The WELL: deadsongs.vue.193: Sugaree

#26: Robin Russell (rrussell8) Mon 16 May 11 00:58

Mon, 16 May 2011 00:58:00 PDT

I'm not so sure. In context, the laying awake seems more like laying awake and worrying:

You thought you was the cool fool And never would do no wrong You had everything sewed up tight How come you lay awake all night long [Read entire topic]

#25: Strangest I Could Find (miltloomis) Sat 14 May 11 19:28

Sat, 14 May 2011 19:28:00 PDT

Three years later, I agree. [Read entire topic]

#24: David Dodd (ddodd) Thu 17 Jul 08 14:41

Thu, 17 Jul 2008 14:41:00 PDT

Posted on behalf of Rob Weil:

David,

I would hardly call myself a "Deadhead" but I have truly come to admire and enjoy the Grateful Dead's music in my older years. Your website is great to reference when you just cant seem to wrap your mind around what Jerry is trying to say. I am probably many years too late to add my two-cents to your site but I would like to throw this out there.

Is Sugaree a prostitute...???

"When they bring that wagon around," -could be the paddywagon coming to arrest her for being a hooker

"When they come to call on you, drag your poor body down," -could reference the men who are hiring her for the night

"Please forget you knew my name, my darlin Sugaree," -client confidentiality-no names please

"How come you lay awake all night," -working girl doing her thing all night long

"You know in spite of all you gained, still have to stand out in the pouring rain, one last voice is calling you, and I guess its time you go" -she has made plenty of money hooking that night but maybe the pimp wont let her go home yet, then one more lonely customer is calling on her so she must go

It seems obvious to me that this song is about a hooker named Sugaree. There are no posts to the Annotated Sugaree about it, so I thought I'd share my thoughts.

ROB WEIL [Read entire topic]

#23: Bill McKenney (gratefulwood) Fri 17 Dec 04 00:11

Fri, 17 Dec 2004 00:11:00 PST

Beauty is in the eye's of the beholder :-) [Read entire topic]

#22: David A. Mason (mntnwolf) Thu 16 Dec 04 23:58

Thu, 16 Dec 2004 23:58:00 PST

Yeah, that's the way i thought.

Wow, Robert R's #14 there is mind-blowing for me, i'd never thought of that -- instantly gives me three- dimensional vision of a song i've wondered about for 3 decades! He hasn't got it quite right -- the wagon's coming to bring her back to Master's house, where she "shakes it" for him, thinking she'll get great benefits from that, thinking she's got it all figured out (as so many pretty 19-yr-old ladies think they do!); but the singer foresees disaster from this behavior... Can only hope she'll come to her senses in time, and he'll see her again at the Jubilee or on the run.

Doesn't matter that Hunter wrote some different origin/interpretation.... What does HE know? :-) [Read entire topic]

#21: Bill McKenney (gratefulwood) Thu 16 Dec 04 23:42

Thu, 16 Dec 2004 23:42:00 PST

Why would Hunter even try to compete with "Strange Fruit" that song is untouchable.

Still????

The slave connection is there, isn't it? Even thou I never would have thought of that myself.

I'm think'in more of the dance floor thing. Hav'in fun dan'cin not a care in the world Don't come to me tommorow and ask me to bail you out. [Read entire topic]

#20: Marked from the Day That I was Born (ssol) Thu 16 Dec 04 16:06

Thu, 16 Dec 2004 16:06:00 PST

Pardon me for being crude and too literal, but doesn't a body at the end of the rope, hanging, shake, shake, legs kickin', before that last throttled gasp.

I might have writ the verse the same way, and meant it quite obvious, cruel, and sad.

Hunter, perhaps, was more poetic. [Read entire topic]

#19: Julie Ellen Anzaldo (jewel) Wed 15 Dec 04 12:01

Wed, 15 Dec 2004 12:01:00 PST

I've often used this song to be self-critical, or to feel a needed distancing from someone I am feeling entrenched with. I have deluded myself into denying my shortcomings and bad deeds (thought I had everything sewn up tight) and yet have been left with a deep sense of unease and/or breakthoughs of guilt (staying awake all night long). I have gained much in my life, yet sometimes feel so far from where I want to be (out in the pouring rain, so to speak). But there is always this voice...

Same thing when evaluating others, but when it is about someone else, I feel somewhat judgemental, but most importantly, separated and divorced from them. Its kind of like Positively 4th Street in that regard.

The voice - always the hint/glimmer of redemption that soothes me. Either bringing me peace, or leading an adversary to enlightenment. [Read entire topic]

#18: Robin Russell (rrussell8) Wed 15 Dec 04 11:50

Wed, 15 Dec 2004 11:50:00 PST

This is one Garcia Hunter song I have always had trouble singing, probably because I have not been able to crack the cipher. Even the chorus is an enigma. What is Sugaree being exhorted to shake?

A leg (as in hurry up)? A fit of the blues? A money-maker? The hand of the narrator (shake my hand, but treat me as though I am a stranger)? Their head (in denial)? [Read entire topic]

#17: David Gans (tnf) Tue 14 Dec 04 23:14

Tue, 14 Dec 2004 23:14:00 PST

Here's waht Robert Hunter had to say in his liner notes for "Garcia" in the boxed set "All Good Things":

> Sugaree was written soon after I moved from the Garcia household to China > Camp. People assume the idea was caged from Elizabeth Cotton's ""Sugaree" > but, in fact, the song was originally titled "Stingaree" which is a > poisonous South Sea Manta. The phrase "just don't tell them that you know > me" was prompted by something said by an associate from my pre-Dead days > when my destitute circumstances found me fraternizing with a gang of minor > criminals. What he said, when departing, was: "Hold your mud and don't > mention my name." Why change the title to "Sugaree"? Just thought it > sounded better that way, made the addressee seem more hard bitten to bear a > sugar coated name. The song, as I imagined it, is addressed to a pimp. And > yes, I knew Libba's song and did indeed borrow the new name from her, sug- > gested by the "Shake it" refrain. [Read entire topic]