Saint Stephen

Lyrics: Robert Hunter
Music: Jerry Garcia/Phil Lesh

Saint Stephen with a rose
In and out of the garden he goes
Country garland in the wind and the rain (note 1)
Wherever he goes the people all complain

Stephen prosper in his time
Well he may, and he may decline
Did it matter, does it now?
Stephen would answer if he only knew how

Wishing well with a golden bell
Bucket hanging clear to hell
Hell half way twixt now and then
Stephen fill it up and lower down, and lower down again

Lady finger, dipped in moonlight
Writing "What for?" across the morning sky
Sunlight splatters dawn with answers
Darkness shrugs and bids the day goodbye

Speeding arrow, sharp and narrow
What a lot of fleeting matters you have spurned
Several seasons with their treasons
Wrap the babe in scarlet colors, call it your own

Did he doubt or did he try?
Answers a-plenty in the by and by
Talk about your plenty, talk about your ills
One man gathers what another man spills (note 2)

Saint Stephen will remain
All he's lost he shall regain
Seashore washed by the suds and the foam
Been here so long he's got to calling it home

Fortune comes a-crawling, Calliope woman
Spinning that curious sense of your own
Can you answer? Yes I can
But what would be the answer to the answer man?

-----(William Tell Bridge)-----
High green chilly winds and windy vines in loops (note 3)
Around the twining shafts of lavender (Note 4)
They're crawling to the sun

Underfoot the ground is patched
With climbing arms of ivy wrapped
Around the manzanita stark and shiny in the breeze

Wonder who will water all the children of the garden
When they sigh about the barren lack
Of rain and droop so hungry 'neath the sky

William Tell has stretched his bow
Till it won't stretch no furthermore
And/or it will require a change that hasn't come before (Note 5)

Notes
(1) the songbooks "Grateful Dead Anthology" and "Authentic Guitar Classics Volume 2" both have "Country garden ..." for this line. But that is a mistake: Robert Hunter's "Box Of Rain" has "Country garland ..." and that sounds to be what the Dead sing. (Thanks to Sam Hoffman for pointing this out).
(2) Bobby added "Except in California" when the Dead played this on 1 March 1969. (thanks to Brian Schnapp for this).
(3) this section was omitted from the version on "Aoxomoxoa" and dropped by the Dead in versions after 1969. It was only played when "Saint Stephen" segued into The Eleven. Because of this, some have questioned whether it should really be seen as part of "The Eleven" instead of part of "Saint Stephen". But Robert Hunter includes these words under "Saint Stephen" in the lyrics in his book "Box Of Rain". Both Ratdog and The Dead began playing this section in 2003 - with The Dead's versions not always segueing into "The Eleven".
(4) the lyrics in Hunter's book 'Box Of Rain' are "twining shafts" and that was what the Dead always seem to have sung. But the lyrics in the online Hunter Archive have it as "twisted shafts"
(5) in early versions (such as on "Two From The Vault") this was sung as "And when he will release it, will it pare the apple core?"

