Ramble On Rose

Lyrics: Robert Hunter
Music: Jerry Garcia

Just like Jack the Ripper
Just like Mojo Hand
Just like Billy Sunday
In a shotgun rag-time band

Just like New York City
Just like Jericho
Pace the halls and climb the walls
And get out when they blow

Chorus
Did you say your name was Rambling Rose?
Ramble on baby, settle down easy
Ramble on Rose

Just like Jack and Jill
Mama told the sailor (note 1)
One heat up and one cool down
Leave nothing for the tailor

Just like Jack and Jill
Papa told the jailer
One go up and one come down
Do yourself a favour

[chorus]

Bridge
I'm gonna sing you
A hundred verses in ragtime
I know this song
It ain't never gonna end
I'm gonna march you up and down
The local county line (note 2)
Take you to the leader
Of the band (note 3)

Just like Crazy Otto
Just like Wolfman Jack
Sitting plush with a royal flush
Aces back to back

Just like Mary Shelley
Just like Frankenstein (note 4)
Clank your chains and count your change
And try to walk the line

[chorus]
[bridge]

Goodbye Mama and Papa
Goodbye Jack and Jill
The grass ain't greener, the wine ain't sweeter
Either side of the hill

[chorus]

Ramble on Rose

Notes
(1) the sheet music in "Grateful Dead Anthology" has "Mama told the jailer", and Garcia occasionally swapped round "sailor" and "jailer" in this and the next verse, though he normally sang it the 'right' way round. And on at least some occasions, he sang "Papa told the sailor". (Thanks to Greg Gabbard, David Rosen and Michael LaBua for their help with this)
(2) this is what is in "Box of Rain" but the sheet music in "Grateful Dead Anthology" has "Along the county line." I think this is just a mistake: in the recording on Europe '72 (the first one released), Garcia slurs the words and it could be heard as "Along the county line", but in other recordings he clearly sings "The local county line". (Thanks to David Rosen for pointing this out)
(3) this is what is in "Box of Rain" and the sheet music, but it sounds as if Garcia sang "Take me to the leader of a band" eg in the version on Europe '72. (Thanks to Jason Walsh for spotting this)
(4) Bob Weir now sings "She wrote Frankenstein"
(5) in a 1977 interview with David Gans, Robert Hunter said "Ramble on Rose is the closest to complete whimsy I've come up with. That was another one that I sat down and wrote numerous verses to." On 14 October 1978, Robert Hunter sang one of these additional verses (many thanks to Jeff Ellis for pointing this out):

Just like Humpty Dumpty
As Jekyll and Hyde told the tailor
All fall down and break his crown
Guess who came tumbling later

