Shaking in the forest, what have you to fear?
Here there may be tigers to punch you in the ear
Gloves of stainless steel, bats carved out of brick,
Will knock you down and beat you up and give your ass a kick
When push comes to shove
You’re afraid of love
Shaking in the desert, wherefore do you cry?
Here there may be rattlesnakes to punch you in the eye1
Shotguns full of silver, bullets made of glass,2
String barbed wire at your feet and do not let you pass
When push comes to shove, you’re afraid of love
Chorus:
When push comes to shove
When push comes to shove
You’re afraid of love
When push comes to shove
Shaking in the bedroom, covers on your head
Cringing like a baby at the hand beneath the bed
Phantom in the closet, scratching at the door
The latest mystery killer that you saw on Channel Four
When push comes to shove, you’re afraid of love
Shaking in the garden, the fear within you grows
Here there may be roses to punch you in the nose3
Twist their arms around you, slap you till you cry,
Wrap you in their sweet perfume and love you till you die
When push comes to shove, you’re afraid of love
When push comes to shove
When push comes to shove
You’re afraid of love
When push comes to shove
Words by Robert Hunter
Music by Jerry Garcia
A phrase borrowed from old maps. “Here there may be monsters” indicated that the mapmaker was in uncharted territory. At least, that’s the common wisdom. Trying to find an actual map that employed this phrase proves difficult—maybe impossible. Rather than a bona fide phrase from mapmaking antiquity, it may be a phrase used by modern mapmakers creating pseudoantique maps.
In Jules Verne’s 1870 novel, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Captain Nemo invites Professor Aronnax on an undersea hunting expedition, which, among other marvels, will employ guns powered by compressed air, firing glass bullets:
On the contrary, sir, with this rifle every shot is fatal; and as soon as the animal is hit, no matter how lightly, if falls as if struck by lightning.”
“Why?”
“Because this rifle doesn’t shoot ordinary bullets but little glass capsules invented by the Austrian chemist Leniebroek, and I have a considerable supply of them. These glass capsules are covered with a strip of steel and weighted with a lead base; they’re genuine little Leyden jars charged with high-voltage electricity.
See note under “That’s It for the Other One.”
Studio recording: Built to Last (October 31, 1989).
First performance: December 15, 1986, at the Coliseum Arena in Oakland, California. It remained in the repertoire through July 17, 1989.