#150736  by brbadg
 
As usual ,more than one way to look at it.I don't see any sort of love thing happening in this song at all.
 #150747  by Rusty the Scoob
 
Eh, nearly everything's a love thing when you're in a love-thing frame of mind. And there is the line about broken hearts.

Personally I think it's random poetic images strung together with no real narrative or even central theme other than a sort of melancholy longing. Reminds me of some of the more literal 1997-up Phish tunes.
 #170924  by FromWichita
 
For many years, I misunderstood the opening verse about "Julie catch a rabbit by his hair, come back steppin' like to walk on air. Get back home where you belong and don't you run off no more."

I had always an image, as if from childhood, of Julie being so delighted at having caught the rabbit, the way she comes back isn't just walking - she's kind of dancing, the way children spontaneously demonstrate innate grace. (Great quote: "How inimitably graceful are children before they learn to dance!")

Anyway, some day back in the past, it hit me "like a diamond bullet": It's the rabbit stepping like to walk on the air! Julie's holding him off the ground and his back legs are pumping!

Side Note: Jerry was asked what song he enjoys playing most with the Dead and he said Row Jimmy.

There are two more of those "A-ha!" moments with lyrics I've had - with TN Jed and Peggy-O and I am going to see about posting in those forums.

"Puisque toutes les creatures sont au fond des freres, il faut traiter vos betes comme vous traitez vos amis." (French)
Since all animals are brothers under the skin, we must treat our beasts like we do our friends.
 #172921  by FromWichita
 
The overall "meaning" I have inferred from Row Jimmy is from the chorus.
It boils down to "keep going!"

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

The setting can only be in a rowboat, presumably on a river or lake.
Looking at "I say row" and the repetitions of "row" suggest an exhortation, an urging. It seems this isn't a leisurely excursion, but rather a very serious situation.
"Gonna get there? I don't know." shows the situation is uncertain.
"There" connotes a destination which isn't identified. It likely refers to shore.
So, what does this mean? Water is not our "element"; humans in water are like fish out of water.
The danger is drowning. "Seems a common way to go" could most definitely refer to drowning.

Note: The only water-related reference in the verses is the "levee".

Perhaps the verses are instances of life flashing before one's eyes as they drown.
The first two verses seem to come from youth or adolescence. Julie is named in both.
The final verse are more grown up and invoke sad situations - having a broken heart, realizing "you ain't got half of what you thought you had", but the last line "Rock your baby to and fro - not too fast and not to slow" may be Jimmy returning to a heart warming memory of being together with his beloved Julie.

I used to presume someone is in the boat with Jimmy (maybe Julie), telling him to row, but maybe it's Jimmy talking (or thinking) to himself.

Note: As a child, Jerry witnessed his father drown in (I believe) a river; a trauma which I can't imagine.

This is obviously an interpretation. I'm trying to make sense of the entire song. I think "Row Jimmy" is open to interpretation, but I also think Robert Hunter is a master of writing obscurely. He may have had in mind the scenario I just laid out, or maybe I'm too far out, not waving but drowning. (that last part is taken from the poem "Not Waving but Drowning" by Stevie Smith)

As I posted earlier in this topic, I rather recently learned that Jerry was asked what song he most enjoyed performing with the Grateful Dead and his answer was "Row Jimmy".
 #172923  by Jon S.
 
To me the bottom line is this is a song about man who has lost in finance and love but has not given up. It's one of those songs that the listener can "hear" almost anything into. But from my perspective, the protagonist is not asking Jimmy to row him AWAY from his sorrow as much as he is asking Jimmy to row him TO new opportunities. For this reason, while the song includes sadness, myself, I don't process it as a "sad song" per se.
FromWichita liked this
 #172938  by FromWichita
 
Jon S. wrote: Thu May 05, 2022 8:01 am To me the bottom line is this is a song about man who has lost in finance and love but has not given up. It's one of those songs that the listener can "hear" almost anything into. But from my perspective, the protagonist is not asking Jimmy to row him AWAY from his sorrow as much as he is asking Jimmy to row him TO new opportunities. For this reason, while the song includes sadness, myself, I don't process it as a "sad song" per se.
You know, despite my lyric analysis, I don't find the song to be "sad" while listening to it, but quite beautiful. Two of my favorite versions are 3.20.77 and 4.12.78.
And to be clear, my analysis was that Jimmy's being implored (or imploring himself) to row to avoid being drowned. Maybe the levee broke? Of course the levee breaking is not mentioned in the song, just the levee.

