Dead Songs in Depth

    

"Lost my boots in transit/pile of smokin' leather" might be a reference to
Jerry's famous car accident, in which Paul Spiegel was killed and Jerry was
separated from his shoes.
  

    
Yep, I've always made that assumption. ("Always" meaning ever since I
read about that accident, probably in some interview you published,
David.)
  

    
Not a connection I had made, very interesting.
  

    

August 12, 1972:

"I laced a retread to my feet..."
  

    
Love that.
  

    

<https://www.dead.net/deadcast/wake-flood-50-mississippi-half-step-uptown-toode
loo>
  

    
I always heard it as 
“Nailed a retread to my feet”

This could be because the original huaraches were cut from pieces of
disintegrated tire retreads nailed to leather sandals. As the rubber
tread wore thin the heads of the nails would get pushed up into
contact with your feet. 
  

    
Sounds uncomfortable!
  

    
Yeah that was how you knew it was time to replace them. But they
were very sturdy and affordable as starving student gear in the 60s.
When people got jobs they could afford Earth Shoe>Birkenstock
fashions.