In light of his answer, that question seems remarkably narrow, and I plead guilty to asking this kind of question along with Deb. His answer implies that Deb had asked if this was a song about being stoned. When Hunter says, in his email to Deb, that this is a song about the soul, that is a big door being opened, and it provides a key to the entire body of work. Connection with those unlike oneself, with lovers, with the entire planet, with the cosmic unconscious-the ability to submerge and to emerge: to become something larger than an individual, while still embracing the diversity of being an individual and knowing others. If one large theme has emerged, for me, over the course of writing this weekly essay about the songs over the past year and a half, it is that so many of the songs, and so much of the entire Grateful Dead ethos, is about connection. This makes me think of his muse, evoked in the Terrapin Station Suite, and the similarity of the response from something larger than one’s self. He brings up the concept of grace, which, in the context of the words of the song, comes when he has no wings to fly, when he is dried up and out of inspiration. I love that: “If I could say it in prose I wouldn't need to write the song.”Īnd then, he is so helpful to this English student. No, this is not a song about being stoned. I guess the best I could say is that "you flew to me" is an affirmation of the concept of grace. Poetry is evocative - it's meant to communicate to deeper levels and approach the levels of non-verbal experience. I guess I have to give the stock answer: if I could say it in prose I wouldn't need to write the song. I debated on posting it for a while, but I think they are words to be read. One of you kind folks gave me Hunter's e-mail address, and would you believe he responded to me in about 4 hours!?! A lot of you mailed me asking me what he said, so here is the letter. The paper is going great thanks to a lot of you. This post is mainly in response to those who helped me out on the interpretation of "Attics of my Life" for my English paper. But here’s an exchange I posted on the annotated lyrics website, found by a reader on (anyone remember newsgroups?) back in 1996: Heck, even I get those requests, and I surely don’t know much of anything about what anything means. Hunter often receives requests from listeners to weigh in on the meaning of his songs, or of particular lines within those songs. By extension, any of us can easily embrace the song’s meaning for ourselves and our own lives and work, and our hopes for finding larger meaning and connection. Wrapping up the Days Between period, I wanted to open a conversation about another significant Hunter / Garcia song, and was surprised to find that we haven’t talked yet about this one! One of my very favorite songs, in any kind of list I might make.Īnd while it might seem that this is not a story song, it does seem to be personal and autobiographical-a song about being a songwriter, and about the songwriter’s relationship to something greater than him- or herself. The song has been firmly lodged in my conscious and subconscious mind since the day I first listened to American Beauty (and I can remember that experience quite clearly-dancing around the living room at my girlfiend’s parents’ house in San Diego). And the highlight of that highlight of my life was singing the final encore, just Bob and us on the stage proscenium, a capella - “Attics of My Life.” OK, it was for Bob Weir and the Marin Philharmonic, and I was one of ten or so singers, but still. (I’ll consider requests for particular songs-just private message me!)Ī couple of years ago, I lucked into a musical opportunity that will probably never come my way again: I got to sing back-up harmonies for Bob Weir.
#WORDS TO STORY OF MY LIFE SONG FREE#
Therefore, the best part, I would hope, would not be anything in particular that I might have to say, but rather, the conversation that may happen via the comments over the course of time-and since all the posts will stay up, you can feel free to weigh in any time on any of the songs! With Grateful Dead lyrics, there’s always a new and different take on what they bring up for each listener, it seems. Here’s the plan-each week, I will blog about a different song, focusing, usually, on the lyrics, but also on some other aspects of the song, including its overall impact-a truly subjective thing.
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