“All I know, I could not leave her there”

It’s been a few weeks since the Grateful Dead featured in Song Lyric Sunday, but this week’s theme of ‘flowers’ provides a good opportunity to redress that.

Both words and music of this sweet little song were written by Jerry Garcia’s long-term collaborator, Robert Hunter.

Oh yes: and when I first met Madame, she too had ‘ribbons, ribbons, ribbons in her long brown hair’.

Annie laid her head down in the roses
She had ribbons, ribbons, ribbons in her long brown hair
I don’t know, maybe it was the roses
All I know, I could not leave her there

Chorus
I don’t know, it must have been the roses
The roses or the ribbons in her long brown hair
I don’t know, maybe it was the roses
All I know, I could not leave her there

Ten years the waves rolled the ships home from the sea
Thinking well how it may blow in all good company
If I tell another what your own lips told to me
Let me lay ‘neath the roses and my eyes no longer see

One pane of glass in the window
No one is complaining, though, come in and shut the door
Faded is the crimson from the ribbons that she wore
And it’s strange how no one comes round any more

Music and lyrics by Robert Hunter

Song Lyric Sunday 14 May 2017