"What would be the answer to the Answer Man?"
Frequently Asked Questions
An installment in The Annotated Grateful Dead Lyrics.
By David Dodd
Here, for anyone who actually looks at a FAQ before firing off his or her question, is an ever-growing list of frequently asked questions.
- Q. Where is "Morning Dew"? (Variant: Where is "Cold Rain & Snow," "When I Paint My Masterpiece," etc.)
A. When I started this project, I decided to limit the annotations to original songs only. Thus, songs by other composers (such as Bob Dylan), and songs in the public domain (such as "Cold Rain & Snow") are excluded from the scope of the project.
- Q. What does x song "mean"?
A. I will never say that any song means anything for certain! Occasionally, readers send in highly persuasive or entertaining interpretations, and I like to print these as examples of how people think about the songs; but their inclusion here does not indicate anything beyond the fact that this is what the song "means" to that person. Hunter, in particular, has been very clear in stating that he does not want to tie the songs down to any particular interpretation.
- Q. Where can I find the sheet music/tablature for a song?
A. I only have permission to put up the words, and those only for certain songs. If you want sheet music, I suggest you purchase any of the number of excellent songbooks available commercially. There are some web sites which post tab for Grateful Dead songs, but these are running without formal permission from the publishers, and as a librarian, I can't endorse such efforts. For a list of songbooks, see The Bibliography of Songbooks.
- Q. Will The Annotated Grateful Dead Lyrics ever be published as a book?
A. Yes! It will come out as a book in October 2005 from Simon and Schuster. You can order it via a link on the home page.
First posted: May, 1997
Last revised: August, 2005