Lyrics to
Big Railroad Blues

This version of Big Railroad Blues was released by Grateful Dead in 1971.

Our Decade Lyrics Grateful Dead profile has all of the Big Railroad Blues lyrics from 1971 and many more songs from the Grateful Dead discography that we have on file.

Here's more interesting things in songs and lyrics tied to Grateful Dead or about the 1970s in general.

Well my mama told me, my papa told me too,
Now my mama told me, papa told me too,
Well I shouldn’t be here tryin’ to sing these railroad blues.

Wish I had a’listened to what my mama said,
Wish I had a’listened to what my mama said,
Well I wouldn’t be here tryin’ to sleep in this cold iron bed.

Well I went to the depot, I never got there on time,
Went down to the depot, never got there on time.
Well my train done left, she’s a rollin’ down the line.

Mister jailer go away now, don’t tell me no lies,
Mister jailer go away, don’t tell me no lies,
When the train’s going down, she’s rollin’ down the line.

Well my mama told me, my papa told me too,
Now my mama told me, papa told me too,
Well I shouldn’t be here tryin’ to sing these railroad blues.

---

Want more lyrics and songs by Grateful Dead?

Grateful Dead has released many songs over the years besides Big Railroad Blues. Grateful Dead released songs from 1967 to 1989 spanning across albums like The Grateful Dead, Anthem Of The Sun, Live / Dead, Aoxomoxoa, American Beauty, Workingman's Dead, Grateful Dead (Skull & Roses), Europe '72, History Of The Grateful Dead, Vol. 1 (Bear's Choice), Wake Of The Flood, Grateful Dead From The Mars Hotel, Blues For Allah, Steal Your Face, Terrapin Station, Shakedown Street, Go To Heaven, Reckoning, In The Dark, and Built To Last. Decade Lyrics has over lyrics & songs by Grateful Dead.

If you're a fan of lyrics from 1970s songs looking for more songs from 1971 or the 1970s overall, you've come to the right place!

About Lyrics and Big Railroad Blues by Grateful Dead

The lyrics to Big Railroad Blues are just the words, phrases, verses and chorus that Grateful Dead used when the song was created in 1971. The lyrics to Big Railroad Blues have both easy-to-spot meanings and hidden metaphors that have been discussed by the music press and fans, but only Grateful Dead and any collaborators know all of the inspirations for the song.

If you like etymology or breaking apart phrases and words, it is easy to understand the lyrics to Big Railroad Blues by Grateful Dead. The word "lyric" itself derives from the Latin word lyricus, with the actual English word lyrics applied to the definition "words set to music" listed in Stainer and Barrett's 1876 Dictionary of Musical Terms. Continuing the chain, the Latin word lyricus derives from the Greek word λυρικός or lyrikós. This somewhat means "poetry accompanied by the lyre" or "words set to music." You can easily see that by looking at the background of the word lyric, that the "lyrics to Big Railroad Blues" means the words set to the music of Big Railroad Blues, or poetry accompanied by the lyre played by Grateful Dead. The singular form "lyric" is still used to mean the complete words to a song. However, the singular form lyric is also commonly used to refer to a specific line (or phrase) within a song's lyrics. Hence, by this analysis of word structure, you could say that the lyric to Big Railroad Blues and the lyrics to Big Railroad Blues are both one and the same thing. None of this talk about the word Lyrics is really relevant to fans of Grateful Dead who came here looking just for the lyrics to Big Railroad Blues, but we feel it is still fun to learn what's behind commonly used words and lyrics in songs.

More Songs & Lyrics by Grateful Dead

Visit our Grateful Dead profile for more Grateful Dead songs, lyrics & info!

)