Grateful Dead Recordings
	Date	Album
	21 Aug 1968	Grateful Dead Origins
	24 Aug 1968	Two From The Vault	(note a)
	12 Oct 1968	30 Days Of The Dead (2015)
	13 Oct 1968	30 Days Of The Dead (2018)
	20 Oct 1968	30 Trips Around The Sun
	7 Dec 1968	30 Days Of The Dead (2023)
	studio 1969	Aoxomoxoa	(note b)
	Jan 1969	Playboy After Dark Vol 2 (DVD)
	11 Feb 1969	Fillmore East 2-11-69	(note a)
	22 Feb 1969	30 Trips Around The Sun
	27 Feb 1969	Live Dead	(note a)(note c)(note f)(note g)
	28 Feb 1969	Fillmore West 1969 - The Complete Recordings	(note a)
	1 Mar 1969	Fillmore West 1969 - The Complete Recordings	(note a)
	2 Mar 1969	Fillmore West 1969 - The Complete Recordings	(note a)
	17 Apr 1969	Download Series Vol 12
	27 Apr 1969	Dick's Picks Vol 26	(note a)
	23 May 1969	Road Trips Volume 4, Number 1
	24 May 1969	Road Trips Volume 4, Number 1
	16 Aug 1969	Woodstock - Back To The Garden
	30 Aug 1969	30 Days Of The Dead (2024)
	2 Nov 1969	Dave's Picks Volume 43
	8 Nov 1969	Dick's Picks Vol 16	(note a)
	11 Dec 1969	Dave's Picks Volume 10 (bonus disc)
	20 Dec 1969	Dave's Picks Volume 6
	2 Jan 1970	Dave's Picks Volume 30
	3 Jan 1970	Dave's Picks Volume 30
	23 Jan 1970	Dave's Picks Volume 19
	2 Feb 1970	Dave's Picks Volume 6
	4 Feb 1970	Download Series: A Night At The Family Dog
	2 May 1970	Dick's Picks Vol 8
	14 May 1970	Road Trips Vol 3 No 3
	15 May 1970	Road Trips Vol 3 No 3 (early show)
	15 May 1970	Road Trips Vol 3 No 3 (late show)
	24 Oct 1970	Dave's Picks Volume 48
	18 Feb 1971	American Beauty (50th Anniversary Edition)
	28 Apr 1971	Ladies And Gentlemen ... The Grateful Dead
	24 Aug 1971	Dick's Picks Vol 35
	21 Oct 1971	Dave's Picks Volume 3
	31 Oct 1971	Dick's Picks Vol 2
	9 Jun 1976	Road Trips Volume 4, Number 5
	11 Jun 1976	June 1976 Box Set
	15 Jun 1976	June 1976 Box Set
	18 Jun 1976	Download Series Vol 4
	25 Sep 1976	Dick's Picks Vol 20
	9 Oct 1976	Dick's Picks Vol 33
	30 Apr 1977	Download Series Vol 1
	5 May 1977	May 1977: Get Shown The Light Box
	8 May 1977	May 1977: Get Shown The Light Box
	15 May 1977	May 1977 Box Set
	21 May 1977	Dick's Picks Vol 29
	9 Jun 1977	Winterland June 1977 - The Complete Recordings
	29 Oct 1977	Dave's Picks Vol 33
	2 Nov 1977	Dick's Picks Vol 34
	6 Nov 1977	Dave's Picks Volume 25
	30 Dec 1977	Dick's Picks Vol 10
	22 Jan 1978	Dave's Picks Volume 23
	31 Dec 1978	The Closing Of Winterland (DVD & CD)
	11 Oct 1983	In And Out Of The Garden
	15 Oct 1983	30 Days Of The Dead (2010)
	17 Jul 1998	The Strange Remain	(The Other Ones)

Phil Lesh and Friends Recordings
	5 Jun 1999	Love Will See You Through
	4 Apr 2002	There And Back Again (note d)
	19 May 2006	Live At The Warfield

(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
	Date	Album	Recorded By
	1989	Juggling Suns	Solar Circus
	1996	Live At The Roseland Ballroom	Gov't Mule (note h)
	2001	Great Sky River	Jazz Is Dead
	2001	Gifts From The Dead	Gifts From The Dead
	2003	Thunder And Lightnin'	Dark Star Orchestra
	2004	Jeb Holmes Band	Jeb Holmes Band (jam)
	2005	The 1000th Show	Dark Star Orchestra
	8 Feb 2006	Live At The Fillmore	Grateful Grass
	2007	Blue Light Cheap Hotel	Wake The Dead
	2007	Dead Symphony	Lee Johnson
	2008	Ithica 30 Years Later	Dark Star Orchestra
	9 May 2011	Jerry Jams for Rex II	Dark Star Orchestra
	2012	Live At The 2012 Peach Music Festival	Dark Star Orchestra
	2013	Yoga Tribute To Grateful Dead Vol 2	Yoga Pop Ups
	2015	Twangin' The Dead	Matt Rae
	14 May 2015	Dear Jerry: Celebrating The Music Of Jerry Garcia	O.A.R.
	2016	Songs To Fill The Air (WFMU Pledge Drive)	Jon Collin
	2016	Day Of The Dead	Wilco and Bob Weir
	2018	Fudge Sandwich	Ty Segal
	2019	One Afternoon Long Ago	Fragile Thunder
	2019	Sabertooth Plays Dead	Sabertooth
	2019	Phantom Ships With Phantom Sails	Live Dead '69
	2020	Seeking All That's Still Unsung	Holly Bowling

Notes
(a) includes the "William Tell Bridge" section
(b) also on the compilations Skeletons From The Closet and The Best Of The Grateful Dead.
(c) also on the compilation What A Long Strange Trip It's Been
(d) included on a bonus disk with early copies of "There And Back Again"
(e) a bass solo by Rob Wasserman, based on "Saint Stephen", introduces the Ratdog version of "Cassidy" on Furthur More.
(f) also on Fillmore West 1969 -The Complete Recordings
(g) also on Long Strange Trip Soundtrack and on the compilation The Best Of The Grateful Dead Live.
(h) The list above includes only one illustrative example of the series of live recordings by these artists. For a full list see the Grateful Dead Family Discography.

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 David Dodd's discussion of this song on dead.net see Greatest Stories Ever Told
For online chords and TAB see www.rukind.com
For sheet music, see:
          Grateful Dead Anthology Volume 1 (piano arrangement)
          Grateful Dead Authentic Guitar Classics Volume 2 (guitar TAB)
          Garcia/Hunter Songbook (vocal line and chords/TAB)