Must be getting early
Clocks are running late
Paint-by-number morning sky
Looks so phony
Dawn is breaking everywhere
Light a candle, curse the glare1
Draw the curtains
I don’t care ’cause
It’s all right
I will get by / I will get by
I will get by / I will survive
I see you’ve got your list out
Say your piece and get out
Yes, I get the gist of it
but it’s all right
Sorry that you feel that way
The only thing there is to say
Every silver lining’s got a
Touch of grey2
I will get by / I will get by
I will get by / I will survive
It’s a lesson to me
The Ables and the Bakers and the Cs3
The ABCs we all must face
And try to keep a little grace
It’s a lesson to me
The Deltas and the East and the Freeze
The ABCs we all think of
Try to give a little love.
I know the rent is in arrears
The dog has not been fed in years
It’s even worse than it appears
but it’s all right
The cow is giving kerosene
Kid can’t read at seventeen
The words he knows are all obscene
but it’s all right
I will get by / I will get by
I will get by / I will survive
The shoe is on the hand it fits4
There’s really nothing much to it
Whistle through your teeth and spit
’cause it’s all right
Oh well a touch of grey
Kind of suits you anyway
That was all I had to say
It’s all right
I will get by / I will get by
I will get by / I will survive
We will get by / We will get by
We will get by / We will survive
Words by Robert Hunter
Music by Jerry Garcia
Hunter notes in A Box of Rain that this line was by Garcia.
It is a play on the saying, coined by Adlai Stevenson in 1962 in reference to the death of Eleanor Roosevelt, that “She would rather light a candle than curse the darkness.”
The line also provides a nice resonance with, and may be the source of, the album’s title, In the Dark.
A play on the saying “Every cloud has a silver lining.”
The earliest usage of the concept in literature is from John Milton’s 1631 poem “Il Penseroso”
Was I deceiv’d or did a sable cloud
Turn forth her silver lining on the night?
Used in the 1915 song “Keep the Home Fires Burning,” words by Lena Guilbert Ford, music (and the song’s first line) by Ivor Novello:
Keep the home fires burning,
While your hearts are yearning;
Though your lads are far away
They dream of home.
There’s a silver lining
Through the dark cloud shining;
Turn the dark cloud inside out,
Till the boys come home.
This saying was also the basis for the 1920 song “Look for the Silver Lining,” with words by P. G. Wodehouse and Buddy G. de Sylva and music by Garcia’s namesake, Jerome Kern.
So always look for the silver lining
And try to find the sunny side of life
Able and Baker are the first two words in the military communication alphabet, used to make spelling more intelligible over radio communications devices. So they are literally “ABCs.” Here’s a table comparing the old and new standard phonetic alphabets. The new one is used by the International Civil Aviation Organization, a U.N. agency. (Note that “Delta,” from the song’s next bridge, is the only other easily identifiable alphabet letter.)
Interestingly, there are two streets in Palo Alto (the Grateful Dead’s original home base), named Abel and Baker. According to the Palo Alto Historical Association’s website, “Abel Avenue was named soon after World War II; Abel was the first letter of the military phonetic alphabet in use at that time. The next street, Baker, the second letter of the military phonetic alphabet, was named for the property owners, Linda and Clark Baker, who bought the land from George and Georgia Reed.” Note that the street name is spelled “Abel” as in “Cain and Abel,” but seems to have been named for the military alphabet nonetheless.
Able and Baker were also the names of two pioneering animal astronauts—monkeys. They were launched into space on May 28, 1959, in the nose cone of Jupiter Missile AM-18. They reached an altitude of three hundred miles and a distance of fifteen hundred miles while traveling at speeds over ten thousand miles per hour on their brief trip into space. This mission marked the first successful recovery of living beings after their return from space. Able was a seven-pound rhesus monkey; Baker an eleven-ounce squirrel monkey.
A play on the saying “If the shoe fits, wear it.” See note under “If the Shoe Fits.”
Studio recording: In the Dark (July 6, 1987). The song became the Grateful Dead’s first top-ten hit, and propelled the band into the spotlight.
First performance: September 15, 1982, at the Capital Center, Landover, Maryland.