Lyrics: Robert Hunter
Music: JKohn Kadlecik, Bob Weir
Played by John Kadlicek, both solo and with the Golden Gate Wingmen. On 24 February 2019 John Kadlicek introduced it:
"The words were also written on this next one by Robert Hunter. And this one came into my world through a couple of days of songwriting with Bob Weir back in 2013 or so. We had a couple of days at TRI, wrote some songs together. He had this manila folder with a bunch of lyrics in it. Most of them were Robert Hunter lyrics, stuff that's not in the Box Of Rain book. And we worked on a couple of the Hunter songs, and then we recorded the ones I thought ... and then he kind of picked these songs for him to sing, so I kind of waited and waited to see them come up in the cowboy album or something. But they're not there, so I thought ... I came back across these in my lyric sheets. I didn't remember what he and I wrote, but I wrote some new music - I would still consider this to be co-written with Bobby, 'cause that's when I first heard it. But, like I said, I don't remember what we did seven years ago, whenever that was. I knew what I came up with a couple of weeks ago for this. So this is only the fourth time it's ever been performed by anybody - I don't think it's on a record anywhere. It's called Midnight Bay"(See also So Blue). The lyrics are hard to make out - any help gratefully received.
Heaven to hope for, hell to pay
Twelve o'clock high, Full Moon Cafe
The sun bears down on Midnight Bay
From here to forever, one more day
Twelve o'clock high but I don't know
I hate to say it, but here you go
[Devil rides high going in for my load]
All the others just follow the gold
Speedometer pings one two oh
Ran out of numbers and still too slow
I ain't driving just my way, no
Get out of jail with nowhere to go
Now the moon fell down on Midnight Bay
Sun coming [?] straight away
The radio tuned to KRLA
Said baby don't you take your love away
Twelve o'clock high but I don't know
I hate to say it, but here you go
[Devil rides high going in for my load]
All the others just follow the gold
Serial number, name and rank
Forty margueritas in the tank
Singing 'My Blue Heaven' all the way to the bank
Well I don't know who else to thank
Shadows on the shade of the cold water shack
Moonlight vanish in the mounting black
Foregiveness being the trait I lack
I spun the wheel and I never looked back
Twelve o'clock high but I don't know
I hate to say it, but here you go
[Devil rides high going in for my load]
All the others just follow the gold
Well I left Sarasota at eight last night
I ain't getting over just a little less fright
Well I sold my soul to save my skin
The devil want to give it back again
Twelve o'clock high but I don't know
I hate to say it, but here you go
[Devil rides high going in for my load]
All the others just follow the gold
Sixty four Malibu, Chevrolet
Foot to the floor, baby, all the way
Everything [cherry] but the running board
Snatched from a 1944 Ford