"We'll go right through the book and break each and every law" roses logo for the Annotated Grateful Dead Lyrics

The Annotated "I Need A Miracle"

An installment in The Annotated Grateful Dead Lyrics.
By Prof. Fred Lieberman's Music of the Dead course (Music 80N), Spring 2000, UCSC, and
David Dodd
Research Associate, Music Dept., University of California, Santa Cruz

Copyright notice
"I Need A Miracle"
Words by John Perry Barlow, with Bob Weir. Music by Bob Weir.
Copyright Ice Nine Publishing; used by permission.

I need a woman 'bout twice my age,
A lady of nobility, gentility and rage --
A splendor in the dark -- lightnin' on the draw.
We'll go right through the book, and break each and every law.

I got a feeling, and it won't go away. oh, no.
Just one thing, then I'll be okay.
I need a miracle every day.

I need a woman 'bout twice my height --
Statuesque, raven-tressed, a goddess of the night
With a secret incantations, candles burning blue.
We consult the spirits.
Maybe they'll know what to do.

And it's real, and it won't go away. Oh, no.
Can't get around it, and I can't run away.
I need a miracle every day.

I need a woman 'bout twice my weight --
A ton of fun, who packs a gun with all that other freight.
Find her in a sideshow. Leave her in L.A.
Ride her like a surfer riding on a tidal wave.

And it's real. Believe what I say, oh yeah.
Just one thing that I got to say:
I need a miracle every day.

It takes dynamite to get me up.
Too much of everything is just enough.
One more thing: I just got to say,
I need a miracle every day!


"I Need a Miracle"

Written July, 1978, in Mill Valley, California.

Recorded on

Performance history:


Keywords: @women
First posted: April 20, 2000