Mission In The Rain

Lyrics: Robert Hunter
Music: Jerry Garcia

I turn and walk away
Then I come round again
Looks as though tomorrow
I'll do pretty much the same

I must turn down your offer
But I'd like to ask a break
You know I'm ready to give anything
For anything I take

Chorus
Someone called my name you know I turned around to see
It was midnight in the mission and the bells were not for me
Come again
Walking along in the mission in the rain
Come again
Walking along in the mission in the rain

Ten years ago I walked this street, my dreams were riding tall
Tonight I would be thankful Lord, for any dreams at all
Some folks would be happy just to have one dream come true
But everything you gather is just more that you can lose

[chorus]

All the things I planned to do, I only did half way
Tomorrow will be Sunday, born of rainy Saturday
There's some satisfaction in the San Francisco rain
No matter what comes down, the mission always looks the same

[chorus]

Grateful Dead Recordings
	Date	Album
	10 Jun 1976	June 1976 Box Set
	12 Jun 1976	Road Trips Volume 4, Number 5
	18 Jun 1976	Download Series Vol 4

Jerry Garcia Recordings
	Date	Album	Recorded By
	studio 1976	Reflections	Jerry Garcia Band (note 1)
	13 Feb 1976	Garcia Live Volume 21	Jerry Garcia Band
	21 May 1976	Don't Let Go	Jerry Garcia Band
	8 Nov 1976	Garcia Live Volume 7	Jerry Garcia Band
	19 Feb 1978	San Francisco Bay Area 1978	Jerry Garcia Band
	18 Mar 1978	Pure Jerry 6: Warner Theatre	Jerry Garcia Band
	22 Mar 1978	Garcia Live Volume 4	Jerry Garcia Band
	28 Feb 1980	After Midnight	Jerry Garcia Band
	1 Mar 1980	Garcia Live Volume 1	Jerry Garcia Band
	26 Jun 1981	Garcia Live Volume 1.5	Jerry Garcia Band
	23 Oct 1987	Pure Jerry 3: Lunt-Fontanne: Best Of The Rest	Jerry Garcia Band
	10 Jun 1989	Electric On The Eel	Jerry Garcia Band
	1 Sep 1989	Pure Jerry 5: Merriweather Post Pavilion	Jerry Garcia Band
	5 Sep 1989	Fall 1989: The Long Island Sound	Jerry Garcia Band
	11 Nov 1993	Garcia Live Volume 11	Jerry Garcia Band

(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
	1998	Welcome To Our World	JGB (without Jerry)
	26 Apr 2001	Live At The Roseland	Ratdog
	20 Jun 2004	Live: Morrison, CO	Robert Hunter (note 2)
	13 May 2006	Jerry Jams for Rex II	New Monsoon with Steve Kimock
	2008	Fennario: Songs by Jerry Garcia and Robert Hunter	Emory Joseph
	2009	Sick Of Me	Allen Thompson
	2012	Run For The Roses	Greg Anton et al (Rex Foundation)
	2013	Move Me Brightly	Bob Weir et al (DVD)
	2015	The Promised Land	Sagol 59 & Ami Yares
	2015	Songs Of Their Own	Brian Dolzani
	2021	Alive And Grateful	Bert Keely and Friends (Bert's Brew)

Notes
(1) also on the compilation The Best Of Jerry Garcia
(2) The list above includes only one illustrative example of the series of live recordings by these bands. For a full list see the Grateful Dead Family Discography.

Background
In a 1979 interview on WMMR in Philadelphia, Jerry Garcia gave some background to this song:

"It's about me in San Francisco, that's what it's about. It's as close to autobiographical as it's possible for me to get working with another guy. Hunter and I both grew up around the Bay Area, and lived in San Francisco, and Hunter is able sometimes to write what I would say, you know what I mean, if it were possible for me to say something in that medium. Every once in a while he's able to do it for me. So that's one of those songs where it's very personal. It's him speaking about me. So when I do the song, for me it's a very personal thing, I'm talking about myself, my life."

In an interview in Relix Volume #5 Issue #2, Robert Hunter was also asked about the background:

Relix: How about "Mission in the Rain"? That's a side of you that has to be there.
Hunter: Well, yeah. I used to live over in the Mission when I was just starting to write for the Dead full time. I wasn't living at 710 - I was living over on 17th and Mission and that was very much a portrait of that time, looking backward at 10 years. I like that song a lot - that's one of my favorite things I've come up with.
Relix: Garcia seems to feel it a lot when he sings it.
Hunter: He lived in the Mission too. He knows just what it's about, like he was brought up in the Mission.

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 online chords and TAB see www.rukind.com
For sheet music, see:
          Grateful Dead Anthology Volume 2 (piano arrangement)
          Jerry Garcia Songbook (vocal line and chords)
          Garcia/Hunter Songbook (vocal line and chords/TAB)