"And if that jubilee don't come, maybe I'll meet you on the run"

The Annotated "Sugaree"

An installment in The Annotated Grateful Dead Lyrics.
By David Dodd
Research Associate, University of California, Santa Cruz
Copyright notice
"Sugaree"
Words by Robert Hunter; music by Jerry Garcia
Copyright Ice Nine Publishing; used by permission
When they come to take you down
When they bring that wagon round
When they come to call on you
and drag your poor body down

Just one thing I ask of you
Just one thing for me
Please forget you knew my name
My darlin Sugaree

Shake it, shake it Sugaree
Just don't tell them that you know me

You thought you was the cool fool
Never could do no wrong
Had everything sewed up tight
How come you lay awake all night long?

Just one thing I ask of you
Just one thing for me
Please forget you knew my name
My darlin Sugaree

Shake it, shake it Sugaree
Just don't tell them that you know me

You know in spite of all you gained
you still have to stand out in the pouring rain
One last voice is calling you
and I guess it's time you go

Just one thing I ask of you
Just one thing for me
Please forget you knew my name
My darlin Sugaree

Shake it, shake it Sugaree
Just don't tell them that you know me

Shake it up now, Sugaree
I'll meet you at the Jubilee
If that Jubilee don't come
Maybe I'll meet you on the run

One thing I ask of you
Just one thing for me
Please forget you knew my name
my darling Sugaree

Shake it, shake it Sugaree
but don't tell them that you know me
Shake it, shake it Sugaree
Just don't tell 'em that you know me

"Sugaree"

Recorded on

First performance: July 31, 1971, at the Yale Bowl, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut. "Sugaree" occupied the second spot in the first set, following the opener, "Truckin'", and preceding "Mr. Charlie", also performed for the first time in this show. The song remained in the repertoire thereafter.

Covered by Merl Saunders and the Rainforest Band on Save the Planet So We'll Have Someplace to Boogie.

The title is reminiscent of the Elizabeth Cotten song, "I've Got a Secret (Shake Sugaree)". Fred Neil recorded the tune in a version in which he re-worked the melody somewhat.

Versions of a "Sugaree" (not the Garcia/Hunter tune) appear on


if that

A formulation commonly known from "The Mocking Bird Song", (Sharp, #234): "If that mocking bird don't sing..."

jubilee

In ancient Jewish times, Jubilee was held every 49 years, and was a ritualized way of giving everyone a clean slate. The tradition is outlined in the Bible in Leviticus, chapter 25:
And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubile unto you; and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family. A jubile shall that fiftieth year be unto you: ye shall not sow, neither reap that which groweth of itself in it, nor gather the grapes in it of thy vine undressed. For it is the jubile; it shall be holy unto you: ye shall eat the increase thereof out of the field.

The basic tenet of jubilee is that all debts should be forgiven. This included indenture and mortgage of person and property. Thus, the concept was readily embraced by America's slave population, and entered our folklore.

Perhaps the character in "Sugaree" is saying that both of them would need a jubilee in order to freely see each other again; othewise, they will remain on the run for whatever mysterious reason.


First posted: May 31, 1995
Last revised: February 28, 1998