Melody Monday

 Ramble On Rose 

[Live at JFK Stadium, Philadelphia, PA July 7, 1989] 

Just like Jack the Ripper
Just like Mojo Hand
Just like Billy Sunday
In a shotgun ragtime band
Just like New York City
Just like Jericho
Pace the halls and climb the walls
Get out when they blow

Did you say your name was
Ramblin' Rose
Ramble on, baby
Settle down easy
Ramble on, Rose

Just like Jack and Jill
Mama told the sailor
One heat up and one cool down
Leave nothin' for the tailor
Just like Jack and Jill
My Papa told the jailer
One go up and one come down

Do yourself a favor

Did you say your name was
Ramblin' Rose
Ramble on, baby
Settle down easy
Ramble on, Rose

I'm gonna sing you a hundred verses in ragtime
I know this song it ain't ever gonna end
I'm gonna march you up and down the local county line
Take you to the leader of the band

Just like Crazy Otto
Just like Wolfman Jack
Sittin' plush with a royal flush

Aces back to back
Just like Mary Shelley
Just like Frankenstein
Clank your chains and count your change
Try to walk the line

Did you say your name was
Ramblin' Rose
Ramble on, baby
Settle down easy
Ramble on, Rose

I'm gonna sing you a hundred verses in ragtime
I know this song it ain't ever gonna end
I'm gonna march you up and down the local county line
Take you to the leader of the band

Goodbye, Mama and Papa
Goodbye, Jack and Jill
The grass ain't greener, the wine ain't sweeter
either side of the hill.

Did you say your name was
Ramblin' Rose?
Ramble on, baby
Settle down easy
Ramble on, Rose

Ramble on Rose

It was introduced on Tuesday, October 19, 1971 at the Northrop Auditorium at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. The show is noteworthy for a number of reasons. First performances at the show, besides "Ramble on Rose," included "Comes a time," "Mexicali Blues," "Saturday Night," (on a Tuesday!), and "Tennessee Jed." It was also Keith Godchaux's first show. "Ramble On Rose" occupied the #2 spot in the second set, following "Truckin'," and preceding "Me and Bobby McGee." Since then, it has remained in the repertoire, placing 38th in frequency of performance as of 1986.  

INTERPRETATION

Perhaps the main point made by this song is that a lyric doesn't need a firm interpretation in order to be evocative. Depending on the listener, this song could be about American music itself, or about a card game, or about a man saying so long to an immature lover. At least three Jacks are invoked: Jack the Ripper, Jack (of Jack and Jill), and Wolfman Jack, which could easily be construed as constituting a poker hand. Tin Pan Alley, the Blues, Ragtime, Spirituals, Folk, Nursery rhymes, Country & Western, and Rock and Roll are all brought into the song, as noted in subsequent links, below. And the narrator seems to be addressing a lover who is determined to leave him on the subject of growing up, of settling down, of not always trying to find greener grass elsewhere.

How could one person be "just like" so many varied characters and situations? Look at any one person's life, and you will find the answer. There is no black and white answer to this song, just as there is no black and white answer to the questions of life itself. Hunter's hyperbolic use of the "just like" simile is a way of granting us the freedom to find our metaphors where we may, depending on the situation.

Most of my information and lyrics come from The Annotated Grateful Dead Lyrics website (http://artsites.ucsc.edu/GDead/agdl/gdhome.html) and The Complete Annotated Grateful Dead Lyrics by David Dodd.

"I can't figure out if it's the end or beginning..."

JG