There are absolutely no prizes for guessing who I was going to choose for Song Lyric Sunday this week, where Jim wants to see something from our (and his, apparently) favourite artiste(s).

Choosing a particular song wasn’t quite so straightforward, although hardly difficult. After all, it’s not like the Grateful Dead don’t have an extensive repertoire – they surely do – but that’s a well I’ve already returned to often for the purposes of SLS.

I soon settled on this, however, for three reasons: I haven’t posted it before, I love it and they played it at my first show, at around the point that some deadheads call the ‘click of affinity’: that big bang moment when you suddenly ‘get’ it. Life’s never been the same since…

Carve your name
Carve your name in ice and wind
Search for where
Search for where the rivers end
Or where the rivers start
Do everything that’s in you
That you feel to be your part
But never give your love, my friend
Unto a foolish heart

Leap from ledges
Leap from ledges high and wild
Learn to speak
Speak with wisdom like a child
Directly from the heart
Crown yourself the king of clowns
Or stand way back apart
But never give your love, my friend
Unto a foolish heart

Shun a friend
Shun a brother and a friend
Never look
Never look around the bend
Or check a weather chart
Sign the Mona Lisa
With a spray can, call it art
But never give your love, my friend
Unto a foolish heart

A foolish heart will call on you
To toss your dreams away
Then turn around and blame you
For the way you went astray
A foolish heart will cost you sleep
And often make you curse
A selfish heart is trouble
But a foolish heart is worse

Bite the hand
Bite the hand that bakes your bread
Dare to leap
Where the angels fear to tread
Till you are torn apart
Stoke the fires of paradise
With coals from Hell to start
But never give your love, my friend
Unto a foolish heart

Written by Jerry Garcia and Robert Hunter

Song Lyric Sunday 18 August 2024