My brother Esau killed a hunter
Back in 19692
And before the killing was done
His inheritance was mine
But his birthright was a wand to wave
Before a weary band
Esau gave me sleeplessness
And a piece of moral land
My father favored Esau
Who was eager to obey
All the bloody wild commandments
The Old Man shot his way
But all this favor ended
When my brother failed at war
He staggered home
And found me in the door
Esau skates on mirrors anymore . . .
He meets his pale reflection at the door
Yet sometimes at night I dream
He’s still that hairy man
Shadowboxing the Apocalypse
And wandering the land
Shadowboxing the Apocalypse
And wandering the land
Esau holds a blessing
Brother Esau bears a curse
I would say that the blame is mine
But I suspect it’s something worse
The more my brother looks like me
The less I understand
The silent war that bloodied both our hands
Sometimes at night, I think I understand
It’s brother to brother and it’s man to man
And it’s face to face and it’s hand to hand . . .
We shadowdance the silent war within
The shadowdance, it never ends . . .
Never ends, never ends
Shadowboxing the Apocalypse, yet again . . .
Yet again
Shadowboxing the Apocalypse
And wandering the land
Words by John Barlow
Music by Bob Weir
The Biblical character Esau is told of in Genesis 25, 27, and 33. He was, according to The Anchor Bible Dictionary:
Isaac and Rebecca’s firstborn son, and Jacob’s older twin. In the OT, he is described both as an individual person who represents a specific lifestyle (the hunter) and as the eponymous ancestor of a people (Edomites or Idumeans).
The entry continues:
The contrast between the twins is already anticipated before their birth in God’s proclamation that the older brother will serve the younger. . . . The older son is his father’s favorite while the younger is favored by his mother. . . . The younger brother bargained for the older brother’s birthright . . . and deceitfully obtained the firstborn’s blessing from Isaac. . . . Jacob fled to Harran to escape Esau’s vengeance. . . . After Jacob’s return, the brothers reconciled and settled in different regions. 21
Possibly a reference to Altamont, where the man knifed by the Hell’s Angels was Meredith Hunter.
Written in Cora, Wyoming, August through December 1982.
First performance: March 25, 1983, at Compton Terrace Amphitheater, Tempe, Arizona. It remained fairly steadily in the repertoire through October 1987.