I went down to the mountain, I was drinking some wine
I looked up into heaven, Lord, I saw a mighty sign
Writ in fire across the heaven, plain as black and white
Get prepared, there’s gonna be a party tonight
Chorus:
Uh-huh, hey, Saturday night
One more Saturday night1
Hey, Saturday night
Everybody’s dancing down at the local armory2
With a basement full of dynamite and live artillery
Temperature keeps rising, everybody getting high
Come the rocking stroke of midnight, the whole place is gonna fly
(Chorus)
I turn on Channel Six, the President comes on the news
Says I got no satisfaction, that’s why I sing the blues
His wife says don’t get crazy, Lord, you know what to do3
Just crank up that old Victrola, put on your rocking shoes
(Chorus)
Then God way up in heaven, for whatever it was worth
Thought he’d have a big old party, thought he’d call it Planet Earth
Don’t worry about tomorrow, Lord, you’ll know it when it comes
When the rocking, rolling music meets the rising, shining sun
(Chorus)
Words and music by Bob Weir
Used as the title of a book by Sandy Troy: One More Saturday Night: Reflections with the Grateful Dead, Dead Family, and Dead Heads (1991).
The Grateful Dead rehearsed for a time at the Santa Venetia Armory in Marin County, California, and played gigs there on July 8 and 9, 1966; December 29, 1966; and February 10, 1967. Also, the first time they played in St. Louis (May 24 and 25, 1968), their venue was the National Guard Armory.
During Ronald Reagan’s presidency, Bob Weir sometimes sang, “Nancy says don’t get crazy Ron, you know just what to do.” Similarly, with The Dead on August 9, 2003 (and perhaps on other occasions), he sang, “His wife says don’t get crazy, George, you know just what to do.”
From Dennis McNally’s A Long Strange Trip:
[Weir and Hunter] clashed again over “One More Saturday Night.” Having gotten Hunter’s lyrics, Weir rewrote them—badly in Hunter’s opinion—and then asked to call the resulting song “U.S. Blues,” which Hunter refused to permit. In the end, he declined any association with the song and it was credited to Weir alone. 50
This throws an interesting light on the line “You can call this song the United States Blues,” in “U.S. Blues.”
First performance: Tuesday, October 19, 1971, at Northrop Auditorium, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis. The song remained in the repertoire from then on. Although it was usually played on Saturday nights, this was not always the case.
