Dead Songs in Depth

    
Hell In A Bucket
w: Barlow m: Weir, Mydland
AGDL: http://arts.ucsc.edu/gdead/agdl/buck.html
LASF: http://www.whitegum.com/songfile/HELLBUCK.HTM
  

    
Hell In A Bucket 
Lyrics: John Barlow
Music: Bob Weir, Brent Mydland

Copyright Ice Nine Publishing; used by permission.

Well I was drinking last night with a biker
And I showed him a picture of you
I said "pal, get to know her, you'll like her"
Seemed like the least I could do

'Cause when he's charging his chopper
Up and down your carpeted halls
You will think me by contrast quite proper
Never mind how I stumble and fall
Never mind how I stumble and fall

Chorus
You imagine sipping champagne from your boot
For a taste of your elegant pride
I may be going to hell in a bucket
But at least I'm enjoying the ride
At least I'm enjoying the ride
Yeah at least I'm enjoying the ride

Ahh miss sweetie little soft-core pretender
Somehow baby got hard as it gets
With her black leather chrome spiked suspenders
And her chair and her whip and her pets

Well we know you're the reincarnation
Of the ravenous Catherine the Great
And we know how you love your ovations
And the Z-rated scenes you create
And the Z-rated scenes you create

[chorus]

You analyse me, attempt to despise me
And you laugh when I stumble and fall
There may come a day I will dance on your grave
If unable to dance I will crawl across it
Unable to dance I will crawl
Yeah, unable to dance I'll crawl

You must really consider the circus
'Cause it just might be your kind of zoo
I can't think of a place that's more perfect
For a person as perfect as you

And it's not like I'm leaving you lonely
'Cause I wouldn't know where to begin
But I know that you'll think of me only
When the snakes come marching in
When the snakes come marching in

[chorus]

Ride, ride, ride, ride
At least I'm enjoying the ride
Ride, ride, ride, ride
At least I'm enjoying the ride
Ride, ride, ride
At least I'm enjoying the ride
  

    

Verse transcribed from a rehearsal tape dates 1/24/83:


All those noises that come from the bedroom
Are so hard to explain to the guests
Whatever's in there should be fed soon
When they're hungry, they're unpleasant pests
  

    
Heh... that boy had a talent for trouble.

Then again, I think I might have met that girl. I've still got a small
scar behind my right ear to show for it.
  

    


Jim O'Brien writes:




Just a thought.  Could "When the snakes come marching in" be a reference to
St. Patrick as well as a clever play on the spiritual?  Since St. Patrick, by
legend, led the snakes out of Ireland to have a former lover think of you
only when the snakes come marching back in would seem like a very long time
indeed.

Jim O'Brien
obrieshn@hotmail.com
  

    
Perhaps St. Patrick drove those snakes out of Ireland and they ended
up in this song.

I wouldn't doubt that Barlow had those demons of Ireland in mind as
well as a contrast to the Gospel saints who come marching in.

Speaking of spiritual snakes, this is a song about the spirit of
Jezebel spirit if I ever heard one. It's the same spirit that attacked
Samson through a lovely and seductive woman who is too wrapped up in
herself to be of any lasting good to a man.
  

    
In the context of Hell In a Bucket it is worth noting Franz Kafka's
1921 story "The Bucket Rider". In Kafka's story the protagonist ascends
to a mountainous, icy hell in his bucket.
  

    
"Ascends"! Love that.