Grateful Dead Recordings
	Date	Album
	21 Oct 1971	30 Days Of The Dead (2011)
	22 Oct 1971	Dave's Picks Volume 3
	26 Oct 1971	Download Series Vol 3
	15 Nov 1971	Road Trips Number 3, Volume 2
	17 Nov 1971	Dave's Picks Volume 26
	20 Nov 1971	Dave's Picks Volume 48
	6 Dec 1971	Dave's Picks Volume 22
	7 Dec 1971	Dave's Picks Volume 22
	9 Dec 1971	Listen To The River: St Louis '71 '72 73
	7 Apr 1972	Europe '72 - The Complete Recordings
	11 Apr 1972	Europe '72 - The Complete Recordings
	14 Apr 1972	Europe '72 - The Complete Recordings
	17 Apr 1972	Europe '72 - The Complete Recordings
	3 May 1972	Europe '72 - The Complete Recordings
	4 May 1972	Europe '72 - The Complete Recordings
	7 May 1972	Steppin' Out with the Grateful Dead: England '72 (note b)
	10 May 1972	Europe '72 - The Complete Recordings
	18 May 1972	Europe '72 - The Complete Recordings
	23 May 1972	Europe '72 - The Complete Recordings
	25 May 1972	Europe '72 - The Complete Recordings
	26 May 1972	Europe '72 (note a) (note b)
	21 Jul 1972	Download Series Vol 10
	3 Sep 1972	Dave's Picks Bonus Disc 2023
	21 Sep 1972	Dick's Picks Vol 36
	27 Sep 1972	Dick's Picks Vol 11
	17 Oct 1972	Listen To The River: St Louis '71 '72 73
	2 Apr 1973	Dave's Picks Volume 21
	10 Jun 1973	Here Comes Sunshine
	8 Sep 1973	Dave's Picks Volume 38
	25 Sep 1973	Dick's Picks Vol 20
	30 Oct 1973	Listen To The River: St Louis '71 '72 73
	11 Nov 1973	Winterland 1973 - The Complete Recordings
	17 Nov 1973	Dave's Picks Volume 5
	2 Dec 1973	Dick's Picks Vol 14
	19 Dec 1973	30 Days Of The Dead (2012)
	23 Feb 1974	Dave's Picks Volume 42
	17 May 1974	Pacific Northwest '73-'74
	23 Jun 1974	Dave's Picks Volume 34
	31 Jul 1974	Dave's Picks Volume 2
	3 Oct 1976	30 Trips Around The Sun
	10 Oct 1976	Dick's Picks Vol 33
	11 May 1977	May 1977 Box Set
	13 May 1977	May 1977 Box Set
	19 May 1977	Dick's Picks Vol 29
	8 Jun 1977	Winterland June 1977 - The Complete Recordings
	29 Oct 1977	Dave's Picks Vol 33
	2 Nov 1977	Dave's Picks Volume 12
	24 Apr 1978	Dave's Picks Volume 7
	10 May 1978	Dick's Picks Vol 25
	3 Jul 1978	July 1978: The Complete Recordings
	8 Jul 1978	July 1978: The Complete Recordings
	16 Sep 1978	Rocking The Cradle: Egypt 1978 (bonus disc)
	31 Dec 1978	The Closing Of Winterland (DVD & CD)
	3 Dec 1979	Dave's Picks Vol 31
	30 Dec 1979	Road Trips Vol 3, No 1 (bonus disc)
	31 Oct 1980	Dead Ahead (video/DVD)
	30 Nov 1980	Dave's Picks Volume 8
	9 Mar 1981	In And Out Of The Garden
	23 May 1982	30 Days Of The Dead (2024)
	31 Jul 1982	30 Trips Around The Sun
	7 Aug 1982	Dick's Picks Vol 32
	12 Oct 1983	In And Out Of The Garden
	21 Oct 1983	30 Trips Around The Sun
	27 Apr 1985	Dave's Picks Vol 49
	12 Jun 1987	Giants Stadium 1987, 1989, 1991 Boxed Set
	7 Jul 1989	Crimson, White and Indigo (DVD & CD)
	9 Oct 1989	Warlocks Box
	18 Mar 1990	Spring 1990 (The Other One)
	29 Mar 1990	Wake Up To Find Out (note c)
	27 Oct 1990	30 Trips Around The Sun (note d)
	18 Mar 1991	30 Days Of The Dead (2021)
	26 May 1993	Road Trips Vol 2, No 4
	15 Jul 1998	Furthur Most (The Other Ones)

(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
	2005	Jerry Jams, Jerry Cares	Jones
	2005	The 1000th Show	Dark Star Orchestra
	2008	Fennario: Songs by Jerry Garcia and Robert Hunter	Emory Joseph
	2012	Double Down Dead EP	Band Of Heathens
	2015	Punk Is Dead	Punk Is Dead
	23 May 2015	Live: Rome, GA	Widespread Panic
	2017	Blackberry Smoke with Bob Weir: An Evening at TRI	Blackberry Smoke
	2017	Crew Licks	Dead Rider
	2020	Recollections (EP)	Wynonna & Bob Weir
	2021	Jerry's Smilin': Guitar Tribute To The Grateful Dead	Damià Timoner

Notes
(a) also on the compilation What A Long Strange Trip It's Been.
(b) also on the box set Europe '72 - The Complete Recordings
(c) also included as part of box set Spring 1990 (The Other One)
(d) also on the compilation 30 Trips Around The Sun: The Definitive Live Story 1965-1995

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 Anthology Volume 1 (piano arrangement)
Garcia/Hunter Songbook (vocal line and chords/TAB)