"He's Gone"
Words by Robert Hunter; music by Jerry Garcia
Copyright Ice Nine Publishing
Rat in a drain ditch
Caught on a limb
You know better but
I know him
Like I told you
What I said
Steal your face
right off you head
Now he's Gone
Lord he's gone
Like a steam locomotive
rolling down the track
He's gone
He's gone
and nothing's gonna bring him back
He's gone
Nine mile skid
on a ten mile ride
Hot as a pistol
but cool inside
Cat on a tin roof
Dogs in a pile
Nothing left to do but
smile, smile, smile
Now he's gone
Lord he's gone
Like a steam locomotive
rolling down the track
He's gone
He's gone
and nothing's gonna bring him back
He's gone
Going where the wind don't blow so strange
Maybe on some high cold mountain range
Lost one round but the price wasn't anything
Knife in a back and more of the same
Same old rat in a drain ditch
Out on a limb
You know better but I know him
Now he's gone
Lord he's gone
Like a steam locomotive
rolling down the track
He's gone
He's gone
and nothin's gonna bring him back
He's gone....
First performance: April 17, 1972, at the Tivoli Gardens Copenhagen, Denmark
"He's Gone," as originally written, referred to the disappearance of Mickey Hart's father,
Lenny Hart, who was acting as the band's manager, with a good deal of money.
Song was first played on the day I was born. I take this as a good omen.