Mountains Of The Moon

Lyrics: Robert Hunter
Music: Jerry Garcia

Cold mountain water, the jade merchant's daughter
Mountains of the moon, Electra, bow and bend to me
Hi-ho, the carrion crow, folderol-de-riddle
Hi-ho, the carrion crow, bow and bend to me

Hey, Tom Banjo
Hey, a laurel
More than laurel you may sow
More than laurel you may sow
Hey, the laurel, hey, the city in the rain
Hey, hey, the wild wheat waving in the wind

Twenty degrees of solitude, twenty degrees in all (note 1)
All the dancing kings and wives assembled in the hall
Lost is the long and loneliest time, fairy Sybil flying (note2)
All along the, all along the mountains of the moon

Hey, Tom Banjo
It's time to matter
The earth will see you on through this time
The earth will see you on through this time
Down by the water, the marsh king's daughter, did you know
Clothed in tatters, always will be, Tom where did you go?

Mountains of the moon, Electra, mountains of the moon
All along the, all along the mountains of the moon
Heigh ho, the carrion crow, folderol-de-riddle
Heigh ho, the carrion crow, bow and bend to me
Bend to me
Notes
(1) Hunter subsequently rewrote this verse, though the Dead never in fact used the new version:
Here is a feast of solitude, a fiddler grim and tall
Plays to dancing kings and wives assembled in the hall
Of lost, long, lonely times fairy Sybil flying
All along the, all along the Mountains of the Moon
(2) Hunter gives this line as "Lost is a long and lonely time." The sheet music has "Lost is the long and loneliest town." On re-listening to the version on Aoxomoxoa, it's clear that Garcia sings "Lost is the long and loneliest time."

Grateful Dead Recordings
     Date Album
     studio 1969 Aoxomoxoa
     11 Feb 1969 Fillmore East 2-11-69
     27 Feb 1969 Fillmore West 1969 -The Complete Recordings
      1 Mar 1969 Fillmore West 1969 - The Complete Recordings
     26 Apr 1969 Dick's Picks Vol 26

Recordings from dead.net Tapers Section

"The Dead" Concert Recordings

Robert Hunter Concert Recordings

Phil Lesh and Friends Digital Download Series
 
Other Recordings
     Date Album Recorded By
     1993 Morning Dew Tom Constanten
     1993 Dead Ringers Dead Ringers
     22 Jul 1998 The Strange Remain The Other Ones
     2000 Grateful Dreams Tom Constanten
     2003 Yuletide Iditarod
     2004 20 Degrees Of Solitude The Grass Is Dead
     2006 Piano Impressions Lore Constantine
      2007 Dead Symphony Lee Johnson


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 Anthology Volume 1 (piano arrangement)
          Grateful Dead (Guitar Superstar Series) (simplified guitar TAB)
          Garcia/Hunter Songbook (vocal line and chords/TAB)

 

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