Stealin'

Lyrics: Gus Cannon/Will Shade arr. Grateful Dead
Music: Gus Cannon/Will Shade arr. Grateful Dead

This is an old jug-band song, recorded by the Memphis Jug Band among others. Authorship is sometimes ascribed to Gus Cannon, sometimes to Will Shade. It was played by the Dead their early days in 1966 but then dropped out of favour.

When it was released as the Grateful Dead's first single, it was credited to "Garcia". When this was pointed out to Jerry Garcia he said "That's awful. That's totally wrong".

Put your arms around me like a circle round the sun
I wanna love you moma like my easy rider done (note 1)

Chorus
You don't believe I love you, look what a fool I've been (note 2)
You don't believe I'm sinking, look what a hole I'm in
Stealin', stealin', pretty moma don't you tell on me
I'm stealin' back to my same old used to be

The woman I love she's just my height and size
A married girl, come to see me some time

[chorus]

Well I'm going up North, gonna see my girl (note 3)
Sweetest thing in the whole wide world

[chorus]

Stealin', stealin', pretty moma don't you tell on me
I'm stealin' back to my same old used to be

Notes
(1) the original Memphis Jug Band version is "I want you to love me mama like my easy rider done", which makes better sense. But Jerry always seems to have sung "I wanna love you mama ..." And on some versions he sings "I wanna love you rider ..."
(2) again, the original Memphis Jug Band version is "If you don't believe I love you, look what a fool I've been", and similarly for the next line. Jerry often only got part of these lines out, singing "Believe I'm sinking, what a fool I've been" for example on some live versions.
(3) this verse does not appear in the Memphis Jug Band version. I'm not sure where Jerry got it from.
(4) When Bob Weir sang this with Ratdog on 11 Nov 2008, he sang a different third verse:

Loves my whiskey, loves my wine
Well my whiskey, ease my mind

Grateful Dead Recordings
	Date	Album
	2 Mar 1966	Rare Cuts And Oddities
	studio 1966	Birth Of The Dead (note a) (note b)
	studio 1966	Birth Of The Dead (instrumental) (note a)
	live 1966	Historic Dead
	29 Jul 1966	The Grateful Dead: 50th Anniversary Edition

Jerry Garcia Recordings
	Date	Album	Recorded By
	4 Jun 1992	Shady Grove	Garcia/Grisman

Notes
(a) originally released as part of the Rhino box set The Golden Road (1965-1973)
(b) also released as the Grateful Dead 7" single volume 1.

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 online chords and TAB see www.rukind.com
For sheet music, see:
Shady Grove (guitar TAB)