Black Muddy River

[Guest Sweet Jane]

I always enjoy reading other people's perspectives on songs....this one I thought was pretty well written, albeit depressing.

"It won't do to be too literal-minded here..."

Black, Muddy River--line by line

by Andrew Stiller

A thematic essay for the Annotated Grateful Dead Lyrics.

Used with permission of the author. Thanks, Andrew!

The last song on the Grateful Dead's darkest album is a heartbreaking confession of ultimate failure, relieved only by grim stoicism.

When the last rose of summer pricks my finger

An extraordinarily pregnant image that front-loads the song with most of its content. First of all, it evokes the beautiful old song "

'Tis the Last Rose of Summer,

" whose whole text is relevant:

'Tis the last rose of summer,

Left blooming alone,

All her lovely companions

Are faded and gone.

No flow'r of her kindred,

No rose bud is nigh,

To reflect back her blushes,

Or give sigh for sigh.

I'll not leave thee, thou lone one,

To pine on the stem;

Since the lovely are sleeping,

Go sleep thou with them;

Thus kindly I scatter

Thy leaves o'er the bed

Where thy mates of the garden

Lie scentless and dead.

So soon may I follow

When friendships decay,

And from love's shining circle

The gems drop away!

When true hearts lie withered

And fond ones are flown

Oh! who would inhabit

This bleak world alone?

Every bit of this is injected into "Black, Muddy River" at this instant. The two songs even share their first three notes in common. But what a shock! The passive, Romantic, languishing rose turns on its admirer and attacks. His world has become not merely bleak, but vicious.

We were warned. Anyone listening to this song has likely just heard the rest of

In the Dark,

and encountered these lines in "When Push Comes to Shove":

Shaking in the garden, the fear within you grows;

Here there may be roses to punch you in the nose.

But there we were told that anyone harboring such a fear is "afraid of love." The singer of "Black, Muddy River" is not afraid, but love has attacked him anyway.

And there is still more. The feminized rose of "'Tis the Last Rose of Summer" and "When Push Comes to Shove" is only one way of looking at the flower. The Grateful Dead invoked the rose at every turn, and with multiple layers of symbolism: it stands for love, for the female principle, for the

rosa mystica

of Christian and

Rosicrucian

mysticism, for the soul in general, and for the Dead's original "flower children" followers and their spiritual descendants, the Deadheads. Furthermore, "summer" is a common metaphor for youth or a heyday (as for example in the Doors'

"Summer's Almost Gone"

). So this first line of "Black, Muddy River" means many things, none of them nice:

When my love goes wrong

When my lover rejects me

When my good deeds go bad

When my spiritual resources are exhausted

When my dwindling fans turn on me

above all: When the last person to share my ideals abandons them.

And the hot sun chills me to the bone,

This started as a lighthearted bit of nonsense in Stephen Foster's "Oh! Susanna" ("the sun so hot I froze to death"); but in "New Speedway Boogie!" the Dead told us that "In the heat of the sun a man died of cold" when a fan was murdered in broad daylight at Altamont. Coldness, there and here, is to be understood emotionally: The singer is depressed, and that which should normally

warm

the spirits or

warm

the cockles of his heart instead produces bleak apathy or grim sadness.

When I can't hear the song for the singer

Not a literal song here, but the song of life, or of humanity. The line laments an inability to see past the surface of things to their spiritual essence, an inability to "find one's center." The ultimate source of the metaphor is the Rolling Stones' 1965

"The Singer, Not the Song,"

whose title has become proverbial in its own right. The Stones song is a cheerful investigation of the difference between love and sex, but it also contains these words:

The same old places and the same old songs

We've been going there for much too long

And I can't tell my pillow from a stone,

A depressed person sleeps very poorly.

