Lost Sailor
"Lost Sailor" was composed by Bob Weir with lyrics by John Perry Barlow, and first performed by the Grateful Dead on August 4, 1979. It was performed 145 times, with 112 of these occurring during the song's first three years in rotation. "Lost Sailor" was performed only four times as a solo song before being paired with "Saint of Circumstance". That pairing was first performed on August 31, 1979, and lasted seven years until "Lost Sailor" was dropped from the repertoire for good. "Lost Sailor's" last performance was on March 24, 1986. After that, the Dead continued to play "Saint of Circumstance" as a separate song until the end of their run in 1995.
Lyrics
Lyrics: John Barlow
Music: Bob Weir
Compass card is spinning
Helm is swingin' to and fro
Ooh where's the dog star
Ooh where's the moon
You're lost sailor
You've been too long at sea (note 1)
Some days the gales are howling
Some days the sea is still as glass
Ooh reef the mainsail
Ooh lash the mast
You're lost sailor
You've been too long at sea
Now the shore-lights beckon
Yeah there's a price for being free
Yeah the sea birds cry (note 2)
There's a ghost wind blowin'
It's calling you to that misty swirling sea
Till the chains of your dreams are broken
No place in this world you can be
You're lost sailor
You've been way too long at sea
Now the shore-lights beckon
Yeah there's a price for being free
Drifting yeah drifting
Yeah drifting and dreaming
'Cause there's a place you've never been (note 3)
Maybe a place you've never seen
You can hear her calling on the wind
Go on and drift your life away
Yeah just drifting and dreaming
Maybe drift your life away
Drifting and dreaming
Yes I'm going on a dream
Maybe going on a dream
Maybe going on a dream
Maybe going on a dream
Notes
(1) Bob Weir often sang "Been way too long at sea"
(2) It sounds as if Bob Weir sometimes sang "Hear the sea birds cry"
(3) The end is largely improvised. Examples of variations include:
April 23, 1984
Every day you got to pay
Some more time you got to pay
Two kinds of freedom
Freedom from and freedom to be
One you may know where you're going
Or maybe you're just drifting to the sea
Drifting and dreaming
Is this a place you've never seen
Maybe a voice you've never heard or a face you've never seen
But you can hear them calling on the way to [hell?]
Drifting and dreaming
[etc]
November 1, 1985
Got to pay for being free
Just loose and free and drifting
Drifting and dreaming
Maybe going on a dream
Maybe going on a feeling
You gonna drift your life away
It's as though anyone
Wouldn't thank you for drifting
Yeah drifting and dreaming
Drifting and dreaming
Maybe going on a dream
Maybe going on a feeling
'Cause there's a place you've never been
Maybe a place you've never seen
You can hear them calling, oh yeah
Drifting and dreaming
[etc]
March 24, 1986
Let me get into a short discourse about the nature of freedom
There are two kinds of freedom
Freedom from and freedom to be
The first kind of freedom is where you wan't to go now
What do you want to do now, freedom to be
Then there's the other kind of freedom
And that's the freedom from man
You could be a poet
You may be just drifting
Drifting and dreaming anyway
[etc]
Bob Weir Rhythm Guitar Lesson
Bob Weir Transcription
