Dead Songs in Depth

    
Can't Come Down
w&m: Grateful Dead
AGDL: http://arts.ucsc.edu/gdead/agdl/ccdo.html
LASF: http://www.whitegum.com/songfile/CANTCOME.HTM
  

    
Can't Come Down 
Lyrics: Jerry Garcia
Music: Grateful Dead

Copyright Ice Nine Publishing; used by permission.

I'm flying down deserted streets
Wrapped in mother's winding sheets
Asbestos boots on flaming feet
Dreaming of forbidden treats
When uniforms on nighttime beats 
Ask me where I'm going and what I eat
I answer them with a voice so sweet

Chorus
I can't come down, it's plain to see
I can't come down, I've been set free
Who you are and what you do don't make no difference to me

Well someone trying to tell me where it's at
And how I do this and why I do that
With secret smiles like a Cheshire cat
And leather wings like a vampire bat
I fly away to my cold water flat 
And eat my way through a bowl of fat
And I say to the man with the funny hat

[chorus]

They say I've begun to lose my grip
My hold on reality is starting to slip
They tell me to get off this trip
They say that it's like a sinking ship
Life's sweet wine's too warm to sip
And if I drink I'll surely flip
I just say as I take a nip

[chorus]

So as I dream of forgotten seas
And granite halls and redwood trees
And of the eye that only sees 
Endless mirrors and infinite me's
About the winter's coming freeze 
This afterthought I say with ease
To all of you who made your pleas

[chorus]
  

    

I have always thought of this as Jerry's "Subterranean Homesick Blues."
  

    
Right on target there, I think.  Though (much as I hate to say it,
it's still pretty obvious when reading through these lyrics) Jerry was
no Dylan, & it was an overall good thing that Hunter came along!
  

    
Must be one of the earliest sly acid-trip references too, eh, the
whole feeling of not being able to "come down" so familiar to
first-time and avid acidheads (oh so I've heard, <snrk>).
  

    

Posted by Alex Allan on the GDH list:


>What can anyone tell me about the history of "Can't Come Down"?

It's credited to all the members of the Grateful Dead, not just Jerry
Garcia.

Bob Weir described the writing of the song in an interview around the time
the Golden Road box set was issued: "Well, we wrote all the music and Jerry
wrote the lyrics. Jerry excused himself for a moment and went off. He came
back with a couple of verses and we put together a chorus."
  

    
There's something about the beat that reminds me of Let's Go Surfing.
Go figure!

You know this is the first time I've ever read the lyrics?! Sounds
like Jerry's first self-written epitaph:



They say I've begun to lose my grip
My hold on reality is starting to slip
They tell me to get off this trip
They say that it's like a sinking ship
Life's sweet wine's too warm to sip
And if I drink I'll surely flip
I just say as I take a nip

[chorus]

So as I dream of forgotten seas
And granite halls and redwood trees
And of the eye that only sees 
Endless mirrors and infinite me's
About the winter's coming freeze 
This afterthought I say with ease
To all of you who made your pleas

[chorus]

Or is that just too cynical.
  

    
Heh!

I still haven't come down.

Not that I've I've surfed ;-)
  

    
This from Chris Wallis:

"in the version of Standing on the Corner played on 7/29/66 in
Vancouver, the final verse is different:

  If you ask me what I'm doing, I can't answer right
  If you ask me what I'm doing, I can't answer right
  Seems like nothin' ever changes, and nothing's gonna turn out right

"Most pessimistic Dead song ever?"
  

    
Shouldn't that go in topic 187?
  

    
Oops - sorry. Slip.
  

    
Performed during the run of shows opening Terrapin Crossroads. Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZvOI_hwRwm8&feature=related