Tough Changes

Lyrics: Rober Hunter
Music: Bob Weir

The Grateful Dead may have rehearsed/recorded this when considering songs for "Built To Last." According to the entry for Shit Happens in Steve Silberman's Skeleton Key:

An outtake from the Built To Last sessions that may have become an anthem of the Deadhead fraternity, but never made it out of the studio. A studio rehearsal tape has a take of "Shit Happens" between a slow, fragile version of "Blow Away" and a drum-machine-driven "Foolish Heart." The song's chorus, "Shit happens - that's all we know! Shit happens, and awa-a-yy we go ...," glides on a irrestible hook, and verses are swapped by Weir, Mydland and Lesh, who sings in a barbershop basso.

The lyrics quoted come from "Tough Changes", included in Robert Hunter's book "Box Of Rain", from which the full lyrics below are taken. Hunter lists Bob Weir as having set it to music. But an alternative story is that what the Dead recorded is fragments from a John Perry Barlow song It Doesn't Matter.

Lyrics

Could be heaven hanging low
Now or never, who's to know?
Patience is a rich man's game
Backed up honking in your lane

Climb the ladder but like I said
Don't leave footprints on my head
Come down lightly when you tread
One man's gutter is another man's bed

Eeny-meeny-miney-mo
Could be the weather, I don't know
Tough changes and the winds do blow
Shit happens and away we go

All the textbooks had to say
The rest of your life begins today
I don't care who gets the blame
Children are crying all the same

Tough changes in the parking lot
A broken bottle, a pistol shot
When the curtain falls this time
It falls on yours, it falls on mine

Shit happens, that's all we know
Shit happens and away we go
Tough changes - wo-oah
You told me so, I guess you know

Standing on the trapdoor spring
Hard to think about other things
Provocation from every side
Love, the law, and each other besides

Some of these days don't seem to end
Meet yourself comin' round the bend
Shake your hand and slap your face
Keep your guard up just in case

Tough changes, look out below
Shit happens and away we go
Tough changes and the wind do blow
You told me so I guess you know

Keep it clean or keep it hid
Others fall for what you did
A hundred years on down the line
Will any part of our lovelight shine?

Tough changes, look out below
Shit happens and away we go
Tough changes and the wind do blow
Could be the weather, I don't know

A collection of "lyrics and lead sheets used by Bob Weir when on tour c 1991-1994" was put up for auction in 2026. One item was a lyric sheet titled "Shit Happens (Away We Go)", with a similar refrain but different lyrics:

Branches sever when the hard wind blow
It's now or never and I'll tell you so
Ain't no winner 'cause it's not a game
You can bluff or fold and it's all the same

Refrain
Shit happens, that's all we know
Shit happens and away we go
Shit happens, wo-oah
Shit happens and I guess you know

You deliver when the rest receive
Ain't nothing special that you could believe
Get some lover who might be true
You can count on her but can she count on you

[Refrain]

I remember how it came to pass
Seven bad winters for a looking glass
Broke in pieces, I must of stared
At my face too hard with my front teeth bared

Take it easy, don't sell your soul
For a hot cup of coffee and a jellyroll
Wait for a layer cake from the sky
May come to nothing but you can but try

Don't leave footprints on my head
Climbing the ladder, it's like I said
One man's gutter is another man's bed
Wait long enough and you both be dead

What kinda egg does that hen lay
Here tomorrow and gone today
I left a message on my phone
I may be here but I'm not at home

Another item in the auction is described as a "c. 1988-1993 rehearsal folder used by Jerry Garcia while on tour c. 1988-1993" It also contains a lyric sheet for "Shit Happens":

You deliver, I receive
I'm in doubt and you believe
I back off and you kick tail
Tap my phone and read my mail

Here tomorrow, gone today
What else does the textbook say
Keep it clean or keep it hid
They're gunning for your leaders, kid

With more verses that are obscured in the image I have.

Finally in the auction is a "c. 1980s rehearsal folder used by Bob Weir while on tour". This includes a note with this version of the refrain:

Tough changes, I guess you know
Tough changes, gotta take it slow
Eeny-meeny-miny-mo
Shit happens and away we go