Lyrics to
U.S. Blues

This version of U.s. Blues was released by Grateful Dead in 1974.

Our About Grateful Dead page at Decade Lyrics includes the lyrics for U.s. Blues from 1974 as well as all of the other lyrics from Grateful Dead that we have in our lyrics database.

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Red and white, blue suede shoes, I’m Uncle Sam, how do you do?
Gimme five, I’m still alive, ain’t no luck, I learned to duck.
Check my pulse, it don’t change. Stay seventy-two come shine or rain.
Wave the flag, pop the bag, rock the boat, skin the goat.
Wave that flag, wave it wide and high.
Summertime done, come and gone, my, oh, my.

I’m Uncle Sam, that’s who I am; Been hidin’ out in a rock and roll band.
Shake the hand that shook the hand of P.T. Barnum and Charlie Chan.
Shine your shoes, light your fuse. Can you use them ol’ U.S. Blues?
I’ll drink your health, share your wealth, run your life, steal your wife.
Wave that flag, wave it wide and high.
Summertime done, come and gone, my, oh, my.

Back to back chicken shack. Son of a gun, better change your act.
We’re all confused, what’s to lose?
Wave that flag, wave it wide and high.
Summertime done, come and gone, my, oh, my.

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Grateful Dead has released many songs over the years besides U.s. 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 the music of the 1970s looking for more songs from 1974 or the 1970s overall, you've come to the right place!

About Lyrics and U.s. Blues by Grateful Dead

The lyrics to U.s. Blues are the words, verses and chorus for the song released by Grateful Dead in 1974. Elements of the lyrics to U.s. Blues 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 U.s. Blues back when it was created.

Some people have an interest in the etymology behind words and phrases. You can take apart the lyrics to U.s. Blues 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 U.s. Blues" means the words set to the music of U.s. 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 U.s. Blues and the lyrics to U.s. 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 U.s. Blues, but we feel it is still fun to learn what's behind commonly used words and lyrics in songs.

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