Arabian wind
The Needle’s Eye is thin1
The Ships of State sail on mirage
and drown in sand
out in No-man’s Land
where Allah does command2
What good is spilling
blood? It will not
grow a thing
“Taste eternity”
the sword sings Blues for Allah
In’sh’Allah3
They lie where they fall
There’s nothing more to say
The desert stars are bright tonight,
let’s meet as friends
The flower of Islam
The fruit of Abraham4
The thousand stories have
come ’round to one again5
Arabian Night
our gods pursue their fight
What fatal flowers of
darkness spring from
seeds of light
Bird of Paradise—Fly6
In white sky
Blues for Allah
In’sh’Allah
Let’s see with our heart
these things our eyes have seen
and know the truth must still lie
somewhere in between
Under eternity
Under eternity
Under eternity
Blue
Bird of Paradise
Fly
Under eternity
Blues
for Allah
In’sh’Allah
Words by Robert Hunter
Music by Jerry Garcia
Three of the four writers of the New Testament gospels include nearly identical quotations of Jesus saying:
And I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.” Matthew 19:24
The other passages are found in Mark 10:25 and Luke 18:25. This is usually pretty good evidence that the quotation may be truly ascribed to Jesus. The other piece of evidence is that this is one of those “unpopular” sayings, one of the difficult things that the teacher said. So we can be pretty certain that this is an accurate quote. Some biblical scholars have attempted to soften the message by ascribing its meaning to a narrow gate in Jerusalem through which a camel could actually pass, but most scholars seem united in the view that Jesus meant to say that it is impossible for a rich man to enter the “kingdom of God.” Whatever that might be meant to be.
Hunter’s use of this image for his second line reinforces the first line’s geographical placement of the song in the landscape of the Holy Land, and adds the element of admonition.
Some maintain that the original Greek in the passage, camelas (rope), was mistakenly rendered as camelos (camel), thus altering the meaning of the passage.
This is the second use of the word Allah in a lyric by Hunter. For the first, and for a footnote on the word, see “What’s Become of the Baby?”
According to the Oxford English Dictionary: “Representing Arab. in sa’ Allah if Allah wills (it), a very frequent pious ejaculation among Muslims.”
A reference to the contestants in the Middle East conflict. Reminiscent of the nursery rhyme couplet:
Flour of England, fruit of Spain,
Met together in a shower of rain
A reference to The Arabian Nights. See the note under “What’s Become of the Baby?” for more information.
The bird of paradise is of the family Paradisaeidae, with forty-three species occurring in the Moluccas, New Guinea, and Australia. One of their environments of choice is the mangrove (see “Doin’ That Rag”) swamp. They are well known for their extravagant plumage, especially those of the male, which often has huge, iridescent feather structures, though this varies widely from species to species.
Studio recording: Blues for Allah (September 1, 1975).
First performance: March 23, 1975 at the SNACK benefit, Kezar Stadium, Golden Gate Park, San Francisco. Performed live only five times, all in 1975.
Hunter’s note in A Box of Rain says, “This lyric is a requiem for King Faisal of Saudi Arabia, a progressive and democratically inclined ruler [and incidentally, a fan of the Grateful Dead] whose assassination in 1975 shocked us personally.”
Garcia and Hunter, talking about the song in Goin’ Down the Road:
Hunter: But “Blues for Allah,” specifically, I remember them saying to me, “Dammit, we need the line right now!”
Garcia: Oh, that song was a bitch to do! When we got toward the end of the album, we had some time restrictions and we started working pretty fast. But up until then we’d been pretty leisurely about it. That song was another totally experimental thing I tried to do. In terms of the melody and the phrasing and all, it was not of this world. It’s not in any key and it’s not in any time. And the line lengths are all different.
Hunter: I remember trying to get a scan for that, the first line I came up with [he sings it to the song melody] was “Here comes that awful funky bride of Frankenstein.” [Laughs] Sometimes you need nonsense just to get it flowing.
Garcia: [Laughs] We should’ve used that! (Jackson) 67
The song title “Blues for Allah” may be a nod to the title of the Charlie Parker tune “Blues for Alice.”