Talking about songs with lyrics about sad situations/events while not being sad songs makes me think of Brown Eyed Women, which is among my most favorite Dead songs. The lyrics begin "Gone are the days..." of Jack Jones in his prime, and cite the tragic end of Delilah Jones, and her death's impact on Jack's father, but the song doesn't feel sad to me. I find it interesting how the last verse is a memory of what, chronologically, happened back in time of a young Jack Jones - it could well be the most-in-the-past thing mentioned in the song, but it comes last. In concert it usually had an increase of energy, particularly with the last line "Drink down a bottle and you're ready to kill!".
It reminds me of the Stella Blue line "All the years combine; they melt into a dream." And to a lesser extent, of the Soren Kierkagaard quote: "Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards."

By the way, I believe the first post-Jerry Grateful Dead incarnation "The Other Ones", was taken from Brown Eyed Women's second verse.

Delilah Jones was the mother of twins
Two time over and the rest were sins.
Raised eight boys, only I turned bad
Didn't get the lickings the other ones had.
 #172940  by lbpesq
 
I always thought “The Other Ones” was taken from “The Other One”.

As for “Brown Eyed Women”, I’ve always thought (and sing with my band) the line was:

“Delilah Jones was the mother of twins
Two times over and the rest four sins”

Two sets of twins = 4 + 4 sins = 8, as in “raised eight boys, only I turned bad”. The math works!

Bill, tgo
 #172947  by FromWichita
 
Hey folks! Today is the anniversary of 5/8/77, which features my favorite Brown Eyed Women (and Jack Straw & Scarlet -> Fire)!

I realized after posting that the BEW verse about Delilah's children is the 3rd verse, not the 2nd. And also that verse could be the earliest "chronologically", or maybe the 2nd was. There's not enough in the song to definitely identify the chronological location of the verses and the bridge. (Don't the Dead have the best bridges?!)
But it can, I think, be safe to say Jack cutting hickory to help his dad make whiskey (last verse) was something from Jack's younger days compared to the "time/setting" of the first verse. In fact, I think in relation to opening (Jack's "Gone are the days...") all events/times related thereafter are all from day already gone, but the sequence isn't strictly chronological.

Regarding "The rest four sins": I never heard it sung that way in the 100?+ versions I've listened to.
But more importantly, the context is twins ("mother of twins two times over"), so four more sets of twins would put the grand total of children born twins at 12, though fraternal twins allow the possibility of girls, and thus only eight boys would still be possible! hahaha
 #172948  by lbpesq
 
I would suspect the second verse is the earliest reference, 1920 when prohibition started. Jack’s dad wouldn’t have gone into business until then. Also interesting is the poetic license placing the stock market crash of 1929 a year later (“1930 when the wall caved in”).

Two sets of twins plus four other boys, all the result of sins, equals Delilah’s eight sons. And, at least to my ear, Jerry’s articulation isn’t clear enough to be sure of either. Of course I’m probably the same ... I know I’ve been singing it this way for many years at a lot of gigs with a lot of Deadheads and not once has anybody ever come up to me and questioned the lyric.

These type of questions can be found in other songs, too. For example, I’ve always heard the lyric in “Come Together” as “hold you in his arms yea you can feel his disease”. Yet, when my band decided to do the tune and I downloaded the lyrics, it read “hold you in his armchair you can feel his disease”. I’m still singing the first version.

Many years ago a friend was working as a roadie for Weir when he was in Kingfish. I was trying to learn “Looks Like Rain” (pre-internet days) and my friend got me the sheet music from Bobby. I thought one of the chords was wrong. My friend insisted it was correct because it was on the sheet and he got it from Weir. He told Bobby about how stubborn I was and Bobby looked at it and said that in fact I was correct and they had changed it in the studio after the sheet had been printed.

Bill, tgo
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 #172950  by Jon S.
 
FromWichita wrote: Sun May 08, 2022 7:16 pm Hey folks! Today is the anniversary of 5/8/77
I enjoyed that show. :rockon:

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 #172958  by FromWichita
 
lbpesq wrote: Sun May 08, 2022 8:35 pm I would suspect the second verse is the earliest reference, 1920 when prohibition started. Jack’s dad wouldn’t have gone into business until then. Also interesting is the poetic license placing the stock market crash of 1929 a year later (“1930 when the wall caved in”).