I will walk alone by the black, muddy river

Because he has been abandoned or rejected, he must make his way alone. The river is the one from "

Uncle John's Band

," but how changed! It is polluted now (not necessarily by human agency) and is no longer a gathering place, since our protagonist finds solitude there. Even further back than "Uncle John's Band," the river originally came from an

old revival hymn

:

Shall we gather at the river

Where bright angel feet have trod,

With its crystal tide forever

flowing by the throne of God?

Even in the hymn it's a complex metaphor, representing both the allegorical "Jordan" of so many hymns--the border between earth and heaven--but also a real river where a revival meeting is to be held and, perhaps, converts baptized. The unusual use of "tide" to mean "current" is borrowed in "Uncle John's Band," as is the idea of gathering on the banks of a symbolic river. This pointed reference to a familiar hymn served to emphasize the Dead's priestly role for the counterculture--which indeed is what "Uncle John's Band" is all about. But by 1987 the counterculture was a fading memory, preserved only in the coccoon of Deadhead culture, an artificial construct limited to the time and space of a concert. The idea that something important might be at stake, that large numbers of people need to be drawn together to observe the flow of time, of history, so as to act on what they see--that urgency no longer exists, might have been an illusion from the beginning.

The river itself, turbid with life's complexities and blackened by compromises, disappointments, and neglect, nonetheless continues to flow, as it must. But there is nothing here to drink, and the waters are opaque. Crystal tide? Hah!

Note, finally, that the music of "Black, Muddy River" is highly hymnlike, with a narrow melodic range; square, simple rhythms; simple harmonies; and blocky, uncontrapuntal accompaniment. It even vaguely resembles the tune of "Shall We Gather at the River," though this may be a coincidence. But no hymn ever preached such despair, and the effect is of the deepest irony.

And sing me a song of my own.

In "Uncle John's Band" the Dead ask their audience (their flock, really) for guidance as to what they should sing about for the benefit of all. Now, though, the flock are dispersed, and the singer can only sing his own song, for his own benefit.

I will walk alone by the black, muddy river

And sing me a song of my own.

When the last bolt of sunshine hits the mountain

Because of its brevity and restricted extent, the sunset gleam is likened to a lightning bolt. The language throughout this stanza is violent (hits, splatters, splits, scream), for the landscape is really an interior one. Note that it is "sunshine" (a perennial metaphor for happiness) rather than the neutral "sunlight" that is here extinguished.

And the stars start to splatter in the sky,

The stars "splatter" because they are seen as fragments of the (liquid) sunset-bolt that shattered itself against the mountain. Poets have regarded the stars with awe or serenity, but here they are mere splatters of something messy.

When the moon splits the southwest horizon

It won't do to be too literal-minded here. If the moon were really on the southwest horizon just after sunset, it would be a new moon, and setting (it would also be high summer), while the imagery clearly intends a moon that is full, and rising. The horizon is "southwest" because the whole landscape, with its mountain and (metaphorical) eagle belongs to the Southwestern U.S. If we want, we can think of this line as a poetically compacted version of "When the moon splits the Southwest's horizon." Note, by the way, how deftly sketched this landscape is, like a Zen watercolor, or some of the paintings of Georgia O'Keefe. Mountain, stars, moon, horizon, and a hint at "Southwest"--that's all there is, and it is enough.

The rising moon is another image that is usually positive, but here it is something ominous, violently cracking through the surface of the earth. South and West are metaphors for failure and death: all his plans went south. She nearly went west in that accident.

With the scream of an eagle on the fly,

Again, there is no real eagle here. The rising moon is likened to an eagle screaming as it leaps from its perch. Bad news for its prey!

I will walk alone by the black, muddy river,

In fact, this whole landscape is dead. There is no life in it at all--none in the whole song, except for the singer himself and the (purely symbolic) rose at the beginning.

And listen to the ripples as they moan.

Moaning water has long been taken as an ill omen, as for example the famous "moaning of the bar" that portends disaster for ships leaving a harbor. Here it is specifically ripples that moan, which of course refers back to the song "

Ripple

," in which the "ripple in still water/ Where there is no pebble tossed/ Nor wind to blow" represents both inspiration and community, that seem to arise miraculously, without obvious cause. In "Black, Muddy River" the miracles are still on offer, but with no one to observe them, well might they moan.

