Motif and theme index to The Annotated Grateful Dead Lyrics

"As well to count the angels dancin' on a pin..."

Motif and Theme Index To

The Annotated Grateful Dead Lyrics

by
David Dodd
Kraemer Family Library
University of Colorado at Colorado Springs

When lyrics are assigned keywords, they will be added to this listing, which makes no claim, as yet, to comprehensiveness.

|A| B| C| D| E| F| G| H| I| J| K| L| M| N| O| P| Q| R| S| T| U| V| W| X| Y| Z|

A

Alcohol
- Brown-Eyed Women (whiskey)
- Candyman (whiskey)
- Dire Wolf (whiskey)
- Doin' That Rag (rum)
- Easy Wind
- Greatest Story Ever Told (wine)
- Jack Straw (wine)
- Keep Your Day Job (champagne)
- Mexicali Blues (booze)
- Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodleloo (rock and rye)
- Mister Charlie (alligator wine)
- Stagger Lee (gin fizz)
Allah
- Blues for Allah
Ambiguity
- New Speedway Boogie (I don't know, but I been told)
Animals (see also Birds)
- Cassidy (wolf, catch-colt)
- China Cat Sunflower (cat)
- Dire Wolf
- The Eleven (whale)
- Eyes of the World (horses)
- Franklin's Tower (hounds)
- He's Gone (rat; cat; dogs)
- Just a Little Light (white-tail)
- Looks Like Rain (street cats)
- Mister Charlie (alligator)
- Mountains of the Moon (carrion crow)
- Row Jimmy (rabbit)
- Tennessee Jed (dog)
- Terrapin Station (lion, crickets, cicadas, terrapin)
Autobiography
- New Speedway Boogie (Altamont)
- Playing In the Band
- Truckin

B

Belief
- Box of Rain
- Comes a Time
Biblical references
- Alabama Getaway (Psalm 23)
- Black Muddy River (Genesis)
- The Eleven (Jonah)
- Estimated Prophet (Moses, Ezekiel)
- Franklin's Tower (Hosea)
- Greatest Story Ever Told (Moses; Abraham and Isaac; Gideon)
- Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodleloo (Cain and Abel)
- My Brother Esau
- Playing in the Band (Let him cast a stone...)
- Ripple (Psalm 23)
- Saint Stephen
- Sugaree (jubilee)
Birds
- Bird Song
- Black Muddy River (Eagle)
- Cassidy (sea-bird)
- Corrina
- Doin' That Rag (winter birds)
- Easy to Love You (raven)
- Eyes of the World (nuthatch)
- I Will Take You Home (hoot owl)
- Jack Straw (eagles)
- Just a Little Light (sparrow)
- Music Never Stopped (fish rising like birds; rooster)
- New Potato Caboose (eagles)
- So Many Roads (blackbird)
- Sugar Magnolia (cuckoo)
- Unbroken Chain (saw-whet owl)
- Uncle John's Band (crow)
Birth
- Cassidy
- Crazy Fingers (something new is waiting to be born)
- Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodleloo (On the day that I was born)

C

Cheshire Cat (see Literary references)
Colors
- Casey Jones (Lady in red)
- China Cat Sunflower
- Corrina (silver)
- Cosmic Charley (rosy red, electric blue)
- Easy Wind (red)
- Feel Like a Stranger (reds and blues)
- I Need a Miracle (raven-tressed)
- It Must Have Been the Roses (crimson; brown)
- Lazy River Road (bright blue)
- Mexicali Blues (raven)
- Reuben and Cerise (red, white)
- Saint Stephen (scarlet, green, lavender)
- So Many Roads (ice blue)
- Standing on the Moon (crimson, white, indigo)
- Stella Blue
- That's It for the Other One (rainbow spiral)
Comic characters
- China Cat Sunflower (Krazy Kat)
- Little Nemo in Nightland (Little Nemo)
- Revolutionary Hamstrung Blues (Speed Racer)
Crime (see Law and crime

