In The Midnight Hour

Lyrics: Pickett/Cropper
Music: Pickett/Cropper

Sung by Pigpen with the Grateful Dead from 1966 to 1971. Revived by Bob Weir in the 80s and 90s.

I'm gonna wait till the midnight hour
That's when my love comes a-tumbling down
I'm gonna wait till the midnight hour
When there's no one else around
I'm gonna take you girl and hold you
Do all the things I told you
In the midnight hour
Yes I am

I'm gonna wait till the stars come out
And twinkle in your eyes
I'm gonna wait till the midnight hour
That when my love begins to shine
'Cause you're the only girl I know
That can really love me so
In the midnight hour

[rap - see below]

I'm got to wait till the midnight hour
That's when my love comes a-tumbling down
I got to wait till the midnight hour
When there's no one else around
I got to take you girl and hold you
Do all the things I told you
In the midnight hour
Midnight hour

Grateful Dead Recordings
	Date	Album
	1966	Vintage Dead
	3 Jul 1966	30 Trips Around The Sun
	3 Sep 1967	Fallout From The Phil Zone
	14 Feb 1968	Road Trips Volume 2, Number 2
	2 Nov 1969	Dave's Picks Volume 43
	3 Jan 1970	Dave's Picks Volume 30
	4 Feb 1970	Download Series: A Night At The Family Dog
	29 Apr 1971	Ladies And Gentlemen ... The Grateful Dead
	26 Mar 1987	Dave's Picks Volume 36

Pigpen usually included a rap after the main lyrics. This from 3 January 1970:

Baby, I guess I got to wait
Till the midnight, midnight hour
When your love begin to twinkle
Twinkle in your eye
You're the only girl (midnight hour)
I just got to make you feel all right (midnight hour)
Oh Lord (midnight hour)
I just got to wait a while (midnight hour)
When it just can't be too long (midnight hour)
I'm gonna tell you what I'm a-gonna do now (midnight hour)
I'm gonna lock that door (midnight hour)
And I'm gonna throw away the key (midnight hour)
Ain't gonna be nothing, darling
Just be you and me
Round about the midnight hour
You know I begin to get good sometimes
And then sometimes I begin to get better
Sometimes I begin to get better
Even though it was good before
Ahh, sometimes yes I do
Don't it make you feel nice
Don't it make you feel good
Don't it make you feel good
Don't it make you feel good too
All you got to do
Wait till this time
All you plan to do
Ahh, wait a little bit
You got to get good, baby
You got to get good, baby
I said I like it just as, I like it just as
I like it just I usually do

I'm gonna tell everybody
Just a little old thing
I want to tell everybody
Just a little old thing
About the way you got to go about things
If you're lonesome
About the way, if you're hungry
About the way, if you want to get things working right
Yes I will

When I get lonesome, fellas
All I got to do
There's one place that I got to be
And that's in the midnight hour
Got some kind of magic sign, you know
So if you ever get lonesome
That's all I got to do
I just wait around a while
Make things get good
Hey, all have I do
All I do
All I do, all I do
Is I go wait till the midnight hour
[back to verse]

Gene Baran pointed me to the version on 3 September 1967, which includes:

I'm gonna raise your hood
I wanna check your oil
I wanna check your transmission
And get your radiator to boil

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 online chords and TAB see www.rukind.com