"Jack Straw" lyrics

"Jack Straw"

[The Grateful Dead:]
We can share the women, we can share the wine
We can share what we got of yours 'cause we done shared all of mine
Keep on rollin', just a mile to go
Keep on rollin' my old buddy, you're movin' much too slow

[Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir:]
I just jumped the watchman, right outside the fence
Took his rings, four bucks in change, ain't that Heaven sent?
Hurts my ears to listen, Shannon, burns my eyes to see
Cut down a man in cold blood, Shannon, might as well've been me

[Bob Weir:]
We used to play for silver, now we play for life
And one's for sport and one's for blood at the point of a knife
And now the die is shaken, now the die must fall
There ain't a winner in the game, he don't go home with all
Not with all

[The Grateful Dead:]
Leavin' Texas, fourth day of July
Sun so hot, the clouds so low, the eagles filled the sky
Catch the Detroit Lightning out of Santa Fe
The Great Northern out of Cheyenne, from sea to shining sea

[Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir:]
Gotta go to Tulsa, first train we can ride
Gotta settle one old score, one small point of pride
There ain't a place a man can hide, Shannon, will keep him from the sun
Ain't a bed can give us rest now, you keep us on the run

[The Grateful Dead:]
Jack Straw from Wichita
Cut his buddy down
Dug for him a shallow grave
And laid his body down

Half a mile from Tucson
By the morning light
One man gone and another to go
My old buddy, you're moving much
Too slow

We can share the women, we can share the wine


Bob Weir explained in an interview in 2007 how "Jack Straw" had been written. He said, "We were coming out of the 'Workingman's Dead' phase, and Hunter had this lyric. I grabbed it, and we came with a little sketch of heartland Americana, a balled about two ne'er-do-wells. It was patterned on 'Of Mice and Men', but we tried to put a twist or two on it."
First, Bob Weir had sung all the vocals on this song during its earlier performances, then he and Jerry Garcia started to trade verses: Weir would sing as the Jack Straw character, Garcia as Shannon.
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