| Grateful Dead – That's It For The Other One Lyrics | 4 years ago |
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I find it really sad that whenever an artist in general is known for somehow employing recreational drugs as part of their creational process, some people seem to think that all that is created by him can be reduced to simple "it is describing the effects of drugs". It's like drugs can't be used as tools for connecting thoughts and images regarding some subject, the subject itself of such artworks can only be a description of drug effects. Grateful Dead are a good example of this. While most of their songs have pretty strong metaphorical and poetical meaning and imagery, people are always going to take the "it's about drugs" easy way. So, talking about the song, if it ain't about drugs, what is it about? The beginning of the song starts describing a group of people waiting for something, in what seems to be a kind of apocalyptical scenario with dark skies and people silently stating that someone has to die. Though there's not much to be added since these lyrics are way more descriptions of scenes than a single narrative, I think there's a subtle indication of some kind of collective persecution against some individuals, which can be interpreted as criticism on authoritarian governments, religious dogmas or social ostracism. This is further supported by the line regarding children learning from books people were burning. Intellectual and artistical censorship is one of the trademark modus operandi of all of the institutions cited above. After this part, the song shifts to a faster pace, with chugging rhythms courtesy of Kreutzmann and Hart. "Spanish lady comes to me, she lays on me this rose. It rainbow spirals round and round it trembles and explodes. It left a smoking crater of my mind I like to blow away." Yeah, there is a possibility this a description of the effects of LSD. It may be. Still, it may be a description of love, as given to a man by a lady. The smoking crater line refers to something stuck on the poetic persona's mind. Then comes "But the heat came 'round and busted me for smiling on a cloudy day." Bob Weir has said that this line refers to a day in which, long story short, he got busted for grinning at an officer. The idea of being busted by smilin' on a cloudy day and the first set of lyrics about people judging an individual and stating it has to die resembles kafkian scenarios of institutions rising above the grasp of understanding and is a commentary on US politics around that time. This is true especially if we consider that [1] Kafka intended his characters and narratives not as something apart from reality, but a mirror of it (By showing the reverse opposite of things, the mirror shows things as they are.) and, [2] that such criticism of US policies were common among artists, reaching it's peak with the anti-war movement of the late 60s with such anti-authoritarian groups like the YIP. "Skippin' through the lily fields i came across an empty space, It trembled and exploded, left a bus stop in it's place. The bus came by and i got on, that's when it all began, There was cowboy neal at the wheel of the bus to never ever land." Bob Weir has also said that these lines recreate an encounter he had with poet/writer ("Basically, it's a little, a little fantastic, uh, episode about my meeting Neal Cassady. I wrote the two verses - that's all there is to it, really, is two verses"). The last couple of lines recall the verses "And when the day had ended/with rainbow colors blended/His mind remained unbended/he had to die" which sum what the song is about: Freedom. Even after he died, children were learning from the burned books and his mind was still unbended. The fact that he had to die is not met with sorrow, but the bittersweet joy of realizing his mind is still out there, unbended. It's a song about being free, being driven fast through hazy roads on the backseat of a bus, being busted by smilin' on a rainy day. |
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