Lyrics to
Smokestack Lightnin’

This version of Smokestack Lightnin’ was released by Grateful Dead in 1973.

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Oh, smokestack lightnin’, shinin’ just like gold
Why can’t you hear me cryin’? Ooooo
Oh, stop your train, let a hobo ride
Why can’t you hear me cryin’? Ooooo

Oh, fare you well, I never see you no more
Why can’t you hear me cryin’? Ooooo

Oh, stop your train, let a poor boy ride, callin’ yes I do
Let a poor boy ride, let his foot step on

Oh, who’ve been you baby, since I’ve been gone

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Grateful Dead has released many songs over the years besides Smokestack Lightnin’. 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 Smokestack Lightnin’ by Grateful Dead

When you decide to study the lyrics to Smokestack Lightnin’, you're looking at the words, verses and background chorus from the 1973 song by Grateful Dead. Some of the lyrics to Smokestack Lightnin’ have clear meanings and some contain metaphorical references. Like most songs, only Grateful Dead and their collaborators know the full story behind any of the their songs.

You can understand the lyrics to Smokestack Lightnin’ if you take apart the structure of the words. 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 Smokestack Lightnin’" means the words set to the music of Smokestack Lightnin’, 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 Smokestack Lightnin’ and the lyrics to Smokestack Lightnin’ 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 Smokestack Lightnin’, but we feel it is still fun to learn what's behind commonly used words and lyrics in songs.

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