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I told Althea I was feeling lost, lacking in some direction.
Althea told me upon scrutiny that my back might need protection.
I told Althea that treachery was tearing me limb from limb.
Althea told me now, cool down boy, settle back, easy Jim.
You may be Saturday's child, all grown, moving with a tinge of grace.
You may be a clown in the burying ground, or just another pretty face.
You may meet the fate of Ophelia, sleeping and perchance to dream.
Honest to the point of recklessness, self-centered in the extreme.
Ain't nobody messing with you, but you, your friends are getting most concerned.
Loose with the truth, and baby, it's your fire, but baby i hope you don't get burned.
When the smoke has cleared, she said, that's what she said to me.
Gonna want a bed to lay your head and a little sympathy.
There are things you can replace, and others you cannot.
The time has come to weigh those things.
This space is getting hot, you know this space is getting hot.
I told Althea I'm a roving son, and I was born to be a bachelor.
Althea told me, okay, that's fine, so now I'm trying to catch her.
Can't talk to you without talking to me, we're guilty of the same old thing.
Been talking alot about less and less and forgetting the love we bring.
Althea told me upon scrutiny that my back might need protection.
I told Althea that treachery was tearing me limb from limb.
Althea told me now, cool down boy, settle back, easy Jim.
You may be Saturday's child, all grown, moving with a tinge of grace.
You may be a clown in the burying ground, or just another pretty face.
You may meet the fate of Ophelia, sleeping and perchance to dream.
Honest to the point of recklessness, self-centered in the extreme.
Ain't nobody messing with you, but you, your friends are getting most concerned.
Loose with the truth, and baby, it's your fire, but baby i hope you don't get burned.
When the smoke has cleared, she said, that's what she said to me.
Gonna want a bed to lay your head and a little sympathy.
There are things you can replace, and others you cannot.
The time has come to weigh those things.
This space is getting hot, you know this space is getting hot.
I told Althea I'm a roving son, and I was born to be a bachelor.
Althea told me, okay, that's fine, so now I'm trying to catch her.
Can't talk to you without talking to me, we're guilty of the same old thing.
Been talking alot about less and less and forgetting the love we bring.
Lyrics submitted by itsmyownmind, edited by wdemoss1
Track duration: 06:52
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Alethea in Greek Mythology is the daughter of Zeus and is the personifiation of TRUTH.
My sense of this song is that the singer is having a dialogue with the GODDESS/the divine in it's manifestation as TRUTH.
In the first three lines, the singer is describing his anguish to the divine:
"I told Althea I was feeling lost, lacking in some direction.
Althea told me upon scrutiny that my back might need protection.
I told Althea that treachery was tearing me limb from limb."
In the next number of lines, the divine is speaking to him about his predicament:
"Althea told me better cool down boy, settle back, easy Jim."
"You may be Saturday's child, all alone, moving with a tinge of grace.
You may be a clown in the burying ground, or just another pretty face.
You may meet the fate of Ophelia, sleeping and perchance to dream.
Honest to the point of recklessness, self-centered in the extreme."
Here Althea spells out the singers troubles. Ophelia is a character from Shakespears Hamlet who lost her mind. The "clown in the burying ground" suggests laughing in the face of death, perhaps even contemplating suicide. "Sleeping and perchance to dream" is from Hamlet's soliloquy in the same play where he is contemplating whether life is even worth living.
But, then Althea (TRUTH) smacks the singer with a dose of reality. That his thoughts of death and suicide although "Honest to the point of recklessness" are also "self-centered in the extreme". Self-centered in the sense that he can't see beyond his own pain and is refusing to connect to the divine inspiration which ultimately could prove to be his salvation.
Then Althea spells it out even clearer to him:
"Ain't nobody messing with you, but you, your friends are getting most concerned.
Loose with the TRUTH, baby, it's your fire, but baby don't get burned."
It is your own mind, your disconnect that is fucking up your life she tells him. It's also your choice. But be careful, you might get burned.
Then she goes on instructing him:
"When the smoke has cleared, she said, that's what she said to me.
Gonna want a bed to lay your head and a little sympathy."
Once the passion of your madness has cooled, youre going to want some connection, with divine LOVE.
Althea goes on illuminating his path:
"There are things you can replace, and others you cannot. (like your life)
The time has come to weigh those things.
This space is getting hot, you know this space is getting hot."
Again, she is spelling out that he has a choice. He has free will. He has decisions and commitments to make. And the time to make them is now.
After digesting this massive dose of TRUTH, the singer speaks to her:
"I told Althea I'm a roving son, and I was born to be a bachelor."
I cant be married to THE TRUTH, he tells her. I'm not ready for it. I have to hold on to my own ego, my own separate identity.
She answers:
"Althea told me, okay, that's fine," (God is infinitely patient)
And having missed the TRUTH, the singer goes back to the game of divine hide and seek, claiming to want to know the truth (and rejecting her when she shows up at his doorstep).
"so now I'm trying to catch her".
