#3: % (jewel) Wed 7 Mar 12 08:28

Wed, 07 Mar 2012 08:28:00 PST

#2: posting for BILL HOLICKY (tnf) Fri 2 Mar 12 14:54

Fri, 02 Mar 2012 14:54:00 PST

Bill Holicky writes:

Hunter has said that this is a loose collection of haiku type verses connected mostly or only by mood. I always felt there are three themes * lost love (perhaps through death?), enlightenment/transformation (maybe through sadness, and maybe of lost love), and just rain as a symbol for the mood. A loved one dying has a possibility (especially when you remember he used the same theme for that in Box of Rain for Phil*s father), but the last third support a relationship that*s gone through a change (rather than being lost.). If they really are unrelated, as Hunter states, then perhaps it*s both.

Your rain falls like crazy fingers Peals of fragile thunder keeping time

I love the concept of rain *keeping time* like a drum. Interesting part here is why he uses the word *your*. That always made me wonder if he*s comparing the rain to someone*s tears. And comparing raindrops to fragile thunder? * you can just hear it, and it gives the sound an importance, a depth. Recall the days that still are to come Some sing blue

This is compelling * the memory of a past sad time that will repeat * and brings to mind the possibility of tears from the first stanza. Throughout this song there is a thread of relationship trouble, or lost love/death, or something of the kind. Blue before, blue after, something else transformative now.

Hang your heart on laughing willow Stray down to the water Deep Sea of Love

This has been compared to the traditional line *hang your harp on a weeping willow.* Hunter loved these twists of traditional lines. Again, this uses the water theme to reflect falling in love. Lose your heart and jump in.

Beneath the sweet calm face of the sea Swift undertow

And here is the trouble/heartbreak lurking below the happy attraction, and this is what is causing the transformation throughout the song.

Life may be sweeter for this, I don't know See how it feels in the end May Lady Lullaby sing plainly for you Soft, strong, sweet and true

This is the most beautiful thought in a beautiful song * that no matter the price, love is worth it, that it makes life deeper and sweeter and better no matter any resultant heartache or heartbreak. *See how it feels in the end.*

Cloud hands reaching from a rainbow Tapping at the window touch your hair

Rain again * rain as hands reaching from a rainbow. Only Hunter.

So swift and bright Strange figures of light Float in air

From above, the sun is out (rainbow) so this is the flash of raindrops through the air when the sun is lighting them up.

Who can stop what must arrive now? Something new is waiting to be born

Here*s the immediate reference to the Yeats poem *slouching towards Bethlehem to be born* about the second coming. In that, Yeats makes it cataclysmic. Here, Hunter makes it positive with the main refrain and the next two stanzas. Triumph of hope. Very sweet. Anyway, this calls up the transformation of emotional enlightenment * this event changed his world, and now a new understanding comes forth. Of course * life may be sweeter for this*

Dark as the night You're still by my side Shining side

Hope. Even in the despair.

Gone are the days we stopped to decide Where we should go We just ride

Enlightenment, or relationship maturity. No more worries and frets * living in the now. Taoism. Just ride.

Gone are the broken eyes we saw through in dreams Gone - both dream and lie

Again, the enlightenment of being removed from the shackles of the *in love* relationship dream. No false dreams or constructs, no lies, no hopes, just the truth, and the now. And reality.

Life may be sweeter for this I don't know Feels like it might be alright While Lady Lullaby sings plainly for you Love still rings true

*Feels like it might be alright.* An affirmation that the price of love was worth it.

Midnight on a carousel ride Reaching for the gold ring down inside

Apparently, old carousels used to have a prize in the middle you would try to grab as you went by. Regardless, the reference seems to be to love or enlightenment, with the carousel being the ups and downs of life. Trying to achieve the real Love on the dark filled merry go round of our lives. All described in 12 words.

Never could reach It just slips away but I try

The Buddhists know this one * life is sadness. The achievement is fleeting, and can*t be fully grasped on this earth.

But we try. [Read entire topic]

#1: Alex Allan (alexallan) Tue 2 Sep 03 18:46

Tue, 02 Sep 2003 18:46:00 PDT

Crazy Fingers Lyrics: Robert Hunter Music: Jerry Garcia

Copyright Ice Nine Publishing; used by permission.

Your rain falls like crazy fingers Peals of fragile thunder Keeping time Recall the days that still are to come Some sing blue

Hang your heart on laughing willow Stray down to the water Deep sea of love Beneath the sweet calm face of the sea Swift undertow

Life may be sweeter than this, I don't know See how it feels in the end Maybe Lady Lullaby sing plainly for you Soft, strong, sweet and true

Cloud hands reaching from a rainbow Tapping at the window Touch your hair So swift and bright, strange fingers of light Float in air

Who can stop what must arrive now? Something new is waiting To be born Dark as the night you're still by my side Shine inside

Gone are the days we stopped to decide Where we should go, we just ride Gone are the broken eyes we saw through in dreams Gone, both dream and lie

Life may be sweeter than this, I don't know See how it feels in the end Maybe Lady Lullaby sing plainly for you Soft, strong, sweet and true

Midnight on a carousel ride Reaching for the gold ring Down inside Never could reach it, just slips away But I try [Read entire topic]

#0: David Dodd (ddodd) Tue 2 Sep 03 15:04

Tue, 02 Sep 2003 15:04:00 PDT

Crazy Fingers w: Hunter m: Garcia AGDL: http://arts.ucsc.edu/gdead/agdl/crazy.html LASF: http://www.whitegum.com/songfile/CRAZYFIN.HTM [Read entire topic]

The WELL: deadsongs.vue.47: Crazy Fingers

#3: *%* (jewel) Wed 7 Mar 12 08:28

#2: posting for BILL HOLICKY (tnf) Fri 2 Mar 12 14:54

#1: Alex Allan (alexallan) Tue 2 Sep 03 18:46

#0: David Dodd (ddodd) Tue 2 Sep 03 15:04

#3: % (jewel) Wed 7 Mar 12 08:28