D

Dance
- Chinatown Shuffle
- Doin' That Rag
- Mountains of the Moon (bow and bend to me; dancing kings & wives)
- Reuben and Cerise (like waves against the bandstand dancers broke)
- Row Jimmy (do-pas-o)
- Sugar Magnolia (dance a Cajun rhythm)
Dark and Light
- Comes a Time
- Corrina
- Dark Star
- Days Between
- Doin' That Rag
- New Speedway Boogie
- Saint Stephen
- Scarlet Begonias ("once in a while you get shown the light")
- Shakedown Street ("sunny side of the street is dark" etc.)
- Terrapin Station ("spaces filled with darkness")
- Truckin ("sometimes the light's all shinin' on me...")
Death (see also Birth)
Disability
- Comes a Time (blind)
- Help on the Way (crippled but free; blind)
Dream
- Althea ("sleeping and perchance to d.")
- Attics of My Life ("full of cloudy d.s unreal", etc.)
- Box of Rain ("it's all a d. we d.'ed...")
- Cassidy ("you were in his d.s")
- China Cat Sunflower ("through a d. night wind")
- Comes a Time ("gotta make it somehow on the d.s you still believe")
- The Eleven ("seven faced marble eyed transitory d. doll")
- Fire On the Mountain ("more than just ashes when your d.s come true")
- Help On the Way ("without love in the d. it´ll never come true")
- Here Comes Sunshine ("don't just stand there d.ing")
- Mission In the Rain ("my d.s were riding tall", etc.)
- The Music Never Stopped ("old man sing about their d.s")
- My Brother Esau ("outside that d.", etc.)
- Stella Blue ("it seems that all this life was just a d.")
- To Lay Me Down ("with our d.'s entwined together...")
- What's Become of the Baby (" go to sleep you child, d. of never-ending always")
Drugs
- Casey Jones (cocaine)
- Pride of Cucamonga (marijuana="Oaxaca vine")
- Victim Or the Crime

F

Fire
- Estimated Prophet
- Fire on the Mountain

G

Gambling & Games
- Candyman (dice)
- China Cat Sunflower (cards)
- Deal (cards)
- Dire Wolf (cards)
- Doin' That Rag (cards)
- Here Comes Sunshine (pool)
- Keep Your Day Job (long shot)
- Loser (poker)
- Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodleloo (dice; cards)
- Ramble On Rose (poker)
- Scarlet Begonias (cards)
- Stagger Lee (dice)
- Stella Blue (cards)
- Tennessee Jed (slot machine)
Geography
- Alabama Getaway
- Cumberland Blues
- Friend of the Devil (Reno; Utah; Chino; Cherokee)
- Jack Straw (Texas; Santa Fe; Cheyenne; Tulsa; Tucson; Wichita)
- Loser (Abilene)
- Mexicali Blues (Mexicali; Bakersfield)
- Mission in the Rain (San Francisco's Mission District)
- Mountains of the Moon
- Operator (Texas, Portland, Utah)
- Pride of Cucamonga (Rancho Cucamonga; Muskrat Flats, Oaxaca)
- Ramble On Rose (New York City, Jericho)
- Scarlet Begonias (Grosvenor Square)
- So Many Roads (New York, San Francisco)
- Standing on the Moon (El Salvador, Gulf of Mexico, California, San Francisco)
- Tennessee Jed
- Terrapin Station (Carlisle)
God (see also Allah>
- Attics of My Life
- Brown-Eyed Women
- Wharf Rat (my Maker...)
Guns
- Candyman (shotgun)
- China Doll (pistol)
- Mr. Charlie (shotgun)

H

Heaven and hell
- Hell in a Bucket
- Saint Stephen (bucket hangin' clear to hell)
- Saint of Circumstance (This must be heaven...)
- Standing on the Moon (a lovely view of heaven)
- Terrapin Station (uncertain pains of hell)
Home
- Brokedown Palace (since I first left h.)
- I Will Take You Home
- Ripple (I would take you h.)
- So Many Roads (all I want is one to take me h.)

L

Law and crime
- Alabama Getaway
- Bertha ("why don't you arrest me")
- Dupree's Diamond Blues
- Friend of the Devil ("sheriff's on my trail...")
- Jack Straw
- New Speedway Boogie
- Ramble On Rose (Jack the Ripper)
- Stagger Lee
- That's It for the Other One ("The heat come round and busted me...")
- Truckin ("busted down on Bourbon Street)
Light see Dark and Light
Literary references
- Althea (Shakespeare)
- Blues for Allah (The Arabian Nights Entertainment)
- Can't Come Down (Cheshire Cat)
- China Cat Sunflower (Lewis Carroll; Edith Sitwell)
- Dark Star (T.S. Eliot)
- Down the Road (Cheshier Cat)
- The Eleven (Herman Melville)
- Eyes of the World (Blaise Pascal; Ken Kesey)
- Foolish Heart (Edmund Burke; Alexander Pope)
- He's Gone (Tennessee Williams)
- I Will Take You Home (Temple Bailey)
- Mountains of the Moon (Poe; Hans Christian Andersen)
- Ramble On Rose (Mary Shelley's Frankenstein)
- Saint Stephen (William Tell)
- Scarlet Begonias (Kenneth Grahame)
- Ship of Fools (Sebastian Brant)
- Silver Apples of the Moon (W.B. Yeats)
- That's It for the Other One (J.M. Barrie)
Love