I will walk alone by the black, muddy river

And sing me a song of my own.

Black, muddy river,

Roll on forever!

Another hymn reference, this time to the spiritual "

Roll, Jordan, roll

." Life goes on. Time marches on. The singer must embrace that, because there is nothing else left.

I don't care how deep or wide,

If you got another side,

The word "or" is to be understood between these lines. The singer has resigned himself to the flow of life, even if it no longer possesses an object or a goal.

Roll, muddy river,

Roll, muddy river,

Black, muddy river, roll!

When it seems like the night will last forever

And there's nothing left to do but count the years,

"New Speedway Boogie!" concluded with the optimistic assertion that "one way or another, this darkness got to give"--but now the poet knows there is no such guarantee. The "people that dwelt in darkness" have

not

seen a great light, nor is there any prospect that they ever will. The possibility of a mass spiritual revolution seems more remote with every passing year.

When the strings of my heart start to sever,

Jerry Garcia had recently suffered a heart attack. The word "heartstrings" originally referred to the internal tendons of the heart. The more familiar sense of the word is intended as well, referring to that time "when friendships decay,/ And from love's shining circle/ The gems drop away." In any case, time is running out.

And stones fall from my eyes instead of tears,

An even more terrible image than the stone pillow of Stanza One. The singer's emotions portend his death.

I will walk alone by the black, muddy river

And dream me a dream of my own.

The collective dream is gone, and the singer must dream alone. The "song" metaphor of previous choruses is here made overt.

I will walk alone by the black, muddy river

And sing me a song of my own,

And sing me a song of my own.

[Dstone5553]

It seemed like it was the cool thing to do to dump on this song when it first came onto the scene.

But now, it seems to have gotten the respect it's due...not sure exactly why.

I haven't read this person's interpretation but this one was probably as personal a song to Garcia as any, I would imagine.

I had heard he wrote the music to it while in the hospital recovering from his diabetic coma.

The story goes that it was Merl who was the one who visited him every day to take him on small walks and help him relearn how to play guitar.

I really have no idea of the truth to these stories but it was clear this song meant a lot to him.

It was the one song I didn't think Phil or Bob would ever touch regarding their Furthur stuff.

The big crowds always misunderstood the line 'when it seems like the night will last forever..." but isn't it always how that went?

I really loved this one. I thought it found it's rightful home in the encore slot as well.

And I'm probably the only one alive who thinks it would have been more fitting for Phil not to have made the last one a double encore.

Here is my favorite.

http://www.archive.org/details/gd1988-03-30.sbd.miller.91159.sbeok.flac16

[Guest Sweet Jane]

It seemed like it was the cool thing to do to dump on this song when it first came onto the scene.

But now, it seems to have gotten the respect it's due...not sure exactly why.

hmm...I wasn't around so I do not know but I've always loved it. Its like any other heavy Garcia song though- there's a time and place. I feel this way about Stella, Comes a Time, Dew, etc.... They shouldn't be tossed around like confetti. I can only listen to them when my heart is receptive to them. Good thing there seems to be a song for every mood, feeling, or need.

[Evangeline]

One of my very favorites! This song has always spoken to me. The lyrics are not only poignant and beautiful, but have a certain rhythm and feel all their own that bypass the cerebellum and go directly for the heart. And the melody is simple and hauntingly sad. With the appropriate soul-wrenching vocal performance the song deserves, it almost always brings tears (not stones) to my eyes. As far as the misinterpretation of the line "...it seems that the night will last forever..." well, as Dstone pointed out, and Hunter would agree, the GD audience will always put their own interpretation on things, and they have every right to do so. Art is only the artist's until he puts it out there for the people to see and hear. Thanks for posting the topic, Sweet Jane.

