July Fourth 1977

Lyrics: Peter Monk
Music: [none]

This was one of the three lyrics Peter Monk sent Jerry Garcia in around 1977. They were in a briefcase of Jerry's with a miscellany of notes, letters etc etc, which was originally included in a Sotheby's sale but was subsequently withdrawn. This is the only one of the lyrics that was on the Sotheby's website.

The lyrics were sent under a covering letter:

Jerry
No way of knowing if you ever receive these
(Put my faith in God and the Grateful Dead)
Here are 3 sets of lyrics about some faces who stepped from the crowd "cabin's" about Jonathan Riester
Perhaps you can find a melody to immortalize one of these ghostly folks!
Om mani padme hum
Peter
Congratulations on Terrapin Station!
The lyrics were headed "July Fourth 1977", but it isn't entirely clear to me whether that was the title or the date they were written. They were marked "for rock skully"
Stranded on the rocks before your ship comes in
Rousted in the dark night of your soul
Where the nightmare has no meanin'
Until you wake up screamin'
And there's nothin' more you children ought to know

Chorus
A man looks at disaster and it makes him humbe
First the gods fall off the mountains
And then the mountains crumble

Shoulda told ya long ago you'd gone past crazy
But that's the way this friendship came and went
Mights saved you one small sorrow
The slowness of tomorrow
But you can't hear me now ... and couldn't then

[chorus]

It ain't in the play to keep us outa trouble
Gonna let the deal go down ... then move along
'Cause there's nothin' so uncertain
As the line that drops the curtain
And it's o.k. if we sometimes get it wrong

[chorus]

 


Home | Find words/phrases| Find Song lyrics| Dead originals| Dead covers|