Dead Songs in Depth

    
Mission In The Rain
w: Hunter m: Garcia
AGDL: http://arts.ucsc.edu/gdead/agdl/mission.html
LASF: http://www.whitegum.com/songfile/MISSION.HTM
  

    
Mission In The Rain 
Lyrics: Robert Hunter
Music: Jerry Garcia

Copyright Ice Nine Publishing; used by permission.

I turn and walk away
Then I come round again
Looks as though tomorrow
I'll do pretty much the same

I must turn down your offer
But I'd like to ask a break
You know I'm ready to give anything
For anything I take

Chorus:
Someone called my name you know I turned around to see
It was midnight in the mission and the bells were not for me
Come again
Walking along in the mission in the rain
Come again
Walking along in the mission in the rain

Ten years ago I walked this street, my dreams were riding tall
Tonight I would be thankful Lord, for any dreams at all
Some folks would be happy just to have one dream come true
But everything you gather is just more that you can lose

[chorus]

All the things I planned to do, I only did half way
Tomorrow will be Sunday, born of rainy Saturday
There's some satisfaction in the San Francisco rain
No matter what comes down, the mission always looks the same

[chorus]
  

    
I've been learning this song to add to my performing repertoire. As
happens when I get into learning a song, I examined why it intrigued
me enough to get it under my fingers, and explored the notes on
Annotated. 

I was interested in one reader's comment that suggested the "bells"
might refer to the world's oldest profession, which is certainly a
feature of the district, with the references to transaction as part
of that allegory.

My perspective from eight years of recovery is that this song is an
addict's lament (and sure, sex addiction is certainly a valid
dimension of that, but I suspect this is more related to narcotic
addition). In the larger context it's applicable to any compulsive
comfort seeking. The Mission is a real place; it's also an allegory.
Midnight in the Mission could also mean slumming creatively, as
well. Many facets to this jewel.

In either case it's a story about needing to connect but not having
the trade goods. The rejected -- for now -- offer is some
disagreeable tradeoff, usorious terms, what have you, that the
junkie will ultimately acquiesce to, and reliably again tomorrow.

The line "everything you gather is just more that you can lose" is
certainly an addict's rationale for not changing the channel. And
even if he can't score to finish what he'd planned and only did half
way, there's still some "satisfaction in the San Francisco rain",
because no matter what happens, the channel never changes in the
Mission. The conflict between desire and despair is a physical pain.


These thoughts are partially formed at this point. The more I
rehearse it, the more it reveals. 
  

    
Interesting observations! Thank you.
  

    
I'm also hearing "more *than* you can lose"...
  

    
Interesting interpretation Alan. Glad to hear you’re on the upward
path. 

I have always taken Mission simply on face value to be a love song
to wherever you grow up. A lamentation on the cloudy allure of home
and youthful dreams of going far in life. Now older and wiser, Dylan
Thomas like, the bells were not for him.
  

    
One of my top 3-4 songs. Partly because I've actually walked around
the Mission, in the rain. 

Less romantically, I was searching for a burrito, but to its credit,
it was a truly amazing, unique burrito.
  

    
Specific burrito recommendations are welcome here! 
  

    
Yes indeed, the best burrito ever had was from some little joint in
the mission many many years ago, and I still remember how damn good
it was.
  

    
ooh, that were a _long_ time ago. Also, there were in insane
website. For now:

https://thebolditalic.com/the-absolute-best-mission-burritos-some-may-surprise
-you-a1b99d7b1f0

https://www.thrillist.com/eat/san-francisco/best-mission-burritos-in-sf

https://foursquare.com/top-places/mission-san-francisco/best-places-burritos
  

    
These side conversations are what it's all about. We can now return
to our regularly-scheduled programming for MITR about prostitution
and addiction and nostalgia for the places you came of age...
  

    
Perhaps our narrator was simply offered a mild salsa and refused,
because the bell (peppers) were not for him.

