The Annotated "Help on the Way"

Paradise waits
on the crest of a wave
her angels in flame
She has no pain
Like a child, she is pure
She is not to blame

Poised for flight
Wings spread bright
Spring from night
into the sun
Don't stop to run
She can fly like a lie
She cannot be outdone

Tell me the cost
I can pay
Let me go
Tell me love is not lost
Sell everything
Without love, day to day,
insanity is king

I will pay
day by day
anyway
Lock, bolt and key
Crippled but free
I was blind
all the time
I was learning to see

Help on the way
I know only this
I've got you today
Don't fly away
'cause I love what I love
and I want it that way

I will stay
one more day
Like I say
Honey, it's you
Making it too
Without love in the dream
It will never come true

Musical details: (to come)

• Key:
• Time signature:
• Chords used:
• Songbook availability:
  • Grateful Dead: Volume II
  • Without A Net

Recorded on

• Blues For Allah
• One From the Vault
• Without a Net
• Dick's Picks, vol. 3

First performance: at the Bob Fried Memorial Boogie, June 17, 1975, at Winterland, San Francisco. "Help" appeared in the first set, following "Me and My Uncle," and preceding "Slipknot!" It was performed without its lyrics. Other firsts in the show included "Crazy Fingers" and "Franklin's Tower."

Lock, bolt, and key

"The meaning of this phrase--the whole of anything--should be instantly apparent to any huntsman, for the lock, stock and barrel are the three parts of a firearm and together they make up the whole gun." (p. 218)