Lyrics to
Big River

This version of Big River was released by Grateful Dead in 1976.

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Well I taught that weeping willow how to cry cry cry,
Taught the clouds how to cover up a clear blue sky.
Tears I cried for that woman are gonna flood you big river,
And I’m a gonna sit right here until I die.

I met her accidentally in St. Paul, Minnesota,
She tore me up everything I heard her drawl, that southern drawl.
Well I heard my dream went back downstream, cavortin’ in Davenport,
And I follow you big river when you called.

Well I followed her down to St. Louie, later on down the river,
Trader said she’s been here, but she’s gone, boy, she’s gone.
Well I followed her down to Memphis, but she just walked off the bus,
She raised a few eyebrows and she went on down alone.

Well I’ve gotten on down to Baton Rouge, River Queen roll on,
Take that woman down to New Orleans, New Orleans.
I give up, I’ve had enough, followed my blues on down to the gulf,
She loves you big river more than me.

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Grateful Dead has released many songs over the years besides Big River. 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 1970s music looking for more songs from 1976 or the 1970s overall, you've come to the right place!

About Lyrics and Big River by Grateful Dead

The lyrics for Big River are defined as the words making up the song released by Grateful Dead in 1976. It also includes the verses and words used by the background chorus in the song. Like many hit songs, the lyrics to Big River have different meanings to different people. While it is clear in some of the lyrics what the artist is trying to really say, only Grateful Dead and those working with them know all of the meanings behind all of the lyrics to their songs.

Some folks are interested in word and phrase etymology. It is easy to understand the lyrics to Big River by Grateful Dead if you think through it. 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 River" means the words set to the music of Big River, 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 River and the lyrics to Big River 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 River, but we feel it is still fun to learn what's behind commonly used words and lyrics in songs.

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