[John A]

Yes, dumping on the this was in vogue in the late 80s. A couple guys I knew actually called it "black bleeding mother." Hey, I'm just reporting the facts.

And David, I groaned every time the crowd was so pathetic as to cheer the mournful line about the night lasting forever. Which I guess became every version.

My father, as it happens, was a poet, and there's a passage in one of his later poems (he died in 2001) that evolves imagery reminding me of Black Muddy River:

"...I

have a clear picture of that black water in

southern swamps where you can catch perch and ticks

and poison oak and malaria and horsefly bites

and moccasin bites: the picture stays as

still with me as the water was: I can't think

of anything I would rather be looking at when

I go than that: I'll tell the doctor, doctor,

I'm looking on that black, shiny water, it's

set now...."

[chuckvegas]

And speaking of perceived inappropriate responses to lyrics, I was (and still am) dumbfounded at the cheering in Fire to "dead to the core." I never really heard that line as it it was written to be a ringing affirmation of anything. Oh well, new ones come...

[August West]

Well you know Janey, some people just like to go out dancing, and children are the only ones who blush.

[Guest Sweet Jane]

And speaking of perceived inappropriate responses to lyrics, I was (and still am) dumbfounded at the cheering in Fire to "dead to the core." I never really heard that line as it it was written to be a ringing affirmation of anything. Oh well, new ones come...

I think most people probably understand the intention of the line dead to the core, but somehow it works in other ways just exactly perfectly.

[chuckvegas]

A little classical music there, kids...

[Dstone5553]

hmm...I wasn't around so I do not know but I've always loved it. Its like any other heavy Garcia song though- there's a time and place. I feel this way about Stella, Comes a Time, Dew, etc.... They shouldn't be tossed around like confetti. I can only listen to them when my heart is receptive to them. Good thing there seems to be a song for every mood, feeling, or need.

I totally get what you are saying Lisa but you would be surprised when you listen to stuff all the time and don't know what's coming, in terms of song list, just how ready you are to go on whatever trip Garcia was taking on whatever song he was playing on whatever night he was playing it. (The not knowing is the key here.)

For me, that's one of the best things about listening to new sources to tell you the truth. When you saw a Grateful Dead show, you didn't know what was coming and you just went with him, to whatever land he was going to take you. Sometimes for me, it was a land of forever meadows and endless sunshine and other times, it was the bloody, war torn, death riddled winter fields of Stalingrad! There was a certain trust that I think heads put in that man's navigation skills, a trust I'm thinking very few performers have ever earned and probably ever will. Back to my point though (!) when you listen to a set and you have no idea what's coming, which is most often the case when you listen to newly burned arrivals from the internet, with just a date on the CD and nothing more, you are kind of doing the same thing, albeit on a MUCH more removed level (at least for me...since I do much of my listening in my car). But it still has that excitement, no matter how weird that may sound. Like when the second set is bubbling over with unrestrained abandon and that Weir song out of space starts to meander down and the first hints of that Garcia ballad are offered and...and...

I think lots of folks are doing this now with the Europe '72 box...just putting the disc in and letting it play w/out looking at the list and from the people I've heard from, they are having a blast (still am waiting on mine though). It's what I do the vast majority of the time because there is such a long delay from the time I burn something I've never heard before to the time I end up listening to it in the car, and to me, it's such a fun way to listen to this stuff. Lots of folks may do this too, in some shape or fashion and I'm sure everyone here has to some degree and will agree with what I'm saying.

So while it's true you do have to be receptive to these heavy ballads, whether you are hearing them on tape or at a concert, for me at least, it doesn't take much, at least when he is at the wheel.

I don't presume this would be true for everyone but my guess is that there would be some truth in what I'm saying for lots of folks.

Now when it comes to videos, for me, it's a completely different story. I cannot watch this stuff 99% of the time.

I just don't have that much fortitude I guess.

Just my tweny-five cents!

