Row Jimmy Lyrics: Robert Hunter Music: Jerry Garcia © Ice Nine Publishing Recorded on: Wake of the Flood, Dozin' at the Knick

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Julie catch a rabbit by his hair Come back step, like to walk on air Get back home where you belong and don't you run off no more

Don't hang your head let the two-time roll Grass shack nailed to a pine wood floor Ask the time? Baby I don't know Come back later, we'll let it show

And I say row, Jimmy row Gonna get there? I don't know Seems a common way to go Get down, row, row, row row, row

Here's my half a dollar if you dare double twist when you hit the air Look at Julie down below the levee doin the do-pas-o

And I say row, Jimmy, row Gonna get there? I don't know Seems a common way to go Get down, row, row, row row, row

Broken heart don't feel so bad Ain't got half a what you thought you had Rock your baby to and fro Not too fast and not too slow

And I say row, Jimmy, row Gonna get there? I don't know Seems a common way to go Get down, row, row, row row, row

That's the way it's been in town ever since they tore the juke box down Two-bit piece don't buy no more not so much as it done before

And I say row, Jimmy, row Gonna get there? I don't know Seems a common way to go Get down, row, row, row row, row

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The Grateful Dead performed Row Jimmy for the first time on February 9, 1973 at Rose Maples Pavillion, Stanford University. They tiptoed it out as the second song during the first set. It wasn't the only newbie in the bunch. Others included China Doll, Eyes of the World, Here Comes Sunshine, Loose Lucy, They Love Each Other, and Wave That Flag. Not a bad freshman team.

Moving to Orlando in 1997 was a time of intense marital and financial stress. Row Jimmy and the following piece, When I Paint My Masterpiece, from Dozin' at the Knick played over and over basically kept me sane during the first six months here.

The fourth stanza {Broken heart don't feel so bad... ) kept me from ditching everything and running away. My boys kept asking me "Do we have to listen to these songs again?" and kept saying "Quit hugging us so hard!"

When I pop those two in to the rotation these days it is more to enjoy the music and lyrics than reflect on how far removed I and my wife and my family are from those shaky months. "Hey, I remember that song," one of the boys will say.

"It's a good one, isn't it?" I'll say.

"Yeah. Play it again."

I always do.


http://arts.ucsc.edu/gdead/agdl/row.html

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