Bringing me down,
I'm running aground
Blind in the light of the interstate cars.
Passing me by,
The busses and semis,
Plunging like stones from a slingshot on Mars.
But I'm here by the road,
Bound to the load
That I picked up in ten thousand cafes and bars.
Alone with the rush of the drivers who won't pick me up,
The highway, the moon, the clouds, and the stars.
The black-throated wind keeps on pouring in
With its words of a life where nothing is new.
Ah, Mother American Night, I'm lost from the light.
Ohhh, I'm drowning in you.
I left St. Louis, the City of Blues,
In the midst of a storm I'd rather forget.
I tried to pretend it came to an end
Cause you weren't the woman I thought I once met.
But I can't deny that times have gone by
When I never had doubts or thoughts of regret
And I was a man when all this began
Who wouldn't think twice about being there yet.
The black-throated wind keeps on pouring in.
And it speaks of a life that passes like dew.
It's forced me to see that you've done better by me,
Better by me than I've done by you.
What's to be found, racing around,
You carry your pain wherever you go.
Full of the blues and trying to lose
You ain't gonna learn what you don't want to know.
So I give you my eyes, and all of their lies
Please help them to learn as well as to see
Capture a glance and make it a dance
Of looking at you looking at me.
The black-throated wind keeps on pouring in
With its words of a lie that could almost be true.
Ah, Mother American Night, here comes the light.
I'm turning around, that's what I'm gonna do
Goin back home that's what I'm gonna do
Turnin' around,
That's what I'm gonna do
'Cause you've done better by me
Than I've done by you. . .
Verse 2
Well, it's me and the road, yeah, we're lacking the code
That will lead us to some as yet unforseen bar
Alone with the rush of the drivers who won't pick me up
The highway, the moon, the clouds and the stars
But I'm here by the road, yeah, unravelling the code
That will lead us to some as yet unforseen bar
Verse 3
The black-throated wind keeps on pouring in
Like a siren it promises everything new
Ah, Mother American Night, invisible light
Ohhh, I'm flying in you
The black-throated wind keeps on pouring in
With its words of a life where everything's new
Verse 4
I left St Louis, the City of Blues
On a screaming blue bender I'd rather forget
With no scars that show, the keys to the road
A couple of tens and some stale cigarettes
Verse 5
But I can't deny that times have gone by
Nothing is left but thoughts of regret
When I was a man, with so much in hand
That a bird in the bush would be singing there yet
But I can't deny that times have gone by
When being with her was as good as it gets
Verse 6
The black-throated wind, whispering sin
And speaking of life that passes like dew
It's led me to see if you want to be free
Have your way with each day as its granted to you
Verse 7
What's to be found, racing around
You carry your blues to the edge of the sky
Think a coyote could care about birds in the air?
Think a raven thinks coyotes should learn how to fly?
We drew lines all around us when I was down
So now mine turns out to go right to the sky
Verse 8
So I give you my eyes, they were just a disguise
Anyway where I'm going it's too dark to see
Yes, and toss me to Chance and watch me dance
Choreography certain as bats on the breeze
So I leave you my eyes ...
Verse 9
The black-throated wind keeps on pouring in
With it's words of a lie I think just might be true
Oh, Mother American Night, here comes the light
I'm going right on ahead, that's what I'm gonna do
The black-throated wind keeps on pouring in
The prophet that promises everything new
Ah, Mother American Night, come wrong or come right
I will always go onward in you
Recorded on
First performance: March 5, 1972 at Winterland, San Francisco. "Black-Throated Wind" appeared in the number two spot in the first set, following "Bertha" and preceding "Mr. Charlie". It was played fairly regularly up until 1974, then dropped from the repertoire until March 16, 1990. It remained something of a concert rarity, as Weir and Barlow experimented with a new set of words for awhile, eventually returning to the original lyrics. The alternate lyrics were published in full in Golden Road, Summer 1990, p. 31.
Subject: Black-Throated Wind
Date: Thu, 12 Dec 1996 20:17:52 -0500 (EST)
From: cboyd32114@aol.com
David-
I was recently studying the 25th Chapter of "The Sutra Of The Lotus Flower Of The Wonderful Law," and right at the third paragraph, in Banno Kato's 1930 translation of the scripture, is as follows:
"If there be hundreds thousands of kotis of beings who in search of gold, silver, lapis lazuli, moonstones, agate, corals, amber, pearls and other treasures, go out on the ocean and if a BLACK GALE (my caps) blows their ships to drift upon the land of the rakshasa-demons, and if amongst them there be even a single person who calls upon the name of the Bodhisattva Regarder-Of-The-Cries-Of-The-World, all those people will be delivered from the woes of the rakshasas."On the same page, as a footnote, Kato defines the black gale as "a black wind. There are six kinds of wind, viz., black, red, blue, of heaven, of earth and of fire."
(Kato, Bunno, trans., The Sutra Of The Lotus FLower Of The Wonderful Law (Tokyo: Rissho Kosei-kai, 1971), p. 405.]Hope this helps you in your project any.
--Joshua P. Boyd