[Dstone5553]

My father, as it happens, was a poet, and there's a passage in one of his later poems (he died in 2001) that evolves imagery reminding me of Black Muddy River:

"...I

have a clear picture of that black water in

southern swamps where you can catch perch and ticks

and poison oak and malaria and horsefly bites

and moccasin bites: the picture stays as

still with me as the water was: I can't think

of anything I would rather be looking at when

I go than that: I'll tell the doctor, doctor,

I'm looking on that black, shiny water, it's

set now...."

Wow John...that is pretty great right there.

Pretty fucking great.

[Guest Sweet Jane]

I totally get what you are saying Lisa but you would be surprised when you listen to stuff all the time and don't know what's coming, in terms of song list, just how ready you are to go on whatever trip Garcia was taking on whatever song he was playing on whatever night he was playing it. (The not knowing is the key here.)

For me, that's one of the best things about listening to new sources to tell you the truth. When you saw a Grateful Dead show, you didn't know what was coming and you just went with him, to whatever land he was going to take you. Sometimes for me, it was a land of forever meadows and endless sunshine and other times, it was the bloody, war torn, death riddled winter fields of Stalingrad! There was a certain trust that I think heads put in that man's navigation skills, a trust I'm thinking very few performers have ever earned and probably ever will. Back to my point though (!) when you listen to a set and you have no idea what's coming, which is most often the case when you listen to newly burned arrivals from the internet, with just a date on the CD and nothing more, you are kind of doing the same thing, albeit on a MUCH more removed level (at least for me...since I do much of my listening in my car). But it still has that excitement, no matter how weird that may sound. Like when the second set is bubbling over with unrestrained abandon and that Weir song out of space starts to meander down to it's close and the first hints of that Garcia ballad are offered and...and...

I think lots of folks are doing this now with the Europe '72 box...just putting the disc in and letting it play w/out looking at the list and from the one's I've heard, they are having a blast. It's what I do the vast majority of the time because there is such a long delay from the time I burn something I've never heard before to the time I end up listening to it in the car, and to me, it's such a fun way to listen to this stuff. Lots of folks may do this to, in some shape or fashion and I'm sure everyone here has to some degree and will agree with what I'm saying.

So while it's true you do have to be receptive to these heavy ballads, whether you are hearing them on tape or at a concert, for me at least, it doesn't take much.

I don't presume this would be true for everyone but my guess is that there would be some truth in what I'm saying for lots of folks.

Now when it comes to videos, for me, it's a completely different story. I cannot watch this stuff 99% of the time.

I just don't have that much fortitude I guess.

Just my tweny-five cents!

Oh I totally agree with you when it comes to live music or something like a dead dance when I don't have control......that's the best part! I was referring more to when I'm picking something to listen to say at work or in my car. I don't have an ipod, so I can't just blindly pick a show.....I know I need to work on that.

[Dstone5553]

Oh I totally agree with you when it comes to live music or something like a dead dance when I don't have control......that's the best part! I was referring more to when I'm picking something to listen to say at work or in my car. I don't have an ipod, so I can't just blindly pick a show.....I know I need to work on that.

It's SO easy to do what I do.

To go to a site like this:

http://www.shnflac.net/index.php

or this:

http://bt.etree.org/index.php

and download new sources the week they come out into the world or shows you've never heard that are up that week onto your computer and then burn the sets onto CDs.

Then put those CDs in your car or wherever and listen to them when you want to.

It's also a hell of a lot of fun!

[Dstone5553]

For anyone who hasn't done this, these sites explain exacly how you do what I'm talking about.

I promise that it's easy to understand, free and easy to do.

I can email anyone too with simple instructions.

[redeyedbert]

For anyone who hasn't done this, these sites explain exacly how you do what I'm talking about.

I promise that it's easy to understand, free and easy to do.

I can email anyone too with simple instructions.

Listen to DStone those of you who aren't familiar with downloading shows.

