Rat in a drain ditch
Caught on a limb
You know better but
I know him
Like I told you
What I said
Steal your face1
right off you head
Chorus:
Now he’s gone2
Lord, he’s gone
Like a steam locomotive
rolling down the track
He’s gone
He’s gone
and nothing’s gonna bring him back
He’s gone
Nine-mile skid
on a ten-mile ride
Hot as a pistol
but cool inside
Cat on a tin roof3
Dogs in a pile
Nothing left to do but
smile, smile, smile4
(Chorus)
Going where the wind don’t blow so strange
Maybe on some high cold mountain range
Lost one round but the price wasn’t anything
Knife in a back and more of the same
Same old rat in a drain ditch
Out on a limb
You know better but I know him
(Chorus)
Words by Robert Hunter
Music by Jerry Garcia
This line was lifted out as the title of an ill-fated album issued under duress in order to fulfill a contractual obligation to United Artists. Since the album’s cover featured the logo designed by Owsley Stanley and rendered by Bob Thomas (who also designed the famous dancing bears), a grinning skull, and lightning bolt inside the circle, that logo has been identified primarily as the “steal your face,” or “stealie” logo, perhaps incorrectly.
“He’s Gone,” as originally written, referred to the disappearance of Mickey Hart’s father, Lenny Hart, who was acting as the band’s manager and carrying a good deal of money. Since then, the song has become riddled with meaning, and is played quite tenderly when someone close to the band dies. And since the death of Jerry Garcia, the song always evokes his passing.
An old English proverbial saying, first collected in 1670 by John Ray in his English Proverbs. Originally, it referred to being like a cat “on hot bricks” or “upon a hot bake stone.”
American listeners will probably be reminded of the title of the Tennessee Williams (1911-83) play Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1955), the final line of which, at least in some versions, is “Nothing’s more determined than a cat on a tin roof—is there? Is there, baby?” The line is spoken by the character Maggie the Cat. (Not actually a cat.)
A campaign slogan of William Howard Taft, the successful Republican candidate for President in 1908. Taft was known as the most jovial man in politics.
Recording: Europe ’72 (November 1972).
First performance: April 17, 1972, at the Tivoli Gardens, Copenhagen, Denmark.