Dead Songs in Depth

    
oops, meant to add this link to his essay
<http://arts.ucsc.edu/gdead/AGDL/votc.html>
  

    
that's a great essay!

apparently they both contributed to the lyrics.

interesting to me is the idea that gerrit didn't mean junkie in the
sense that i took it.  according to him, "Never mind that the line and
the word had nothing to do with junk or junkies, much less Garcia..."

and i loved garcia's response regarding the subject..."i don't give a
fuck, sing what you want."

regardless of what the original meaning or intention of the lyrics
were, i still can't help but thing that it eventualy had some
implication.  after all, songs change and evolve over time and can end
up meaning different things.  maybe that's just me projecting though, i
dunno!
  

    
I am glad Weir recognized this:

http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/7717115/grateful-dead-50th-anniversary-
backstage-pass

"He (Mark Pinkus) finally got the chance to work directly with the
group in 2010. Up until that point, Pinkus, who joined Rhino in 1992
and was then a vice president (he became president in 2014), had not
been working with the Dead catalog, but instead as a consultant (aka
Rhino's "resident Deadhead"). However, following a personnel shift,
Pinkus was invited to run point, and in his first meeting with the
surviving band members he offered to demonstrate his fandom by
singing any Dead song they suggested. He met their challenge by
delivering the first lines to Bob Weir's "Victim or the Crime." "I
was somewhat delighted because it wasn't a big fan favorite," says
Weir with a chuckle. "