emily Watson | Emily Watson | |||
2010 | At Page Auditorium, Duke University | The American Beauty Project | |||
2010 | Dead To The Core | Jeffrey Pepper Rodgers | |||
2010 | Listening Booth:1970 | Marc Cohn | |||
2011 | Persuasions of the Dead | The Persuasions | |||
11 Feb 2011 | Live: Athens, GA | Widespread Panic (note 4) | |||
15 Dec 2011 | Live: San Francisco, CA | Chris Robinson Brotherhood | |||
2012 | Country | Giant Panda Guerilla Dub Squad | |||
12 Jul 2012 | Live At The Iridium | Donna Jean Godchaux Band | |||
2013 | First Rehearsals | Sycamore Slough String Band | |||
2013 | The Grateful EP | Jackie Greene | |||
2013 | Move Me Brightly | Bob Weir et al (DVD - bonus track) | |||
2014 | The Gravel Project | The Gravel Project | |||
30 Oct 2014 | Live: New York, NY | The Infamous Stringdusters | |||
17 Apr 2015 | Live: Morrison, CO | Disco Biscuits | |||
23 Sep 2015 | Live: Philadelphia, PA | Jackie Greene (note 4) | |||
2015 | The Promised Land | Sagol 59 & Ami Yares | |||
2015 | It's A Hand-Me-Down | David Gans | |||
2015 | Songs Of Their Own | Beau Sassers Escape Plan | |||
2016 | Deal | Wake The Dead | |||
2016 | Day Of The Dead | Courtney Barnett | |||
2019 | Dead Air | Strong Water | |||
2019 | Phantom Ships With Phantom Sails | Live Dead '69 |
"Why did Jagger and Cutler put the Angels with a truck load of free beer in charge of stage security? Why did the Grateful Dead people and other locals involved go along with the idea? Why Saturdays episode? I suspect it is because, just as their parents 25 years ago thought America was full of Comanches scalping stagecoach riders and Capone gangsters shooting passers-by on Chicago streets, Jagger and Cutler think San Francisco is the Hells Angels and the Pranksters since those are the ones who went to London last year and first broached the idea of the Stones playing free here.
"Now it has ended in murder. And that was a murder, not just a death like the drowning or the hit-and-run victims. Someone stabbed that man five times in the back. Overkill, like Pinkville. Like a Chicago cops reaction to long hair.
"Is this the new community? Is this what Woodstock promised? Gathered together as a tribe, what happened? Brutality, murder, despoliation, you name it. The name of the game is money, power and ego, and money is first and it brings power."