Black Throated Wind
Lyrics: John Barlow
Music: Bob Weir
Reprinted with permissions: copyright: Ice Nine Publishing
Bringing me down, I'm running aground
Blind in the light of the interstate cars
Passing me by, the buses and semis
Plunging like stones from a slingshot on Mars
But I'm here by the road, bound to the load
That I picked up in ten thousand cafes and bars
Alone with the rush of the drivers who won't pick me up
The highway, the moon, the clouds, and the stars
The black throated wind keeps on pouring in
With its words of a life where nothing is new
Ah, Mother American Night, I'm lost from the light
Oh I'm drowning in you
I left Saint Louis, City of Blues
In the midst of a storm I'd rather forget
I tried to pretend it came to an end
'Cause you weren't the woman I once thought I'd met
But I can't deny, that times have gone by
Where I never had doubts or thoughts of regrets
And I was a man when all this began
Who wouldn't think twice about being there yet
The black throated wind whispering sin,
And it speaks of a life that passes like dew
It forced me to see
That you've done better by me
Better by me than I've done by you
Now what's to found, racing around
You carry your pain wherever you go
Full of the blues, and trying to lose
You ain't going to learn what you don't want to know
So I give you my eyes, and all of their lies
Please help them to learn as well as to see
And capture a glance, whoa and make it a dance
Of looking at you looking at me
The black throated wind keeps on pouring in
With its words of a life that could almost be true
Ah, Mother American Night, here comes the light
I'm turning around that's what I'm going to do
Going back home that's what I'm gonna do
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First performance: March 5, 1972 at Winterland, San Francisco.
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Recordings: Ace - (Bob Weir) - 1972