I had no problem whatsoever in choosing an artiste born in August for this week’s Song Lyric Sunday.
Jerome John Garcia was born on August 1st 1942 and died on August 9th 1995. Deadheads still celebrate his life in ‘The Days Between’ – the period between the first and ninth of this month. The actual song ‘Days Between’ featured quite heavily during the Grateful Dead’s last couple of years of touring and – to me at least – became increasingly elegaic. Jerry’s solo in this live performance from December 1994 is mind-shredding.
There were days
and there were days
and there were days between
Summer flies and August dies
the world grows dark and mean
Comes the shimmer of the moon
on black infested trees
the singing man is at his song
the holy on their knees
The reckless are out wrecking
The timid plead their pleas
No one knows much more of this
than anyone can see anyone can see
There were days
and there were days
and there were days besides
when phantom ships with phantom sails
set to sea on phantom tides
Comes the lightning of the sun
on bright unfocused eyes
the blue of yet another day
a springtime wet with sighs
a hopeful candle lingers
in the land of lullabies
where headless horsemen vanish
with wild and lonely cries lonely cries
There were days
and there were days
and there were days I know
when all we ever wanted
was to learn and love and grow
Once we grew into our shoes
we told them where to go
Walked halfway around the world
on promise of the glow
Stood upon a mountain top
Walked barefoot in the snow
Gave the best we had to give
How much we’ll never know we’ll never know
There were days
and there were days
and there were days between
polished like a golden bowl
The finest ever seen
Hearts of Summer held in trust
still tender, young and green
left on shelves collecting dust
not knowing what they mean
Valentines of flesh and blood
as soft as velveteen
hoping love would not forsake
the days that lie between lie between
Written by Jerry Garcia and Robert Hunter
the only deadhead in the hameau 
What a surprise, DH! I would have been sorely disappointed if you didn’t!
Nice choice, Deadhead and Jerry had to be here today, and I was counting on you for that. Hunter wrote four verses in this song, with the first verse having to do with Summer, the second verse mentions springtime, the third references snow and I guess he didn’t have much to say about autumn or fall because the forth verse alludes to “Hearts of Summer” and “Valentines of flesh and blood’, so perhaps this was the season of love. This song is ambivalent, being mournful and hopeful at the same time as it lets you experience a bittersweet joy that is tinged with sadness, where happiness is accompanied by a sense of melancholy or sorrow. In this song, the world is growing dark, but hope remains in the shimmer of the moon. Black, infested trees are often a sign of fungal or bacterial diseases, or insects present in unusually large numbers, but Jerry (the singing man) is here to play a song for us, so it is not all bad. The world is full of all types of people, some holy, some reckless and some timid, but you only get to know the ones that you see. The line, “When phantom ships with phantom sails set to sea on phantom tides” and Jerry thought that gave this song a ghostly, hollow quality being skeletal, because it gave him chills because it was representative of the name of the band.