"They don't write poems about the state that I'm in" roses logo for AGDL

The Annotated "Gentlemen, Start Your Engines"

An installment in The Annotated Grateful Dead Lyrics.
By David Dodd
1997-98 Research Associate, Music Dept., University of California, Santa Cruz
(The opinions expressed are those of the author, not of the University of California.)Copyright notice;

© 1995, 1996,1997, 1998, 1999, 2000 David Dodd


"Gentlemen, Start Your Engines"
Words by John Perry Barlow; music by Bob Weir
Copyright Ice Nine Publishing; used by permission

It's three AM in the combat zone.
Gentlemen start your engines!
They can close this bar, but baby I ain't going.
Gentlemen start your engines!
If you lock up the whiskey, give me gasoline.
I got a seven grand redline on the black machine.
The dead can do my sleepin', if you know what I mean.
Gentlemen start your engines!
Ge-Ge-Ge-Gentlemen start your engines!
Gentlemen start
Gentlemen start
Ge-Ge-Ge-Gentlemen start your engines!

Got a little girl here in a pinafore dress.
Gentlemen start your engines!
She's got more tricks than you can guess.
Gentlemen start your engines!
It's dark outside, but it's darker within.
Check the back of my jacket just to see my grin.
They don't write poems about the state that I'm in.
Gentlemen start your engines!
Ge-Ge-Ge-Gentlemen start your engines!
Gentlemen start
Gentlemen start
Ge-Ge-Ge-Gentlemen start your engines!

Bridge 1:
One of these days I'm gonna pull myself together.
Soon as I finish tearin' myself apart
Like the Devil's Mustangs,
I've been ridden hell for leather,
Put away wet and angry in the dark.

When the police come you better let 'em in,
Gentlemen start your engines!
Don't forget to tell 'em what a sport I've been.
Gentlemen start your engines!
I got a head full of vintage TNT,
They're gonna blow me up'stead of burying me.
If you're lookin' for trouble, come here and sit with me.
Gentlemen start your engines!
Ge-Ge-Ge-Gentlemen start your engines!
Gentlemen start
Gentlemen start
Ge-Ge-Ge-Gentlemen start your engines!

Bridge 2 :
One of these days I've gonna pull myself together.
Soon as I finish tearin' myself apart
Let me tell you, honey,
There's some mighty stormy weather
Howlin' round the caverns of my heart.

"Gentlemen, Start Your Engines"

Martinez, California
February 23, 1988

Recorded on

First performance: Sunday, June 26, 1988, at Pittsburgh Civic Arena, Pittsburgh, PA. The song appeared in the first set, following "Cumberland Blues" and preceding "Big Railroad Blues." It was only performed live one more time, at the Laguna Seca Recreation Area in Monterey, CA, on July 31 of that same year. The version on the box set was recorded as a demo for Built to Last.


Gentlemen, start your engines

The phrase which kicks off the Indianapolis 500 racing event. According to the official Indy 500 web site:
Wilbur Shaw’s first Indianapolis 500 win came in 1937, but his second and third wins at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway – in 1939 and 1940 – put him in the history books as the first driver to win back-to-back Indianapolis 500-Mile races. He ranks fifth on the all-time list for laps led, leading the Indianapolis 500 for 508 laps. Shaw became president of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 1945 and would later popularize the tradition of announcing, "Gentlemen, Start Your Engines," in the early 1950s.

One of these days I'm gonna pull myself together

Resonates with the line from "Whart Rat": "But I'll get back on my feet someday."
Keywords: @dark, @girl
DeadBase code: [SYEN]
First posted: January 2000
Last revised: