Rosemary

Lyrics: Robert Hunter
Music: Jerry Garcia

Recorded on Aoxomoxoa. For a long time it was assumed it had never been been played live. But a tape of a performance on 7 December 1968 has recently come to light.

Boots were of leather, a breath of cologne (note 1)
Her mirror was a window she sat quite alone
All around her the garden grew
Scarlet and purple and crimson and blue

She came and she went and at last went away (note 2)
The garden was sealed when the flowers decayed
On the wall of the garden, a legend did say
"No one may come here, since no one may stay"
Notes
(1) some lyric sites, and the lyrics in the Guitar Superstar Songbook, have "Swath of heaven, a breath of cologne, From here was a window ..." On the only live version, it sounds to me as if Garcia sings "Boots made of leather ..." (but he also seems to have trouble remembering the lyrics later on). The version above is the one from Robert Hunter's "Box Of Rain" (thanks to Pete Lassoff for spotting this)
(2) again, some lyric sites have "She came and she looked ..." The Hunter/Garcia songbook has "She came dead and she went"

Grateful Dead Recordings
     Date Album
     studio 1969 Aoxomoxoa (note 1)

Furthur Digital Downloads and CDs

Phil Lesh and Friends Digital Download Series
 
Other Recordings
     Date Album Recorded By
     2001 Gifts From The Dead Gifts From The Dead
     2005 Jerry Jams, Jerry Cares Patrick Fitzsimmons

Notes
(1) also on the compilation Skeletons From The Closet


Futher Information
For an online discussion of the lyrics to this song see the deadsongs.vue conference on The Well.
For more information on recordings see Matt Schofield's Grateful Dead Family Discography
For information on references in the lyrics see David Dodd's Annotated Grateful Dead Lyrics
For online chords and TAB see www.rukind.com
For sheet music, see:
          Grateful Dead (Guitar Superstar Series) (simplified guitar TAB)
          Grateful Dead Anthology For Easy Guitar
          Garcia/Hunter Songbook (vocal line and chords/TAB)

 

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