Considering the fact that the Grateful Dead’s live shows were the stuff of legend, it’s no surprise that one of their most beloved tunes, “Jack Straw,” was never even recorded in the studio. First played in concert on October 19, 1971 (which happened to be keyboard player Keith Godchaux‘s debut with the band), the song was eventually released on the live album Europe ’72, and it’s been a fan-favorite ever since. But what is “Jack Straw” actually about?
Written by Bob Weir and Grateful Dead lyricist Robert Hunter, “Jack Straw” technically falls into the category of murder ballad, as it tells the story of two train-jumping “ne’er-do-wells” (Jack and Shannon) on a rather dark journey across America:
I just jumped the watchman, right outside the fence
Took his rings, four bucks in change, ain’t that Heaven sent?
Hurts my ears to listen, Shannon, it burns my eyes to see
Cut down a man in cold blood, Shannon, might as well be me
We used to play for silver, now we play for life
One’s for sport and one’s for blood at the point of a knife
Now the die is shaken, now the die must fall
There ain’t a winner in the game, he don’t go home with all
Not with all
Another verse, which begins with the pair ditching the Lone Star State on July 4th, has made “Jack Straw” an obvious addition to Independence Day playlists for generations of Grateful Dead fans:
Leavin’ Texas, fourth day of July
Sun so hot, the clouds so low, the eagles filled the sky
Catch the Detroit Lightning out of Santa Fe
The Great Northern out of Cheyenne, from sea to shining sea
To the countless Deadheads who’ve sung along to the song years, “Jack Straw” stands on its own as a musical folktale. Those interested in a deeper analysis, however, might be interested to know that Weir was inspired to write the lyrics after watching a film version of the John Steinbeck‘s classic 1937 novel Of Mice and Men.
“I don’t watch much TV, but one night I was home, it was late, and an old version of Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men came on,” Weir explained in a 2007 interview with Uncut Magazine.
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“I was mesmerized. We were coming out of the Workingman’s Dead phase, and Hunter had this lyric. I grabbed it, and we came with a little sketch of heartland Americana, a ballad about two ne’er-do-wells. It was patterned on Of Mice and Men, but we tried to put a twist or two on it. Same story, different context.”
As longtime Deadheads can attest, the line “we can share the women, we can share the wine” was always met with enthusiastic cheers in the audience at Grateful Dead concerts. But as Hunter told Blair Jackson, author of the book Goin’ Down the Road, he wasn’t particularly comfortable with the way fans reacted to those words; after all, they were written from the perspective of two fugitives living a rather questionable lifestyle.
Whether audience members misinterpreted the song or not, they were always happy to hear it…which is why “Jack Straw” was played in concert close to 500 times.
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