Lyrics to
Jack Straw

This version of Jack Straw was released by Grateful Dead in 1972.

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We can share the women, we can share the wine.
We can share what we got of yours ’cause we done shared all of mine.
Keep on rollin’, just a mile to go;
Keep on rollin’ my old buddy, you’re movin’ much too slow.

I just jumped the watchman, right outside the fence.
Took his rings, four bucks in change, ain’t that Heaven sent?
Hurts my ears to listen, Shannon, burns my eyes to see;
Cut down a man in cold blood, Shannon, might as well been me.

We used to play for silver, now we play for life;
And one’s for sport and one’s for blood at the point of a knife.
And now the die is shaken, now the die must fall.
There ain’t a winner in the game, he don’t go home with all.
Not with all.

Leavin’ Texas, fourth day of July,
Sun so hot, the clouds so low, the eagles filled the sky.
Catch the Detroit Lightnin’ out of Sante Fe,
The Great Northern out of Cheyenne, from sea to shining sea.

Gotta go to Tulsa, first train we can ride.
Gotta settle one old score, one small point of pride.
There ain’t a place a man can hide, Shannon will keep him from the sun
Ain’t a bed can give us rest now, you keep us on the run.

Jack Straw from Wichita cut his buddy down,
And dug for him a shallow grave and laid his body down.
Half a mile from Tucson, by the morning light,
One man gone and another to go, my old buddy you’re moving much too slow.

We can share the women, we can share the wine.

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Grateful Dead has released many songs over the years besides Jack Straw. 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.

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About Lyrics and Jack Straw by Grateful Dead

The lyrics for Jack Straw are defined as the words making up the song released by Grateful Dead in 1972. It also includes the verses and words used by the background chorus in the song. Like many hit songs, the lyrics to Jack Straw 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 Jack Straw 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 Jack Straw" means the words set to the music of Jack Straw, 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 Jack Straw and the lyrics to Jack Straw 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 Jack Straw, but we feel it is still fun to learn what's behind commonly used words and lyrics in songs.

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