"Wake now discover that you are the song that the morning brings"

The Annotated "Eyes of the World"

An installment in The Annotated Grateful Dead Lyrics.
By David Dodd
Research Associate, Music Dept., University of California, Santa Cruz
Copyright notice
"Eyes of the World"
Words by Robert Hunter; music by Jerry Garcia
Copyright Ice Nine Publishing; used by permission.

Right outside this lazy summer home
you don't have time to call your soul a critic, no
Right outside the lazy gate of winter's summer home
wondering where the nuthatch winters
Wings a mile long just carried the bird away

Wake up to find out
that you are the eyes of the World
but the heart has its beaches
its homeland and thoughts of its own
Wake now, discover that you
are the song that the morning brings
but the heart has its seasons
its evenings and songs of its own

There comes a redeemer
and he slowly too fades away
There follows a wagon behind him
that's loaded with clay
and the seeds that were silent
all burst into bloom and decay

The night comes so quiet
and it's close on the heels of the day

Wake up to find out
that you are the eyes of the world
but the heart has its beaches
its homeland and thoughts of its own
Wake now, discover that you
are the song that the morning brings
but the heart has its seasons
its evenings and songs of its own

Sometimes we live no
particular way but our own

Sometimes we visit your country
and live in your home

Sometimes we ride on your horses
Sometimes we walk alone
Sometimes the songs that we hear
are just songs of our own

Wake up to find out
that you are the eyes of the world
but the heart has its beaches
its homeland and thoughts of its own
Wake now, discover that you
are the song that the morning brings
but the heart has its seasons
its evenings and songs of its own


"Eyes of the World"

Recorded on

Covered by

First live performance was in a show full of firsts: February 9, 1973 at Maples Pavilion, Stanford University. Other firsts in the show included "China Doll," "Here Comes Sunshine," "Loose Lucy," "They Love Each Other," "Row Jimmy," and "Wave That Flag." "Eyes" appeared as the middle part of a three-song medley comprising "Truckin'">"Eyes">"China Doll." It remained in the repertoire thereafter.


Eyes of the World

At least two movies, one book, and one song have used this phrase as a title:

This note from a reader:

Date: Mon, 04 Mar 1996 11:47:17 -0800
From: Scott Robertson
Subject: Annotated Lyrics-Eyes of the world

My dear Doctor

I write you with a tear in my eye after reading but a small fraction of your beautiful work in progress. Thank you.

If I might add a small note to the work on Eyes of the world.Yet another book exists with direct relation. "You are the eyes of the world" is a translation of the noted Buddhist practitioner Longchenpa's practical guide to the trantra (The Jewel Ship: A Guide to the Meaning of Pure and Total Presence, the Creative Enenrgy of the Universe, byang chub kyi sems kun byed rgyal po'i don khrid din chen sgru bo) It was translated by Kennard Lipman and Merrill Peterson and published by Lotsawa of Novato,Ca. I believe the change in name occured after the last publication date of 1987. The song itself obviously held importance for the folks involved in its production for part of Hunter's lyrics are printed opposite the title page. After reading the text the relationship becomes very clear since it instructs the reader how to experience pure presence. How many times at a show did I feel that.....

From my heart, thanks again for a wonderful hideaway in cyberspace..

Many blessings....scott robertson


nuthatch

Nuthatches: Family: Sittidae. Twenty-one species in four genera. Distribution: N. America, Europe, N. Africa, Asia, New Guinea, and Australia.
Size: length 4 to 7.5"; weight .35 to 1.75 oz.
Plumage: upperparts blue-gray; two species have a bright blue back; some species have a black stripe through each eye; underparts grayish white to brown.
Voice: repeated piping phrases, chattering calls.
The word "nuthatch" is derived from the fondness of the Eurasian species for hazel nuts.
Regarding the phrase: "Wonder where the nuthatch winters...": "Only a few species are known to undertake migrations. The Red-breasted nuthatch migrates from the woods of Canada as far as the southern montane woodlands of North American. In some winters the east Siberian subspecies of the Eurasian nuthatch moves west as far as Finland."
Regarding "wings a mile long": "...they have long wings and a short to medium tail."

Sources:


The heart has its seasons

Compare the quote by Blaise Pascal (1623-1662), from his Pensees (1670):
"The heart has its reasons, which reason does not know. We feel it in a thousand things. I say that the heart naturally loves the Universal Being, and also itself naturally, according as it gives itself to them; and it hardens itself against one or the other at its will. You have rejected the one and kept the other. Is it by reason that you love yourself?" (no. 277)

There comes a redeemer....

