Dead Songs in Depth

    
Friend Of The Devil
w: Hunter m: Garcia, Dawson
AGDL: http://arts.ucsc.edu/gdead/agdl/fotd.html
LASF: http://www.whitegum.com/songfile/FRIENDDE.HTM
  

    
Friend Of The Devil 
Lyrics: Robert Hunter
Music: Jerry Garcia

Copyright Ice Nine Publishing; used by permission.

I lit out from Reno, I was trailed by twenty hounds
Didn't get to sleep that night till the morning came around

Chorus:
Set out running but I take my time
A friend of the devil is a friend of mine
If I get home before daylight I just might get some sleep
Tonight

I ran into the devil babe, he loaned me twenty bills
I spent the night in Utah in a cave up in the hills

[chorus]

I ran down to the levee but the devil caught me there
He took my twenty dollar bill and vanished in the air

[chorus]

Got two reasons why I cry away each lonely night
The first one's named sweet Anne Marie and she's my heart's delight
Second one is prison baby, sheriff's on my trail
And if he catches up with me I'll spend my life in jail

Got a wife in Chino babe, and one in Cherokee
First one says she's got my child but it don't look like me

[chorus]


Additional verse:

You can borrow from the devil, you can borrow from a friend
But the devil will give you twenty, when your friend got only ten
  

    

http://www.dead.net/RobertHunterArchive/files/newjournal/56journal_2006.html#a
nchor12558063

Buddy Cage called last night and we had a good rave about plans to
revive the Riders. He doesn't want to call it a reunion since, as he
pointed out, half the guys are dead. He wants to call it a
renaissance. Why not?

I was just remembering how Friend of the Devil got written. First
off I wrote these four verses one afternoon back in 1969.

I was living in Madrone canyon with the Garcias. The NRPS had asked
me if I wanted to play bass with them and it seemed like a good idea
at the time. So I worked up that song on bass, added a few verses
plus a chorus and went over to where David Nelson and John Dawson
were living in Kentfield and taught them the tune. The "Sweet Anne
Marie" verse which was later to become a bridge was only one of the
verses, not yet a bridge. The chorus went:

I set out running but I take my time
It looks like water but it tastes like wine
If I get home before daylight
I just might get some sleep tonight.

I'd changed the fourth verse, about parlaying the twenty dollars
into five thousand and, except for the all important Friend of the
Devil hook, the lyrics were pretty much as they stand today minus a
fifth verse which goes:

You can borrow from the Devil
You can borrow from a friend
But the Devil give you twenty
When your friend got only ten

We all went down to the kitchen to have espresso made in Dawson's
new machine. We got to talking about the tune and John said the
verses were nifty except for "it looks like water but it tastes like
wine" which I had to admit fell flat. Suddenly Dawson's eyes lit up
and he crowed "How about "a friend of the devil is a friend of
mine." Bingo, not only the right line but a memorable title as well!
We ran back upstairs to Nelson's room and recorded the tune. I took
the tape home and left it on the kitchen table. Next morning I heard
earlybird Garcia (who hadn't been at the rehearsal - had a gig, you
know) wanging away something familiar sounding on the peddle steel.
Danged if it wasn't "Friend of the Devil." With a dandy bridge on
the "sweet Anne Marie" verse. He was not in the least apologetic
about it. He'd played the tape, liked it, and faster than you can
say dog my cats it was in the Grateful Dead repertoire.
Although I learned all the tunes, I never did play a gig with the
NRPS, who were doing strictly club dates at the time. For one reason
or another I never quite fathomed, though I have my suspicions, I
got shut out. Either that or I misread the signs and wasn't inclined
to push. Nothing was ever said. In any event, a fellow named Dave
Torbert showed up about that time. Just as well. One dedicated
songwriter in the band was enough.
  

    
I wonder what were his suspicions
  

    
Cool that Hunter is big enough to remember Dawson came up with the
integral line. 
  

    
That is pretty cool. Out of curiousity I went to my 1973 GD songbook and 
it says Music by Jerry Garcia and John Dawson, Words by Robert Hunter.
  

    

April 3 1970:

I went to the levee
But the devil caught my scent
So I coughed two hundred bills
To pay back what was lent


Also, in the bridge "tail" instead of "trail"
  

    
Very cool! does it take the place of the "levee" verse as we know it?
  

    
Yes.  Jerry (and Hunter?) was wise to revise.
  

    
Agreed.
  

    
September 2, 78

I ran down to the levee
But the Devil caught me there
He took my fifteen dollar bill
And he vanished in the air

https://listentothedead.com/1978/9/2-3/friend-of-the-devil
  

    
Those pesky 15-dollar bills! Very strange...
  

    

Jerry sings "thirty hounds" on 4/3/70!
  

    

And!!!


I went to the levee
But the Devil caught my scent
So I ??????
...pay back what was lent
  

    

I see that I flagged this back in 2012! But I am less certain of my
transcription today than I was back then.
  

    
There's a poor-quality recording of John Dawson singing this in a
studio in 1969 (probably with Robert Hunter and some members of the
Dead):

"I ran down to the levee but the devil caught my scent
So I coughed twenty dollars babe to pay back what was lent"
  

    
Thanks!
  

    
The Devil’ll lend you twenty 
But your friend’s only got ten

Who came in with that line?
  

    

Hunter tried to get Jerry to add that after the song was finished.


You can borrow from the Devil, and can borrow from a friend
But the Devil will get you twenty when your friend got only ten


PRetty sure he mentioned it to me in our first interview, in 1977
  

    
Lots of people sing that as the final verse (rather than repeating "got a
winfe in Chino"), including Weir these days
  

    
I heard it on the Dear Jerry video. It is wickedly clever but
perhaps a bit too cynical for Jerry. 
  

    
Hunter's take was just that once the song was set it was set and Jerry wasn't
willing to add the new lyric.

He also offered (in our 1977 interview) that he had thought of "Truckin'" as
a song that might be expanded to continue the tale, but the verses he sug-
gested (about playing in the Park) weren't very interesting!
  

    
I think I'd come down with Jerry on the stare decisis ruling. No
sense in trying to gild the Lilly. He knew he could and did sing any
damn lyric that came out. 
  

    
https://www.dead.net/deadcast/american-beauty-50-friend-devil