Standing on the Moon

Lyrics: Robert Hunter
Music: Jerry Garcia

Standing on the moon, I got no cobweb on my shoe
Standing on the moon, I'm feeling so alone and blue
I see the Gulf of Mexico as tiny as a tear
The coast of California must be somewhere over here
Over here

Standing on the moon, I see the battle rage below
Standing on the moon, I see the soldiers come and go
There's a metal flag beside me someone planted long ago
Old glory standing stiffly, crimson, white and indigo
Old glory standing stiffly, crimson, white and indigo
Indigo

I see all of South East Asia; I can see El Salvador
I hear the cries of children and the other songs of war
It's like a mighty melody that rings down from the sky
Standing here upon the moon I watch it all roll by
All roll by
All roll by
All roll by

Standing on the moon, I see a shadow on the sun
Standing on the moon, the stars go fading one by one
I hear a cry of victory, another of defeat
A scrap of age-old lullaby down some forgotten street

Standing on the moon, where talk is cheap and vision true
Standing on the moon, but I would rather be with you
Somewhere in San Francisco on a back porch in July
Just looking up to heaven at this crescent in the sky
In the sky

Standing on the moon with nothing left to do
A lovely view of heaven but I'd rather be with you
A lovely view of heaven but I'd rather be with you
Be with you
I'd rather be with you
[etc]

Grateful Dead Recordings
	Date	Album
	studio 1989	Built To Last (note 1)
	7 Jul 1989	Crimson, White and Indigo (DVD & CD)
	17 Jul 1989	Downhill From Here (video only)
	21 Mar 1990	Spring 1990 (The Other One)
	30 Mar 1990	Spring 1990
	8 Jul 1990	View From The Vault (DVD & CD soundtrack)
	16 Sep 1990	Dick's Picks Vol 9
	20 Jun 1991	Download Series Vol 11
	10 Sep 1991	30 Trips Around The Sun
	20 Mar 1992	30 Trips Around The Sun
	4 Jul 2015	Fare Thee Well (CD and DVD)

(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
	2001	Built To Grass	Grass Is Dead
	2003	Live	Vince Welnick and Gent Treadly
	2005	Jerry Jams, Jerry Cares	Mike Montrey
	9 Nov 2009	Jerry Jams for Rex II	Bruce Hornsby and the Noisemakers (note 2)
	2009	Acoustic Sessions Vol 1	Real Eyes
	2010	Songs Of The Grateful Dead	Jesse McReynolds
	2011	The Wheel: A Musical Celebration of Jerry Garcia	Jesse McReynolds, David Nelson et al
	2011	Bride of the Noisemakers	Bruce Hornsby and the Noisemakers
	2015	Songs Of Their Own	Jakedown Street
	2016	Day Of The Dead	Phosphorescent & Friends
	2018	Cut The Dead Some Slack	Stephen Inglis
	2018	Grateful Dub	Roots of Creation
	2020	... but I'd rather be with you	Molly Tuttle

Notes
(1) also on the compilations The Arista Years and The Best Of The Grateful Dead.
(2) The list above includes only one illustrative example of the series of live recordings by these artists. For a full list see the Grateful Dead Family Discography.

On 18 Nov 2002, Robert Hunter added what seems to be a different song between the last two verses. These are the words as best I can make them out:

[It's lost] into life
A place where I've been living, living, living
Tell you I happened to [?]
Now may [?]
[?] playing to the [swift]
All these places
That some of you, hi folks, I know you [?]
Well it could be silly
But here, say it this time
You know it's just the same old folks
[?] and multiply
And I'm just so glad to be here with you
Yes I do
That's how it works out fine
We settle down
Now it's another time
You know it's getting dark
It's getting much too late
You know, I figure, if everybody was in love
There wouldn't be no war
But they have left for [days]
Maybe if everybody was a Deadhead there wouldn't be any war
Just one ray of green [?] and we're all [?]

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 online chords and TAB see www.rukind.com
For details of every time played, see Grateful Sets
For sheet music, see:
          Grateful Dead Anthology Volume 2 (piano arrangement)
          Built To Last Songbook (piano arrangment)
          Garcia/Hunter Songbook (vocal line and chords/TAB)