Two sets of twins plus four other boys, all the result of sins, equals Delilah’s eight sons. And, at least to my ear, Jerry’s articulation isn’t clear enough to be sure of either. Of course I’m probably the same ... I know I’ve been singing it this way for many years at a lot of gigs with a lot of Deadheads and not once has anybody ever come up to me and questioned the lyric.

These type of questions can be found in other songs, too. For example, I’ve always heard the lyric in “Come Together” as “hold you in his arms yea you can feel his disease”. Yet, when my band decided to do the tune and I downloaded the lyrics, it read “hold you in his armchair you can feel his disease”. I’m still singing the first version.

Many years ago a friend was working as a roadie for Weir when he was in Kingfish. I was trying to learn “Looks Like Rain” (pre-internet days) and my friend got me the sheet music from Bobby. I thought one of the chords was wrong. My friend insisted it was correct because it was on the sheet and he got it from Weir. He told Bobby about how stubborn I was and Bobby looked at it and said that in fact I was correct and they had changed it in the studio after the sheet had been printed.

Bill, tgo
Hey Bill and everyone else!
I think that 2nd verse is earliest chronologically too. The 3rd and the Bridge may well be in chronological sequence. But the last verse is definitely out of sequence. (I have found non-linear story telling quite enjoyable in novels and movies.) As for why the song is like that could only be answered by Robert Hunter. But my sense is that memories are fluid, and that last verse has a younger Jack and his father working together; maybe amongst Jack's favorite memories. It echoes the 2nd verse's "he paid his way sellin' red-eye gin", though the drink in the last verse is whiskey. The idea of Jack drinking a bottle and being "ready to kill" again sounds like a fond/humorous memory again connected to his father. It had occurred to me that it hinted at Jack killing someone, but I think it's just an expression.

Have you heard the "Kesey Star" from 10/31/91? I strongly recommend it as it's unique.
The show is just after Bill Graham (the concert promoter) who was tight with the Dead (he went to Egypt with them in '78) died in a helicopter crash. During the Dark Star (which is my favorite of the later years; the tempo is perfect and has laid back, interweaving guitar lines, augmented by Gary Duncan), Ken Kesey comes out and does a spoken word kind of eulogy for Bill Graham which gives me goosebumps. It's tremendously powerful! You learn about a super-kind and deep gesture Bill Graham made after Kesey's son Zed died in January '84, going off an icy road in Oregon. Anyway, Kesey starts in a speaking-voice tone with "I was in D.C., and when I got the message (of Graham's death) I thought of two things..." but enumerates at least three and he becomes increasingly passionate, at times shouting (including a kind of direct address to the Dead, citing "Brokedown Palace") and finishes with "a simple old poem" from E.E. Cummings, although he didn't get it exactly correct. Here's the poem"

Buffalo Bill ’s
defunct
who used to
ride a watersmooth-silver
stallion
and break onetwothreefourfive pigeonsjustlikethat
Jesus
he was a handsome man
and what i want to know is
how do you like your blueeyed boy
Mister Death

The poem, obviously about the historical Buffalo Bill Cody, who after earning fame at a young age, eventually organized a traveling/touring show "Buffalo Bill's Wild West" that toured the US, the UK and Europe, also works as a reference to Bill Graham as a concert promoter. And Cody, Graham, Kesey and I bet Kesey's deceased son all had blue eyes.

Side Note: The first and last lines of this poem appear on a blackboard in the Movie "The Silence of the Lambs" in an early scene when Clarice Starling is going to meet Jack Crawford. They're on a blackboard in the first office she passes. It very quick. Their presence is kind of nonsensical because the creepy killer was given the moniker "Buffalo Bill" by law enforcement/the press and had no evidentiary connection to him! (Though the killer does turn out to have blue eyes.)

Anyway, regarding Brown Eyed Women, it occurred to me after my post that "the rest were sins" doesn't necessarily have to refer to more twins. And the "twins" don't even have to be all boys. My mistake! "The rest were sins" could refer to at the least, four more male offspring if the aforementioned sets of twins were all boys. "Raised eight boys" doesn't preclude there being girls.
Last edited by FromWichita on Mon May 09, 2022 8:03 pm, edited 1 time in total.
 #172959  by FromWichita
 
Jon S. wrote: Mon May 09, 2022 6:20 am
FromWichita wrote: Sun May 08, 2022 7:16 pm Hey folks! Today is the anniversary of 5/8/77
I enjoyed that show. :rockon:

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Hey, neat picture! I presume that's you. Were you there? I can't imagine witnessing that show in person.

5/8/77 also has a great Row Jimmy. I think Jerry uses slide for both solos.