Having missed the TRUTH, having missed the connection to the divine, the singer then reflects:
"Can't talk to you without talking to me, we're guilty of the same old thing."
Cant talk to God without talking to ourselves... and yet...
"Been talking alot about less and less and forgetting the love we bring."
We're back in the soup again, talking about less and less and forgetting all about the divine, about LOVE, about TRUTH.
I have tremendous love and respect for Jerry Garcia and Robert Hunter as some of the premier poets of our generation. This amazing songs spells out some of the struggles Jerry himself was going through. On the one hand, he identified with and studied the Christian mystics so he was obviously a deeply spiritual man. On the other hand, he struggled mightily with Heroin addiction, with obesity and undoubtedly with depression. The song Althea in a sense spells out that conflict within Jerry. Seeing God, being so close to God through the creative process of music but ultimately being unable to fully embrace God, falling again and again back into Heroin and self-destruction. Like the song Black Muddy River, and on so many others, Robert Hunter often wrote lyrics that reflected what he saw happening with the Dead. It's amazing that he wrote these lyrics for Jerry and that Jerry chose to sing them, sharing with us all his (and our) perennial struggle to know God.
I have been having a similar struggle as the song for the past few years and just love it when another can sum up my thoughts and feelings and put them into words...I'm not the strongest at expressing myself correctly.
So we think that if we get more personal with our post we might help you more because we are stayin at this fancy hotel and u can show people that some real high-falluters are part of your team. We are HERE for you.
So my Althea well I met her way back when and we were immediately like soul-mates because she had spent so much time in the mountains AND in the bay area growing up. We think we knew each other in another life -bruthas from another mutha bc we had spent soooo much time in the same exact places. Be it towns, cities, Tahoe, clubs, bars, you get the idea.... BTW My dad's an entertainment lawyer in California. Althea's parents and my 'rents knew some of the same people.
One of the best things about Althea is that she is a GAME ON GIRL. Her motto is "Just say YES" or "Twist my rubber arm" and one of her all time best is "I'd give my left nut to see Burning Spear". Epic. Ask me about that story next time I'm in your town.
She might be brave, but she has no ACTUAL nuts, take it from me. And we aren't GAY. I am an olive skinned Megan Fox look alike (people say) so when my BFF and I walk around together with our arms around each other WELL let it be said that we draw some stares. Lecherous ones.
SO I was gonna say more but some buddies just arrived and I need to go. More later???
Psyched for tomorrow night!!!!!!!! Are you listening Octavia? Or Granpa? Or Nero? Or bobcat? Or Christian? Or Adrian? Or Eric? Who ARE you people anyway? Stalkers??
xoxo SoulMeetsMolly
The line " you may be a clown on the burying ground or just another pretty face/ you may meet the fate of Ophelia to sleep and perchance to dream" directly links with a scene from ~Hamlet, one of Shakespears darkest plays. After Ophelia has commited sucicide in this tragedy, two clowns dig her grave. They unearth the skull, which Hamlet holds during his "Alas, poor Yorick" solilouy. Earlier, before the suicide , Hamlet himself questioned, "To be or not to be" and mused about hereafter: " To die , to sleep-to sleep-perchance to dream" concluding that "dread of something after death" made people unwilling to flee the burdens of life.
"You may be saterdays child all grown old" refers to the famous proverbial nursery rhyme regarding the atributes an individual acquires according to the day of the week on which they were born. Hunter may have also been influenced by "To Althea from Prison," by Richard Lovelace, a seventeenth-century poem which deals with unrequited love.
When love with unconfined wings
Hovers within my gates,
And my divine Althea brings
To whisper at the grates;
When I lie tangled in her hair,
And fettered to her eye,
The birds that wanton in the air
Know no such liberty.
When flowing cups run swiftly round
With no allaying Thames,
Our careless heads with roses bound,
Our hearts with loyal flames;
When thirsty grief in wine we steep,
When healths and draughts go free,
Fishes that tipple in the deep
Know no such liberty.
When, like committed linnets, I
With shriller throat shall sing
The sweetness, mercy, majesty,
And glories of my King;
When I shall voice aloud how good
He is, how great should be,
Enlarged winds that curl the flood
Know no such liberty.
Stone walls do not a prison make,
Nor iron bars a cage;
Minds innocent and quiet take
That for an hermitage;
If I have freedom in my love,
And in my soul am free,
Angels alone, that soar above,
Enjoy such liberty.
~and thats my meaning for ya! :)
I've been a fan of the dead for years and this has always been one of the songs that moves me the most.
I think the song is ultimately about love that never really got started and then just slipped away due to one or both participants being to self-focused and non-comittal to make anything happen. The song speaks to me though, anywhere there is something that I desperately want but don't reach out and grab, usually because I'm too busy staring at my navel.
"Maybe the fate of Ophelia,
Sleeping and perchance to dream
Honest to the point of recklessness,
Self-centered to the extreme"
Amazing. And yes, David Dodd's site is sick