Dead Songs in Depth

    
Stella Blue
w: Hunter m: Garcia
AGDL: http://arts.ucsc.edu/gdead/agdl/stella.html
LASF: http://www.whitegum.com/songfile/STELLA.HTM
  

    
Stella Blue 
Lyrics: Robert Hunter
Music: Jerry Garcia

Copyright Ice Nine Publishing; used by permission.

All the years combine
They melt into a dream
A broken angel sings
From a guitar

In the end there's just a song
Comes crying up the night
Through all the broken dreams
And vanished years

Stella Blue
Stella Blue

When all the cards are down
There's nothing left to see
There's just the pavement left
And broken dreams

In the end there's still that song
Comes crying like the wind
Down every lonely street
That's ever been

Stella Blue
Stella Blue

I've stayed in every blue light cheap hotel
Can't win for trying
Dust off those rusty strings just one more time
Gonna make them shine

It all rolls into one
And nothing comes for free
There's nothing you can hold
For very long

And when you hear that song
Come crying like the wind
It seems like all this life
Was just a dream

Stella Blue
Stella Blue
  

    
David's Annotated Lyric site mentions "stella" as being the Latin for
star. But it's also Italian, and "stella blu" is Italian for "blue
star." This struck me because of an Italian cafe I spotted here in
Western Australia called "Stella Blu" - and a quick Google search
revealed several Italian astronomical and other sites.

I don't believe this has anything much to do with Hunter's lyric, but
it seemed worth pointing out.

Stella Blue is one of my favorite lyrics - it conveys a wonderful
dreamy melancholy.
  

    
On a considerably less respectful note, I observe that Heinz Stellar
Blue ketchup is now 99 cents a bottle at Grocery Outlet. Guess it was
a little too out there...:-)
  

    
Fwiw, I don't recall a single moment of music that was at once
heart-breaking, fragile, and staringtling monumental as the culmination
of a certain "Stella", lo many years ago. New Haven? Not sure. I just
know that there wasn't a dry eye within sight of me at that moment.

"It seems like all this life
Was just a dream"
  

    
Yeah, it's one of the greats, and Jerry was born to sing/play it.
  

    
I heard, finally, a CD from the summer tour, with Joan singing Stella Blue.
Wonderful voice for the song! I was really hoping Willie Nelson would sing
it, though.
  

    
You and me both.
  

    
Man, that'd be great! There are a lot of artists who should sing
"Stella Blue"...I'd even like to hear Neil Young do it.

Ween did "Stella Blue" and I have a bootleg of it. Its actually really
good...from the recording it sounds like there was one young woman in
the entire venue who knew the song and she spent the length of it
yelping
  

    
Young and Crazy Horse could stomp that song deep into my brain-stem.
Great idea!
  

    
A whole album of Stella Blue covers! Hmmm. Has anyone ever done a "one-song"
album?
  

    
I vaguely remember hearing about an album of covers of Suzanne Vega's
"Tom's Diner".
  

    
How about "Stairways to Heaven"?!

This is the AMG review:
Stairways to Heaven is one of the wackiest albums ever released. Every
song on here is "Stairway to Heaven," but all performed in very
different styles. To even get a grasp on the range of styles here is
almost mind-boggling. For instance, Rolf Harris, best known for his
novelty Australian hit "Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport," essentially
re-does that song with the lyrics for "Stairway to Heaven" as the
basis. John Paul Young puts in a straightforward rock rendition. Other
versions include a B-52's cover band, an Elvis impersonator, a Doors
tribute band, and two Beatles groups (one early period, one late) all
doing the cut in the styles of those groups. There is even a
crooner-style rendition (watch out, Pat Boone, you've got competition)
and a classically tinged operatic. The liner notes on this one, with
their fabricated tale of the making of the album, are even hilarious.
The end result is that this is probably close to the most fun you can
have listening to an album.
  

    
Rolf Harris!
  

    
Henry Rollins should cover "Stella Blue". He whacked "Franklin's
Tower" out of the park. Took that shiny, pretty thing, encrusted it
with grating noise and sharp-edged studs and just nailed it to the
Heavens. I think it's on "Stolen Roses", si?
  

    
Yes, and I agree that it's a killer track.
  

    
When my friend's daughter was born, he made a CD of just versions of Little
Wing for her first hour of life.
  

    
I wonder why Zappa's version of "Stairway to Heaven" wasnt on there. 
  

    
the last richfield stella is the best for me.  i've always heard this
song as a desperate cry for help from the muse.  
  

    
Australian comic, Andrew Denton, used Stairway to Heaven as the theme
for his TV series, The Money or the Gun. This was the inspiration for
the Stairways to Heaven album. If anything on TV could be called
underground, Andrew was underground. The 22 cover versions of the song
were by:

Kate Cebrano and the Ministry of Fun; John Paul Young;  Pardon Me
Boys; Nick Barker; Rolf Harris; Australian Doors Show; Sandra Hahn;
Helen Jones; Robyne Dunn; Neil Pepper; Rock Lobster; Toys Went Berserk;
Jodie Gillies; Beatnix; Fargone Beauties; Etcetera Theatre Company;
Judi Connelli; Barry Crocker; Vegemite Reggae; Whipper Snappers; Sydney
Philharmonica; Leonard Teale

Frank Z, Dolly P and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir failed to make the
cut because they didn't hail from Oz.

I hope no one does this to Stella Blue, it doesn't deserve it.

Happy Trails
  

    
Wait.  ROlf Harris covered "Stairway to Heaven"?
  

    
Absolutely. I believe he used the wobble board on it.

Happy Trails
  

    
Gotta love that!
  

    


Jim Fronk writes:



   I was looking at the Annotated Grateful Dead Lyrics for this song and
noticed I found 2 new references for the Blue Light Cheap Hotel.
 The word blue was used in the 70's for X-rated movies, blue movies, this may
also explain the blue light in Operator as well. I believe in Easyriders Jack
Nicholson hands a business card for a whorehouse to Peter Fonda containing
the word blue or maybe blue light for the name of the whorehouse. Does anyone
remeber the name of the place???
  Also, don't laugh, I remember in the 70's using K-Mart Blue Light Special
to refer to anything cheap or poorly made. This may be closer to the Stella
Blue cheap hotel usage.
  Totally unrelated Frank Zappa refers to a Blue Light several times in the
song Atlantis, especially the ending, but thats a whole other story in
itself.
  

    
I recall a particular Stella Blue from a hampton show in the eighties
with that sublime moment someone mentioned above standing out in my
memory. I think it was the night Bob did "Roadrunner" as either the
opener or his first song. I think Brent did a killer "Tons of Steel"
that night.
  

    
And, BTW, I want to give credit to my friend and drummer, Andy Wood,
who was the first person I ever heard suggest Willie should cover
"Stella", at least 20 years ago.