Topic: "Comes a Time"

[Jennifer-]

"Comes a Time"
Words by Robert Hunter; music by Jerry Garcia
Copyright Ice Nine Publishing; used by permission.

Comes a time
when the blind man takes your hand
says: don't you see?
got to make it somehow
on the dreams you still believe
Don't give it up
you've got an empty cup
only love can fill
only love can fill

Been walking all morning
Went walking all night
I can't see much difference between the dark and the light
And I feel the wind
And I taste the rain
Never in my mind
to cause so much pain


Comes a time
when the blind man
takes your hand
says: don't you see?
got to make it somehow
on the dreams you still believe
Don't give it up
you've got an empty cup
only love can fill
only love can fill


From day to day
just letting it ride
you get so far away
from how it feels inside
You can't let go
cause you're afraid to fall
till the day may come
when you can't feel at all


Comes a time
when the blind man
takes your hand
says: don't you see?
got to make it somehow
on the things you still believe
Don't give it up
you've got an empty cup
only love can fill
only love can fill


[The following verse was sung in performance at least once, according to Brett Heisler, at the Harding Theater on 11/7/71:]

When the words come out like an angry stream
You hear yourself say things you could never mean
[original line is: When you cool down you find your mind]
sung as When the heat goes down and you find your mind]
You got a lot of words you've got to stand behind.

[Jennifer-]

I found a 24/7 Grateful Dead channel on my satalite radio... 

[Jennifer-]

Scarlet Begonias"
words by Robert Hunter; music by Jerry Garcia
("Scarlet Begonias" composed and written by Jerry Garcia and Robert Hunter. Reproduced by arrangement with Ice Nine Publishing Co., Inc. (ASAP))

As I was walkin' round Grosvenor Square
Not a chill to the winter
but a nip to the air
From the other direction
she was calling my eye
It could be an illusion
but I might as well try
Might as well try.

She had rings on her fingers and
bells on her shoes,
And I knew without askin' she was
into the blues
Scarlet begonias
tucked into her curls
I knew right away
she was not like other girls--
other girls


In the thick of the evening
when the dealing got rough
She was too pat to open and
too cool to bluff
As I picked up my matches and
was closing the door
I had one of those flashes:
I'd been there before--
been there before.


[Bridge]
I ain't often right
but I've never been wrong
It seldom turns out the way
it does in the song
Once in a while
you get shown the light
in the strangest of places
if you look at it right


Well there ain't nothin' wrong
with the way she moves
Or scarlet begonias or a
touch of the blues
And there's nothing wrong with
the love that's in her eye
I had to learn the hard way
to let her pass by--
let her pass by


The wind in the willows played Tea for Two
The sky was yellow and the sun was blue
Strangers stopped strangers
just to shake their hand
Everybody's playing
in the Heart of Gold Band
Heart of Gold Band

[Jennifer-]

"Sugar Magnolia/Sunshine Daydream"
Words by Robert Hunter and Robert Weir


Sugar Magnolia blossom's blooming
Head's all empty and I don't care
Saw my baby down by the river
Knew she'd have to come up soon for air

Sweet blossom come on under the willow
We can have high times if you'll abide
We can discover the wonders of nature
Rolling in the rushes down by the riverside

She's got everything delightful
She's got everything I need
Takes the wheel when I'm seeing double
Pays my ticket when I speed

She come skimming through rays of violet
She can wade in a drop of dew
She don't come and I don't follow
Waits backstage while I sing to you

She can dance a Cajun rhythm
Jump like a Willys in four wheel drive
She's a summer love in the spring, fall and winter
She can make happy any man alive

Sugar magnolia
Ringin' that blue bell
Caught up in sunlight
Come on out singing
I'll walk you in the sunshine
Come on honey, come along with me

She's got everything delightful
She's got everything I need
A breeze in the pines in the summer night moonlight
Crazy in the sunlight yes indeed

Sometimes when the cuckoo's crying
When the moon is halfway down
Sometimes when the night is dying
I take me out and I wander round
I wander round

Sunshine daydream
Walk you the tall trees
Going where the wind goes
Blooming like a red rose
Breathing more freely
Light out singing
I'll walk you in the morning sunshine
Sunshine daydream
Walk you in the sunshine

[Jennifer-]

China Doll

Words by Robert Hunter; music by Jerry Garcia
Copyright Ice Nine Publishing; used by permission

A pistol shot at 5 o'clock
The bells of heaven ring
"Tell me what you done it for"
"No I won't tell you a thing

"Yesterday I begged you
before I hit the ground -
all I leave behind me
is only what I found


"If you can abide it
let the hurdy-gurdy play -
Stranger ones have come by here
before they flew away


"I will not condemn you
nor yet would I deny"
"I would ask the same of you
but failing will not die


"Take up your china doll
it's only fractured -
and just a little nervous
from the fall"