One Thing To Try

Lyrics: Robert Hunter
Music: Robert Hunter

Break out your bottle, be in trouble by noon
Never get satisfaction 'cause you boil too soon
Them downtown chippies know your weight to the ounce
But the harder you fall, Jack, the higher you bounce

Stoke up your gator, be ready to ride (note 1)
But keep your hands and your heart inside
Take it as far as you want to go
Till we can't see the desert for the burning snow

Chorus
But if you're in a hurry, and really got to go
If you're in a hurry, might have to find out slow
That it's one thing to try and another to fly
You get there quicker just a step at a time
It's one thing to bark, another to bite
The show ain't over till you pack up at night (note 2)

Out of ninety-nine people all running around
Not one in a hundred got his feet on the ground (note 3)
You find one in a thousand holding some in reserve
For when the real true action comes around the curve

Take care of your people, get some of them fed
Hide the ones in trouble out under your bed
Keep an eye to the future, an ear to the past
After thinking it over, notice nothing much lasts

[chorus]

Don't ever let it get the best of you
Plan what you can, and let the rest shine through
Just so many angles you can possibly see
Figure on those, let the other ones be

Don't be out collecting more than you need
Got a lot of things growing but keep watching those seeds
Got to share in December what you planted in May
If the harvest is empty, find some other good way

[chorus]

Notes
(1) These are the lyrics as printed in "Box Of Rain", and they're clear on some of the live recordings of Hunter's concerts. But Martin Schell pointed out the me that it sounds a bit as if Hunter sings "Stoked up you get, be ready to ride, Keep your head and your heart inside" on the studio recording on Tiger Rose.
(2) In some live performances, Hunter alternates between "pack up at night" and "pack it in at night" (thanks to Martin Schull for pointing this out)
(3) In some later live performances, Hunter sang "Not one in a thousand ..." and "You find one in ten thousand ..." (thanks to Martin Schull for pointing this out)
(4) There's an instrumental piece after the choruses in the recording on Tiger Rose. In some live performances Hunter sang this to that tune:

Ah ooooh
Well, well, well
It's one thing to try
As ooooh
Well, well, well
Another to fly

Recordings
	Date	Album
	1974	Tiger Rose	Robert Hunter

Further Information
For more information on recordings see Matt Schofield's Grateful Dead Family Discography