Cards, Trains And Crows

Lyrics: Robert Hunter
Music: Robert Hunter

This comes from a quote from Robert Hunter in Blair Jackson's and David Gans' book "This Is All A Dream We Dreamed: An Oral History of the Grateful Dead" (p129) (I think from a 2004 Hunter interview with Blair Jackson).

ROBERT HUNTER: I remember Phil once saying "Can you write anything without cards, trains and crows in it?" So I wrote a song called "Cards, Trains, and Crows", but I don't think I handed it over.

A friend of mine said in an interview somewhere that all my songs are about rain, cards, cats, and roses and stuff like that, so I sat down and wrote this line: "Kids, cats, playing cards, roses and rain, only the strange remain." Anyway I got them all into one line. That's all right, keeps you on your toes. I mean I don't know about anything except roses and rain. Stuff like that.

"Rats, cats, playing cards, roses and rain, only the strange remain" Someone said 'you got a song about turtles'? Didn't rhyme though.

Watch each card you play and play it slow
The wolf came in, I got my cards, we sat down for a game
Sometimes the cards ain't worth a dime if you don't lay them down

Driving that train, high on cocaine
Gotta go to Tulsa, first train we can ride
Listen to the whistle of the evening train

It's the same story the crow told me, it's the only one he knows
Hi-ho, the carrion crow, bow and bend to me

Rat in a drain ditch, caught on a limb
Bell the cat, trap the rat, ball the jack, chew the fat

Just another cat beneath the stars tonight
Look for a while at the china cat sunflower
Only time can ever say, pack my cat and haul away

Annie laid her head down in the roses
Run, run, run for the roses

When you tell them you got the keys to the rain
Walking along in the mission in the rain