This note from a reader:
From: Doug Allaire [mailto:douglas-allaire@uiowa.edu]
Sent: Wednesday, February 12, 2003 11:12 AM
Subject: Annotated Lyrics: Eyes of the World

David,

Some thoughts on Eyes of the World.

There comes a redeemer
and he slowly too fades away
There follows a wagon behind him
that's loaded with clay
and the seeds that were silent
all burst into bloom and decay

Cheers,
Doug Allaire


Sometimes we...

Compare the song "Goodnight Irene", (a song the band performed once) with its lines
"Sometimes I live in the country
Sometimes I live in town
Sometimes I take a great notion
To jump in the river and drown."
And this note from Todd Fahey:
Date: Fri, 2 Jun 1995 23:19:46 -0500
From: Fahey Todd B
Subject: Amended Addition to "Eyes of the World"

This may be too obvious to add to the "Eyes" annotation, but the four lines quoted from "Goodnight, Irene" are the same as inspired Ken Kesey's title, Sometimes a Great Notion. Kesey, as we all know, was the great generator of the Sixties, having, with Robert Hunter, been involved in the CIA's MK-ULTRA acid tests at the Menlo Park Veterans Hospital, under the direction of Dr. Leo Hollister, one of the Company's prized psychiatrists. And, as we also know, the early Warlocks, who were to become the Grateful Dead, were Kesey's house band for some of the Pranksters' Acid Tests.

Again, this may be too obvious, but there may be one or two who don't know all that.

Best,

Todd Brendan Fahey
Doctoral Teaching Fellow, Creative Writing
University of Southwestern Louisiana
Fahey@usl.edu

And this note from a reader:

Subject: Thoughts on Ripple
Date: Thu, 30 Jan 97 12:55 EST
From: Dick Katz <0002020180@mcimail.com>

I was just wandering through your site and the notes on "Ripple" in particular. The lines "...and if you go, no one may follow, that path is for your steps alone" always remind me of the third verse of "Eyes of the World" that begin "Sometimes we live no particular way but our own" which to me gets to the very essence of the Dead experience which is to simply be who you are.


Sometimes we visit your country...

This note from a reader:
Subject: Eyes o/t World note
Date: Mon, 23 Mar 1998 00:34:57 -0500
From: "Keith 'DAVID' Lane" Keith.lane@rollins.edu
[...]
So, I add this in the tone of contribution, I hope it's useful or at least interesting to someone... from "Eyes of the World"

Sometimes we visit your country
and live in your home

I've always had a great connection with this line because I was lucky enough as a high-schooler (1982) to participate in a HOMESTAY on an international exchange program, called The Experiment in International Living.

The essence of The Experiment, which was founded in the 1930's as an effort to prevent a recurrance of the atrocity of The Great War (WW I to us these days), was the development of what is called a Homestay. The Experiment was instrumental in establishing and legitimizing the idea of learning about people in another country by living as a member of the family, in their homes. Participants on these exchanges (myself included) often report the realization of something like a 'oneness with humanity,' and/or a realization that 'people are people,' regardless of nationality, which for me resonates back to being the "eyes of the world," one with the world.

I don't remember which came first, my conscious listening to these lyrics, or my hearing from a deadhead the idea that the whole tour/show/family thing was essentially an experiment, but it was a revelation for me when I heard this line and thought of my own experiences, and put the two together over time.

The Experiment is an international organization loosely organized along federal lines. Each country office is independent. The U.S. Experiment has become World Learning, Inc. in 1992 (http://www.worldlearning.org), and was the first international training site, in the 1960's, for volunteers in the Peace Corps. This Peace Corps training contract eventually led to the incorporation of the School for International Training (http://www.sit.edu), (where I earned a Bachelor's in International Studies in '94).

Besides the obvious "peace" orientation of the sixties counterculture, I wonder if there is another more direct connection to the Peace Corps or even The Experiment. Did Robert Hunter hang out with early PCV's (Peace Corps Volunteers) who might have been orientated by The Experiment, and might have learned of the history of The Experiment and the importance of the homestay for realizing that we're all one? Just wondering. Anyone who wants to contact me about some of these (or any) ideas, is welcome to e-mail me at zenciti@igc.apc.org.

Thanks again for a beautiful site,
Keith David Lane


Keywords: @birds, @kesey
DeadBase code: [EYES]
First posted: March 22, 1995
Last revised: February 12, 2003