M

Magic
- Caution (mojo's hand)
- Ramble On Rose (mojo hand)
Moon
- Mountains of the Moon
- Picasso Moon
- Stagger Lee (full m. over town)
- Standing on the Moon
- Terrapin Station (brand-new crescent m.; in the shadow of the m.)
Music
- Bird Song
- Crazy Fingers
- Doin' That Rag
- Fire on the Mountain
- Looks Like Rain
- Mountains of the Moon
- Music Never Stopped
- Playing in the Band
- Ramble On Rose
- Ripple
- So Many Roads (jug band...)
- Stagger Lee
- Standing on the Moon (lullaby)
Musical instruments
- Candyman (guitar)
- Cassidy (horn, tambourine)
- China Cat Sunflower (trombone, violin)
- China Doll (hurdy-gurdy)
- Cosmic Charley (calliope)
- Greatest Story Ever Told (guitar)
- Mister Charlie (drums)
- Mountains of the Moon (banjo; fiddler)
- Music Never Stopped (fiddle; calliopes)
- New Potato Caboose (all graceful instruments)
- Reuben and Cerise (mandolin)
- Ripple (harp)
- Stella Blue (guitar)
Mythology
- Althea
- Cosmic Charley (Calliope)
- Fire on the Mountain (dragon)
- Franklin's Tower (four winds)
- Mountains of the Moon (Electra)
- Reuben and Cerise (Orpheus)
- Saint Stephen (Calliope)

N

Names
- It Must Have Been the Roses (Annie)
- Jack Straw (Jack Straw; Shannon)
- Mason's Children
- Mountains of the Moon (Tom Banjo)
- Ramble On Rose (Jack, Jill, Crazy Otto, Rose, Billy Sunday)
- Reuben and Cerise (Also Ruby Claire)
- Rosemary
- Row Jimmy (Jimmy, Julie)
- Saint Stephen
- Stella Blue
- Tennessee Jed
- That's It for the Other One (Neal)
Nonsense and whimsy
Numbers
- Greatest Story Ever Told (ten thousand)
Nursey Rhymes
- Doin' That Rag (Ring a ring a rosie)
- Ramble On Rose (Jack and Jill)
- Scarlet Begonias (Ride a cock horse)
- Till the Morning Comes (Ring a ring a rosie)

P

Parenthood (see also Birth)
- Friend of the Devil
- I Will Take You Home

Plants (see also Roses)
- Brokedown Palace (willow)
- Crazy Fingers (willow)
- Doin' That Rag (mangrove)
- Franklin's Tower (wildflower)
- Mountains of the Moon (laurel; wheat)
- Saint Stephen (manzanita, ivy)
- Scarlet Begonias (begonias)
- Sugar Magnolia
- That's It For the Other One (lily)
- To Lay Me Down (clover)
Precious stones and metals
- Corrina (silver)
- Dark Star (diamonds)
- Doin' That Rag (jewels)
- Dupree's Diamond Blues (diamond)
- The Eleven (thought jewels, gold)
- Greatest Story Ever Told (silver)
- Loser (gold)
- Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodleloo (silver mine)
- Mountains of the Moon (jade)
- So Many Roads (gold and silver)
- Terrapin Station (gold)

R

Reason
- Dark Star
- Playing in the Band
River (see also Water)
Roses
- American Beauty (album--title is a type of rose, rose on cover)
- Black Muddy River
- It Must Have Been the Roses
- Lazy River Road
- Ramble On Rose
- Saint Stephen
- So Many Roads
- That's It for the Other One

S

Spirituals
- China Doll
- Doin' That Rag (Wade in the Water)
- Estimated Prophet (Ezekiel Saw De Wheel)
- Hell in a Bucket (When the Saints)
- Might As Well (Swing Low, Sweet Chariot)
Stars
- Built to Last
- Dark Star

T

Train
- Casey Jones
- China Cat Sunflower (double-e)
- He's Gone (steam locomotive)
- Jack Straw
- Lazy River Road ("boxcars t. by t.")
- Might As Well
- New Potato Caboose
- They Love Each Other ("it's like a diesel t.")
- So Many Roads (KC moan)
- Terrapin Station
Trees see Plants
Truth
- Althea

W

War
- Blues for Allah
Water
- Black Muddy River
- Franklin's Tower
- Mountains of the Moon (Cold Mountain water)
- Ripple (still water; fountain)
Weather
- Bird Song (snow and rain)
- Black Peter (wind)
- Crazy Fingers (rain)
- Estimated Prophet (thunder)
- Franklin's Tower
- Looks Like Rain
- Mission in the Rain
- Mountains of the Moon (wind; rain)
- Operator (floods)
- Stella Blue (wind)
Work

First posted: December, 1996