>the upward path

Thnks, John. Three years of white knuckling through twelve step,
followed by five years plus on the road of happy destiny, with no
end in sight. I've written any number of songs about recovery (which
was itself the goad to resume playing and songwriting after a long
alcoholic hiatus), but this is perhaps my favorite:
https://soundcloud.com/axonsongs/ive-had-enough-1

Burrito places are sufficiently ephemeral phenomena, and it's been
long enough that any place I favored would no longer be operating,
but I never went to the Mission for burritos; they're ubiquitous and
excellent throughout the Bay Area. I went to the mission for tamales
and handmade corn tortillas to go with the glop of the day.
  

    
Really nice song, Alan, and great singing. Thanks for sharing that.
Will follow you on Soundcloud. 
  

    
Thanks for the Soundcloud tune, Alan. Knowing you've had enough is
one of the toughest tests of life.
  

    
Another thing about this song that intrigues me is in the chord
changes. I know these disussions examine the text, but there's a
semiotic something in the harmonic structure that is peculiar.

There's an ascending figure in the chorus, at "Walking along in the
mission in the rain" that does something interesting. It ascends ii,
iii, IV but then hangs on the IV before resolving to the I, instead
of continuiung the upward motion through the V. It's hard *not* to
play the V, it's so anticipated in the progression. 

It was a creative decision to hold on the IV, to deny the expected
satisfaction of resolving though the V. What does that do to the
listener, emotionally, to have that harmonic promise denied? What
does it evoke? 

Longing? Loss? I don't know. But it's deliberate. It may have been
as simple as wanting to avoid the cliche. What was Garcia trying to
say? 
  

    
Great note on Mission composition, Alan. I've had that feeling of a
boogie getting derailed in the chorus. Deflating expectations seems
to be a Garcia meme. 
  

    
>Deflating expectations seems to be a Garcia meme

Something I learned in the program: "Expectations are just
resentments under construction." 

I imagine it was weird to have a large corporate entity depending on
him all the time, all those mouths to feed. It's one thing to choose
to become a leader, the driving wheel, and to purposely take the
steps to achieve that. But I don't think that was ever Jerry's
ambition. I think he just wanted to play his guitar.

So I think that may be a part of it. I can imagine the tension in
the rehearsals, if, say, Bobby or Phil or Keith slipped up and
played that V on the "in" of "in the rain". The Dead only played
MITR five times, all of them in June of 1976. I haven't gone back
and listened to those performances (and maybe that's the next step),
but it subsequently migrated to the JGB where it remained in
frequent rotation. Maybe Kahn took direction better. My gut feeling
is that there must be some unresolved trauma surrounding its short
tenure in the band's playbook. Or I could just be projecting...

It's great fun to play and sing, I'll say that. It sounds like a
fairly simple chart, but it demands full attention, and rewards
patient repetition. Like a lot of Garcia tunes, it ain't as easy as
it sounds. 

I took this on because I've got a gig on Friday, opening for a Dead
cover band. As many Dead tunes as I've played over the years, I
found myself somewhat chagrined at having zero GD songs in my
working songbook. During the daze between I decided I wanted to add
a Jerry tune, but not something a non-Deadhead would immediately
recognize. This fit the bill to a tee, and came with a bunch of
semiotic easter eggs! I don't usually include a lot of cover tunes
in my set (my songbook is 2 to 1 covers; my typical set is 2 to 1
originals), but I love learning them because of what they teach me
about songwriting.
  

    
I have played Mission a few times in my solo shows, but it hasn't really
risen to recurrent status for whatever reason.

I don't feel that urge to hit the V chord at all.

BTW, "Deal" has no V chord in it.
  

    
>"Deal" has no V chord in it.

Interesting. Another thing about MITR is that the verse starts off
on the V; not typical by any stretch.
  

    
So this is a phone video of my set Friday night. MITR starts around
39:30 
https://www.facebook.com/tokenbradjackson/videos/665930064375588
  

    
Somewhat perky groove for the subject matter, but nicely done!
  

    
Thanx! Here's just MITR.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dUq232QSZaI