The paper is going great thanks to a lot of you. This post is mainly in response to those who helped me out on the interpretation of 'Attics of my Life' for my English paper.

But here’s an exchange I posted on the annotated lyrics website, found by a reader on (anyone remember newsgroups?) back in 1996: Heck, even I get those requests, and I surely don’t know much of anything about what anything means. Hunter often receives requests from listeners to weigh in on the meaning of his songs, or of particular lines within those songs. By extension, any of us can easily embrace the song’s meaning for ourselves and our own lives and work, and our hopes for finding larger meaning and connection. Wrapping up the Days Between period, I wanted to open a conversation about another significant Hunter / Garcia song, and was surprised to find that we haven’t talked yet about this one! One of my very favorite songs, in any kind of list I might make.Īnd while it might seem that this is not a story song, it does seem to be personal and autobiographical-a song about being a songwriter, and about the songwriter’s relationship to something greater than him- or herself. The song has been firmly lodged in my conscious and subconscious mind since the day I first listened to American Beauty (and I can remember that experience quite clearly-dancing around the living room at my girlfiend’s parents’ house in San Diego).

And the highlight of that highlight of my life was singing the final encore, just Bob and us on the stage proscenium, a capella - “Attics of My Life.” OK, it was for Bob Weir and the Marin Philharmonic, and I was one of ten or so singers, but still. (I’ll consider requests for particular songs-just private message me!)Ī couple of years ago, I lucked into a musical opportunity that will probably never come my way again: I got to sing back-up harmonies for Bob Weir. Therefore, the best part, I would hope, would not be anything in particular that I might have to say, but rather, the conversation that may happen via the comments over the course of time-and since all the posts will stay up, you can feel free to weigh in any time on any of the songs! With Grateful Dead lyrics, there’s always a new and different take on what they bring up for each listener, it seems.

Here’s the plan-each week, I will blog about a different song, focusing, usually, on the lyrics, but also on some other aspects of the song, including its overall impact-a truly subjective thing.

Story of my life song album