Dead Songs in Depth

    
Alabama Getaway
w: Hunter m: Garcia
AGDL: http://arts.ucsc.edu/gdead/agdl/ala.html
LASF: http://www.whitegum.com/songfile/ALABAMA.HTM
  

    
Alabama Getaway 
Lyrics: Robert Hunter
Music: Jerry Garcia

Copyright Ice Nine Publishing; used by permission.

Twenty two teeth in a jaw-bone
Alabama trying for none
Before I have to hit him
I hope he's got the sense to run

Reason the poor girls love him
Promise them everything
Why they all believe him?
He wears a big diamond ring

Chorus
Alabama getaway, get away
Alabama getaway, get away
Only way to please me
Turn around and leave and walk away
[Alternative:Sit down and leave and walk away]

Major Domo Billy Bojangles
Sit down and have a drink with me
What's this about Alabama?
It keeps a-coming back to me

I heard your plea in the court house
Witness box began to rock and rise
Forty nine sister states
All had Alabama in their eyes

[chorus]

Major said why don't we give him
Rope enough to hang himself?
Ain't no need to worry the jury
His kind take care of themselves

Twenty third psalm Major Domo
Reserve me a table for three
In the valley of the shadow
Just you and Alabama and me

[chorus]
  

    
I got this from Bryan Finney:

>Greetings Alex,
>
>I'm doing some personal research on "Alabama Getaway," and was
>looking at your and Gan's site for info on when Hunter wrote this
>song and what in the world happened in Alabama when he wrote it. 
>
>Can you give any help here? I'm not getting very far on my own.
>
>Bryan
>Benton Harbor, MI

It's a good point. David's site/book doesn't have a lot. The lyrics
read as if they might well have been written in response to something
happening in Alabama, and presumably something to do with
crime/punishment. Any thoughts or previous research?
  

    
For me, the lyric is one of those with apparent original historical
references (for Hunter) that really don't concern me. What does is the
fact that around the time to song was in the air, I was involved in a
beautifully tragic relationship with a girl from Alabama. All the
elements from the song were being lived out; all the violence and
double-talk, legal proceedings, fine cuisine, biblical references,
drinks with a fancy dressing cowpoke, and that beautiful girl. It
seemed so weird that the song synchronized with my contemporary
experience.

It's part of the beauty of the lyric; it's wide open enough to include
experiences that Hunter never had. Well, maybe he did. He's not
inclined to tell.