Can't Come Down
Lyrics and music:
Grateful Dead
Reprinted with permissions: copyright
Ice Nine Publishing
I'm flying down deserted streets
Wrapped in mother's winding sheets
Asbestos boots on flaming feet
Dreaming of forbidden treats
When uniforms on nighttime beats
Ask me where I'm going and what I eat
I answer them with a voice so sweet
I can't come down, it's plain to see
I can't come down, I've been set free
Who you are and what you do don't make no difference to me
Well someone trying to tell me where it's at
And how I do this and why I do that
With secret smiles like a Cheshire cat
And leather wings like a vampire bat
I fly away to my cold water flat
And eat my way through a bowl of fat
And I say to the man with the funny hat
I can't come down, it's plain to see
I can't come down, I've been set free
Who you are and what you do don't make no difference to me
They say I've begun to lose my grip
My hold on reality is starting to slip
They tell me to get off this trip
They say that it's like a sinking ship
Life's sweet wine's too warm to sip
And if I drink I'll surely flip
I just say as I take a nip
I can't come down, it's plain to see
I can't come down, I've been set free
Who you are and what you do don't make no difference to me
So as I dream of forgotten seas
And granite halls and redwood trees
And of the eye that only sees
Endless mirrors and infinite me's
About the winter's coming freeze
This afterthought I say with ease
To all of you who make your fees
I can't come down, it's plain to see
I can't come down, I've been set free
Who you are and what you do don't make no difference to me
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One of the songs played in 1965-66 by the Dead but then dropped from their repertoire.
Recordings: The Emergency Crew demo, Autumn Records, as The Warlocks, November 1965.
So Many Roads (1965-1995)