The Annotated "Cosmic Charley"

Cosmic Charley how do you do?
Truckin' in style along the avenue
Dumdeedumdee doodley doo
Go on home, your mama's calling you

Calico Kahlia come tell me the news
Calamity's waiting for a way to get to her
Rosy red and electric blue
I bought you a paddle for your paper canoe

Say you'll come back when you can
Whenever your airplane happens to land
Maybe I'll be back here too
It all depends on what's with you

Hung up waitin for a windy day
Kite on ice since the first of February
Mama Bee saying that the wind might blow
But standin here I say I just don't know

New ones comin as the old ones go
Everything's movin here but much too slowly
Little bit quicker and we might have time
to say 'how do you do?" before we're left behind

Calliope wail like a seaside zoo
The very last lately inquired about you
It's really very one or two
The first you wanted, the last I knew

I just wonder if you shouldn't feel
less concern about the deep unreal
The very first word is : How do you do?
The last: go home, your mama's callin you

Go on home
Your mama's calling you
Calling you.....

• This version included on What a Long, Strange Trip It's Been

First verified performance at the Matrix in San Francisco on October 19, 1968, appearing out of "Dark Star." Final performance on September 25, 1976 at the Capital Centre in Landover, Md., out of "Scarlet Begonias".

Subject: agdl correction
Date: Wed, 07 Nov 2001 12:23:36 -0500
From: ihor

Cosmic Charley

This note from Ihor Slabicky's discography:

"Cosmic Charlie" is supposedly based on Charles "Cosmic Charlie" Bosch, one of the characters on the scene in the Haight, who was 'so cosmic'.

----------

hello david,

not correct at all! hunter has clarified that 'cosmic charlie' is NOT about that person...

I-) ihor

Calliope is "the Muse of epic poetry, and chief of the Muses. She was the mother of Orpheus by Apollo or King Oeagrus." Benet's Reader's Encyclopedia. She was also the muse of playing on stringed instruments.

Of course, a calliope is also a keyboard instrument, usually associated with the sound of circuses and carousels.

The calliope is an American invention, attributed to Joshua C. Stoddard of Worcester, Massachusetts, who filed a patent to produce the instruments in 1855. They were extensively mounted on showboats. According to New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, "Most calliopes had a limited range (13 to 20 whistles); many had 32, the largest 588. Reputed to have been audible as far as eight miles away, the calliope played popular dances or marches..." (p. 628)

seaside zoo

Date: Tue, 16 Sep 1997 15:18:59 -0500
From: LUDDITE@ACS.TAMU.EDU
Subject: Annotated Cosmic Charlie
David Dodd,
Your Annotated Grateful Dead Lyrics Web Site is fantastic. I'm just sending you a couple of tidbits of info about San Francisco that may be relevant to your annotations of the song "Cosmic Charlie."
There is a "seaside zoo" in San Francisco, the SF Zoo on Sloat Blvd at 45th Ave. http://www.sfzoo.com/ ; the zoo has a carousel that may have a calliope. Friends who live near the zoo say they can hear the animals "wail" sometimes.
Also, there's an old carousel in Golden Gate Park, just north of Kezar Stadium (map at http://www.sanfranciscoonline.com/bcg/map/GGPark_map.gif); a VERY loud calliope plays while the carousel runs.
The carousel in Golden Gate Park is big, old, and ornate, with lots of mirrors and sparkly things. You can ride horses, swans, tigers and other animals. The carousel in Golden Gate Park is big, old, and ornate, with lots of mirrors and sparkly things. You can ride horses, swans, tigers and other animals.
Hope this is useful to your project. Thanks for all your work!
Dave Pruett
luddite@acs.tamu.edu
Dept of English, Texas A&M University

"Calico: Calico is one of the oldest textiles known. Originally, calico came from Calcutta, a seaport in southwest Madras, India, from whence it derives its name. It is known that Vasco da Gama brought calico, then called pintadores, to Europe from India about 1497.

Calico was executed in a plain weave of carded cotton, printed by the resist method. ... Naturalistic motifs were a favorite, and were done with polychrome effects. The designs were usually very small."

The "calico" referred to by Hunter in this line, however, is much more likely to be a reference to a type of cat. Generally, "calico," in relation to animals, refers to a pattern of colorization similar to that of printed calico cloth. According to the Oxford English Dictionary:

"[3.b.]: Coloured in a way suggestive of printed calico; variegated, piebald. Chiefly of horses."

And here's the definitive word on "calico" from the Cat Fancier's Page.

According to Ihor Slabicky's discography"

"Calico" is supposedly based on one of the Hog Farmers.

Kahlia

Date: Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 GMT
From: Alex Allan
Subject: Kahlia

I offer two thoughts for the origins of Kahlia; neither wholly convincing but together an intriguing pair.

The first is the Cailleach (pronounced cal'yach). She is from very ancient Scottish (pre Celtic) legend and is primarily a hag representing winter. She also appears in other Northern European folk tales. The Penguin Dictionary of Fairies by Katherine Briggs gives a fuller account.

The second is Kali. She is the wife of Siva (or rather one of her incarnations). Another pretty disturbing figure, sometimes pictured bloodied and with the body of Siva at her feet.

The combination of the two would be an interesting creature! I cannot see any link with Calico, but I imagine that's just Hunter alliteration (indeed the sheet music used to have it as "Kalico Kahlia".)

Best wishes
Alex

And another thought from a reader:

Date: Mon, 17 Jun 1996 20:42:31 -0500 (EST)
X-Personal_name: JUSTIN WETHERELL
From: WETHERELLJ1@UOFS.EDU
Subject: KHALIA

I MIGHT HAVE SOME CLUE ON THIS WORD FOR YOU, I WAS CHATTING WITH THE STAR OF "THIRD ROCK FROM THE SUN" (NINA)SIMBI KHALI, SHE SAID HER NAME CAME FROM EITHER KENYA OR INDIA, WELL HER NAME MEANS "LIONESS QUEEN" AND HOPE THAT MIGHT SHED SOME LIGHT ON KHALIA, KHALI, ALMOST SAME.

HOPE IT HELPS YOU, JUSTIN

Thanks, Justin!