Lyrics to
Terrapin Station: Lady With A Fan

This version of Terrapin Station: Lady With A Fan was released by Grateful Dead in 1977.

Visit the Grateful Dead Lyrics profile at Decade Lyrics - it has the Terrapin Station: Lady With A Fan lyrics as well as the rest of the songs by Grateful Dead.

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

Let my inspiration flow
in token lines suggesting rhythm
that will not forsake me
till my tale is told and done

While the firelight’s aglow
strange shadows in the flames will grow
till things we’ve never seen
will seem familiar

Shadows of a sailor forming
winds both foul and fair all swarm
down in Carlisle he loved a lady
many years ago

Here beside him stands a man
a soldier by the looks of him
who came through many fights
but lost at love

While the storyteller speaks
a door within the fire creaks
suddenly flies open
and a girl is standing there

Eyes alight with glowing hair
all that fancy paints as fair
she takes her fan and throws it
in the lion’s den

“Which of you to gain me, tell
will risk uncertain pains of Hell?
I will not forgive you
if you will not take the chance”

The sailor gave at least a try
the soldier being much too wise
strategy was his strength
and not disaster

The sailor coming out again
the lady fairly lept at him
that’s how it stands today
you decide if he was wise

The storyteller makes no choice
soon you will not hear his voice
his job is to shed light
and not to master

Since the end is never told
we pay the teller off in gold
in hopes he will come back
but he cannot be bought or sold

---

Want more lyrics and songs by Grateful Dead?

Grateful Dead has released many songs over the years besides Terrapin Station: Lady With A Fan. 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 1977 or the 1970s overall, you've come to the right place!

About Lyrics and Terrapin Station: Lady With A Fan by Grateful Dead

The lyrics to Terrapin Station: Lady With A Fan are the words, verses and chorus for the song released by Grateful Dead in 1977. Elements of the lyrics to Terrapin Station: Lady With A Fan are both direct in meaning and also metaphorical with the real meanings of the song only known by Grateful Dead and any collaborating writers working on the lyrics for Terrapin Station: Lady With A Fan back when it was created.

Some people have an interest in the etymology behind words and phrases. You can take apart the lyrics to Terrapin Station: Lady With A Fan by Grateful Dead in a number of ways. 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 Terrapin Station: Lady With A Fan" means the words set to the music of Terrapin Station: Lady With A Fan, 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 Terrapin Station: Lady With A Fan and the lyrics to Terrapin Station: Lady With A Fan 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 Terrapin Station: Lady With A Fan, 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!

)