# Robert Hunter dead at 78 (Grateful Dead) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** celebrity-death\ **Created:** [September 24, 2019, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robert-hunter-dead-at-78-grateful-dead/840763 "2019-09-24T18:13:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Railer13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/railer13/32/9742_2.png) [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2019, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robert-hunter-dead-at-78-grateful-dead/840763/21 "2019-09-25T14:24:27Z")
And when you hear that song Come crying like the wind It seems like all this life Was just a dream ---
**Author:** ![Barrett\_Bonden](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5e9695/32.png) [@Barrett\_Bonden](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barrett_Bonden)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2019, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robert-hunter-dead-at-78-grateful-dead/840763/22 "2019-09-25T15:11:37Z")
It’s the same story the crow told me; it’s the only one he knows. Like the morning sun you come and like the wind you go. ---
**Author:** ![PAjoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pajoe/32/58_2.png) [@PAjoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PAjoe)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2019, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robert-hunter-dead-at-78-grateful-dead/840763/23 "2019-09-25T15:17:07Z")
Let your tracks be lost in the dark and snow ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2019, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robert-hunter-dead-at-78-grateful-dead/840763/24 "2019-09-25T15:30:14Z")
Old man down Way down, down by the docks of the city Blind and dirty Asked me for a dime, a dime for a cup of coffee I got no dime, but I got some time to hear his story ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2019, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robert-hunter-dead-at-78-grateful-dead/840763/25 "2019-09-25T16:33:44Z")
Here are comments from all the surviving members of the Grateful Dead, and some of Dead & Company. > **[Bob Weir, Phil Lesh, Mickey Hart, Bill Kreutzmann, Trey Anastasio, John Mayer...](https://relix.com/news/detail/bob-weir-phil-lesh-mickey-hart-bill-kreutzmann-trey-anastasio-and-oteil-burbridge-share-memories-of-robert-hunter/)** > > Photo by Jay Blakesberg Following the passing of Grateful Dead lyricist Robert Hunter, his friends from the Grateful Dead and beyond have shared their ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2019, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robert-hunter-dead-at-78-grateful-dead/840763/26 "2019-09-25T16:38:24Z")
God bless the child who’s got his own stash, Nine to five and a place to crash Which is to say (Hey hey hey) Keep your day job…’til your night job pays. (Okay, so it was unpopular with the ‘heads. I still think it’s a great little encore rocker with some lyric lines worthy of Cole Porter) [http://artsites.ucsc.edu/gdead/agdl/djob.html](http://artsites.ucsc.edu/gdead/agdl/djob.html) ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2019, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robert-hunter-dead-at-78-grateful-dead/840763/27 "2019-09-25T16:44:37Z")
I have a friend who likes Day Job. So you’re the other one! 🙂 Now find someone who likes Victim or the Crime (though it’s not a Hunter song of course). ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2019, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robert-hunter-dead-at-78-grateful-dead/840763/28 "2019-09-27T03:14:28Z")
> [@markn\_1](#): > > I have a friend who likes Day Job. So you’re the other one! 🙂 > > Now find someone who likes Victim or the Crime (though it’s not a Hunter song of course). Not me. “Victim or the Crime” sucks. Although I DID meet John Perry Barlow — Bob Weir’s lyricist — in 1990, at a party in Las Vegas where I also met Mickey Hart and Dr. Timothy Leary. Shared a cab with John and his scorching hot punkette wife (girlfriend, maybe) back to our hotel. ---
**Author:** ![zoog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7ea924/32.png) [@zoog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoog)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2019, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robert-hunter-dead-at-78-grateful-dead/840763/29 "2019-09-28T16:35:22Z")
Over the last few days I’ve been revisiting my copy of “A Box of Rain”, the book of lyrics that Hunter put out back in the 90’s. It appears to be out of print now, Amazon is only showing used copies for a ridiculous price (I suspect that recent events have spiked the asking prices a bit). Anyway, on several of the songs he makes a short note about them at the bottom of the page. My favorite was on China Cat Sunflower: “Nobody ever asked me the meaning of this song. People seem to know exactly what I’m talking about. It’s good that a few things in this world are clear to all of us.” If you dig the Dead and Robert Hunter’s lyrics, this book is essential. I hope that they reprint it again so a new generation can enjoy it as well. ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2019, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robert-hunter-dead-at-78-grateful-dead/840763/30 "2019-09-29T14:43:36Z")
At the end of the String Cheese Incident show last night, Billy Nershi spoke a little about Hunter (who wrote several songs for SCI), and then led the crowd in a singalong of Ripple. It was quite moving. ---
**Author:** ![Meurglys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/258eb7/32.png) [@Meurglys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meurglys)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2019, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robert-hunter-dead-at-78-grateful-dead/840763/31 "2019-10-01T12:16:33Z")
But how shall I know when to die if by understanding death I mean an allegory of life & other seasonal passes? How should I be dead if my words live? from Idiot’s Delight (1992) by Robert Hunter [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robert-hunter-dead-at-78-grateful-dead/840763.md?page=1)