Brokedown Palace

Lyrics: Robert Hunter
Music: Jerry Garcia

Fare you well, my honey
Fare you well, my only true one
All the birds that were singing
Are flown, except you alone

Gonna leave this brokedown palace
On my hands and my knees, I will roll, roll, roll
Make myself a bed by the waterside
In my time, in my time, I will roll, roll, roll

In a bed, in a bed
By the waterside I will lay my head
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

River gonna take me, sing me sweet and sleepy
Sing me sweet and sleepy all the way back home
It's a far gone lullaby sung many years ago
Mama, Mama, many worlds I've come since I first left home

Going home, going home
By the waterside I will rest my bones
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

Going to plant a weeping willow
On the bank's green edge it will grow, grow, grow
Singing a lullaby beside the water
Lovers come and go, the river will roll, roll, roll

Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul
Grateful Dead Recordings
     Studio 1970 American Beauty
      6 Aug 1971 Road Trips Number 1, Volume 3 (bonus disc)
     24 Aug 1971 Dick's Picks Vol 35
     15 Nov 1971 Road Trips Number 3, Volume 2
      7 Dec 1971 Dave's Picks Volume 22 (note 3)
     10 Dec 1971 Listen To The River: St Louis '71 '72 73
     28 Mar 1972 Dick's Picks Vol 30
     11 Apr 1972 Steppin' Out with the Grateful Dead: England '72 (note 1)
     25 May 1972 Europe '72 - The Complete Recordings
     16 Sep 1972 30 Days Of The Dead (2016)
     19 Sep 1972 Dave's Picks Bonus Disc 2023
     27 Sep 1972 Dick's Picks Vol 11
     18 Oct 1972 Listen To The River: St Louis '71 '72 73
     15 Nov 1972 30 Days Of The Dead (2020)
     17 Nov 1972 Dave's Picks Volume 11
     29 Oct 1973 Listen To The River: St Louis '71 '72 73
     10 Nov 1973 Winterland 1973 - The Complete Recordings
     21 Nov 1973 Road Trips Volume 4, Number 3
     10 Dec 1973 Download Series Vol 8
     11 May 1977 May 1977 Box Set
      8 Jun 1977 Winterland June 1977 - The Complete Recordings
     14 Oct 1977 Road Trips Volume 1, Number 2
     26 Dec 1979 Dick's Picks Vol 5
      3 Sep 1980 Download Series Vol 7
      3 Oct 1980 Dead Set
      1 Apr 1988 Road Trips Volume 4, Number 2
     10 Mar 1981 In And Out Of The Garden
      9 Jul 1989 Giants Stadium 1987, 1989, 1991 Boxed Set
     19 Mar 1990 Spring 1990
     26 Mar 1990 Dozin' At The Knick (note 2)
     20 Jun 1991 Download Series Vol 11
Notes
(1) also on the box set Europe '72 - The Complete Recordings
(2) also on the box set Spring 1990
(3) also on 30 Days Of The Dead (2012)
 
Other Dead-related Recordings
     Date Album Recorded By
     1 Dec 2012 A Buckdancer's Choice Mickey Hart Band
     Jun 2021 Live In Colorado Bob Weir & Wolf Bros

(Plus live recordings by The Dead, Furthur, Dead & Company, Ratdog, Phil Lesh & Friends etc not listed here. See
Grateful Dead Family Discography for a full list.)
 
Other Recordings
     Date Album Recorded By
     1995 Eternity Blue Henry Kaiser
     1996 I Love Everything Will Hale
     1996 Whetstone Bridge Whetstone Bridge
     1997 Jake's Leg Jake's Leg
     1997 Wind River Crossing Keith Greeninger
     1998 Into The Now Into The Now
     2000 Reel Life, Vol 1 Wild Colonials
     2000 Do Right Jimmie's Chicken Shack
     2000 Dead Grass Vassar Clements
     2000 Might As Well The Persuasions (note 4)
     2001 Solo Acoustic David Gans
     2001 Gratefully Yours Jim Hudak
     2001 Built To Grass Grass Is Dead
     2002 Electronic Tribute To The Grateful Dead Various (Kinetika)
     2003 Solo Acoustic David Gans
     2004 Pebbles and Ripples Bonny 'Prince' Billy & Brightback
     2005 Jerry Jams, Jerry Cares Mel Brody
     2005 The Art Of Virtue Adrienne Young & Little Sadie
     2006 Pretty Little Stranger Joan Osborne
     2007 At Fine Arts Center, UMass The American Beauty Project
     2008 Act Live Kate Lamont and Blueprintmusic
     2008 Before This Time Ollabelle
     2008 Merlfest, April 26 2008 Ollabelle
     2009 Frontier Blues Renegade Minstrels
     2010 More Me Scott Franson
     2010 At Page Auditorium, Duke University The American Beauty Project
     2010 Dead To The Core Jeffrey Pepper Rodgers
     2010 House Concert, Club Meg, Missoula MT David Gans (note 5)
     2010 Erleichda Roy Scheider
     2011 Folk Standards Pascal Maupeu
     2012 Run For The Roses Tim Bluhm et al (Rex Foundation)
     2012 Double Down Dead EP Band Of Heathens
     2013 Keys Keller Willams
     2013 The Grateful EP Jackie Greene
     2013 My Red Car Lorne Constantine
     2013 The Tri Sessions, Vol. 1 Fog
     2015 The Promised Land Sagol 59 & Ami Yares
     2015 Not In Nottingham Watkins Family Hour
     2015 It's A Hand-Me-Down David Gans
     2015 Songs Of Their Own RThe Brothers Comatose
     2015 Pretty Marsh The Point
     2015 Lookout: The EP Kristin Andreassen
     2016 Deal Wake The Dead
     2016 Day Of The Dead Richard Reed Parry et al
     2017 Dead Songs Vol 1 Barton Hills Choir
     2017 Mixtape Mark Erelli
     2018 [single] Shinyribs
     2018 Cut The Dead Some Slack Stephen Inglis
     2019 Mix Tape IV Bonnie "Prince" Billy
     2019 Brokedown Palace The Invisible Bee
     2019 Live At The Old Church Holly Bowling
     2019 Dead Air Sammi Lanzeta

Notes
(4) re-released in 2011 on "Persuasions of the Dead"
(5) The list above includes only one illustrative example of the series of live recordings by David Gans. For a full list see the Grateful Dead Family Discography.


Further 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 David Dodd's discussion of this song on dead.net see Greatest Stories Ever Told
For online chords and TAB see www.rukind.com
For sheet music, see:
          Grateful Dead Anthology Volume 2 (piano arrangement)
          Grateful Dead Songbook Volume 1 (piano arrangement)
          Garcia/Hunter Songbook (vocal line and chords/TAB)

 


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