Dead Songs in Depth

    
Heck, it could even be the red red robin that came bob bob bobbin
along.
  

    


From David Rosen:


Hi David and David,

Almost 20 years ago, I was given an interesting perspective on one of my
favorite lines in "The Wheel" -- "If the thunder don't get you then the
lightening will." I heard an interview on the radio with a man named Richard
Cullen Rath. He was promoting his book, "How Early America Sounded" (Cornell
University Press, 2003). He pointed out that in the 1600s, it was commonly
believed that it was thunder that caused the damage, not lightning!

There's a preview in Google books. I can't seem to get a link directly to the
page, but if you follow the link below, you can scroll down past the cover,
title page, and copyright page, to reach page 1, where this idea is
introduced.

I suppose the existence of the word "thunderstruck" should have been a clue
to this idea, but I didn't make that connection until I began writing this! I
regret not sharing this while Robert Hunter was still alive. He was aware of
so many obscure bits of folklore and history, I can imagine he knew about
this. But I suppose we'll never find out whether or not this line is related
to this idea. Then again, perhaps the idea is for each of us to make our own
connections between these songs and the wider world.

I want to close by thanking both of you for your huge contributions to the
world of Grateful Dead culture. Both of you have helped maintain something I
feared would end with Jerry's death.

Be well,
David


<https://www.google.com/books/edition/_/y0fGhVtchxQC?hl=en&gbpv=1>
  

    
I had a feeling we were bound to cover just a little more ground.
  

    
!!!
Nice one, <soigne>
  

    
Comin' around...
  

    
From Oz Childs: <oz> via Facebook, with his permission:

....I feel guilty now I did not contact [David Dodd] immediately
when I first read his annotated Wheel. I probably saw Garcia perform
it at a club in North Beach, and it was on the first Garcia album. I
am guessing it was only after that album appeared that the band
performed it though I could be wrong. 

In any case, the lyrics by the great Robert Hunter pack more meaning
into fewer words than any song I know. And one is the mysterious
reference to a Robin that runs around. This robin refers to a Round
Robin, a message written inside a circle that is signed along a ring
on the outside of a circle. Sometimes used in a political context
but most  famously in a maritime one. Sailors would leave the
message for the captain, and because they signed in that circular
fashion the captain could not identify any particular man as the
ringleader.  
Indeed it may be there were multiple copies created with the
signatures in a different order on each. The captain of course could
not clap all the signers in irons and still run his ship.
  

    
Nice!
Did not know that is what a Round Robin was/is
"Velly Intelesting", as Charlie Chan used to say
  

    
I don't think the lyric refers to a circular petition. 

It is more likely a reference to Robert Burn's Rantin' Rovin' Robin,
and I don't think that is very likely either.
  

    
"Round, round robin run round, gotta get back where you belong"
doesn't show me a connection to any of the meanings of "round
robin". Maybe the phrase was in the back of Hunter's mind, but it
didn't seem to connect with the meaning of the song.
  

    
Yes, I agree. 

I don't think it is a bird, possibly it is somebody Hunter knew. Or
he just liked all the Rs.
  

    
I totally get the bird reference, but not sure if that was Hunter's
inspiration.  And of course there's double-entendres, etc.

Until I moved two my current home two years ago, I had no idea that
robins are migratory birds that migrate in flocks.  My property is a
stop-over for a flock.  I have a huge red-berried bush (more a tree
than a bush) that bears its fruit in October.  The robins stop here
to devour it.  It takes two days.  They stop here in the spring too.
When they stop here, especially in the spring, they run all around
my lawn for two days, hunting for worms.  They are all scrawny and
hungry from the trip.  And they are incredibly efficient hunters,
grabbing a worm with every peck.  I mean, they are 100% accurate. 
Anyway, after two days, they are mostly gone, getting back to where
they belong.  I say mostly, because one or two stick around for the
summer.
  

    
Oh, and that said, I always thought the verse went "round, round,
rock 'n run around..."  It's gonna be hard to change that.
  

    
!!!
  

    
No dis to OZ, but Garcia never performed this with JGB, so not at
the Stone, right?