Just by reading his (and others, mostly his) posts my music listening life has changed immensely. Before Dstone, I had some old cassette bootlegs, and almost anything I could buy from dead.net. After just reading his posts and poking around, my collection is more than I could have ever dreamed of.

I am forever grateful. Downloading shows from these sites is just the beginning. DStone is generous in more ways than just his knowledge. He knows things, and he can hook you up if you take the right path. At least that is my experience, and again, I am so thankful.

Thanks David, you are an ambassador to the Grateful Dead. Or should I say the ambassador to the Grateful Dead.

[Run Mary]

There was a certain trust that I think heads put in that man's navigation skills, a trust I'm thinking very few performers have ever earned and probably ever will.

So very true. Musicianship is not enough, nor is chemistry. The audience is a vital part of the mix, and without trust in the dream it will never come true.

(still am waiting on mine though)

Don't despair, David. There isn't a universe cruel enough to keep that box set away from you.

[Dstone5553]

Thanks David, you are an ambassador to the Grateful Dead. Or should I say the ambassador to the Grateful Dead.

You are way too kind...but thanks Tom

Don't despair, David. There isn't a universe cruel enough to keep that box set away from you.

I've had to change our credit card 3 times in the last 6 months and that is the reason for the delay.

My wife and I have finally decided to only use Paypal for our online purchases--even porn.

My wife tends towards...let's just say... the non traditional.

Think animal husbandry.

[Guest Sweet Jane]

You are way too kind...but thanks Tom

I've had to change our credit card 3 times in the last 6 months and that is the reason for the delay.

My wife and I have finally decided to only use Paypal for our online purchases--even porn.

My wife tends towards...let's just say... the non traditional.

Think animal husbandry.

now I really can't wait to come visit.... This will make for great conversation!

[Guest jazz-man]

Wow, Grateful Dead music and porn.... these two things have kept me going for years!

[chuckvegas]

Wow, Grateful Dead music and porn.... these two things have kept me going for years!

The internet's two best and highest purposes all rolled into one... Once again I'm reminded of why I love this place so much and keep coming back for more!

[Ammagamalin Crew]

It seemed like it was the cool thing to do to dump on this song when it first came onto the scene.

But now, it seems to have gotten the respect it's due...not sure exactly why.

It was sort of over played as an encore for a time. Sometimes when I was on tour the encores got a little monotonous.

[Dstone5553]

It was sort of over played as an encore for a time. Sometimes when I was on tour the encores got a little monotonous.

That, plus it was a new song and therefore got more play in the rotation.

But it's true that songs like Baby Blue, Heaven's Door , and Black Muddy River were played a lot as encores. They never got old for me...even if by coincidence it happened to be the third BMR I saw on that particular tour.

I remember seeing people leave to get to the lots early during a BMR or Baby Blue and remember feeling bad for them.

[Dr. Barry]

I read this and thought to myself (in the following order):

1. I never left a show early just to beat the crowd ever since my first show.

2. When was my first show? Let me check out the facts...

3. 16 year old Barry saw his first 2 shows at Madison Square Garden on 3/9 and 3/10/81.

4. 16 year old Barry saw shows 3 and 4 at the Nassau Coliseum on 5/8 and 5/9/81.

5. Realization that it has been 30 years!

6. Thought I'd share.

Dr. B

[ducats]

I read this and thought to myself (in the following order):

1. I never left a show early just to beat the crowd ever since my first show.

2. When was my first show? Let me check out the facts...

3. 16 year old Barry saw his first 2 shows at Madison Square Garden on 3/9 and 3/10/81.

4. 16 year old Barry saw shows 3 and 4 at the Nassau Coliseum on 5/8 and 5/9/81.

5. Realization that it has been 30 years!

6. Thought I'd share.

Dr. B

i read this and thought to myself (in the following order)

1. who the fuck refers to himself in the third person

[Octal]

It's the first day of Autumn.

When the last rose of summer pricks my fingers...