Just a Little Light"
An installment in The Annotated Grateful Dead Lyrics.
By David Dodd
Research Associate, Music Dept., Univ. of Calif. Santa Cruz (The opinions expressed are those of the author, not of the University of California.) Copyright notice; © 1995,1996, David Dodd "Just a Little Light"
Words by John Perry Barlow and Brent Mydland; music by Brent Mydland
Well, there ain't nobody safer than someone who doesn't care
And it isn't even lonely when no one's ever there
I had a lot of dreams once, but some of them came true...
The honey's sometimes bitter when fortune falls on you
So you know I've been a soldier in the armies of the night
And I'll find the fatal error in what's otherwise alright
But here you're trembling like a sparrow, I will try with all my might
To give you just a little sweetness...
Just a little sweetness...
Just a little light.
I have always heard that virtue oughta be its own reward,
But it never comes so easy when you're living by the sword
It's even harder to be heartless when you look at me that way
You're as mighty as the flower that will grow the stones away
Even though I been a stranger, full of irony and spite
Holding little but contempt for all things beautiful and bright,
Something shines around you and it seems, to my delight
To give me just a little sweetness...
Just a little sweetness...
Just a little sweetness...
Just a little light.
[Bridge:]
This could be just another highway, coiled up in the night
You could be just another white-tail, baby, stranded on my brights,
There's a tingling recognition
Like the sound of distant thunder
And I begin to wonder
If the love I've driven under
Won't ignite.
So you know I've been a soldier in the armies of the night
And I'll find the fatal error in what's otherwise alright
Something shines around you that seems, to my delight
To give me just a little sweetness...
Just a little sweetness...
Just a little sweetness...
Just a little light.
