"If the thunder don't get you, then the lightning will"

The Annotated "The Wheel"

An installment in The Annotated Grateful Dead Lyrics.
By David Dodd
Research Associate, Music Dept., Univ. of Calif. at Santa Cruz
Copyright notice

"The Wheel"

Words by Robert Hunter; music by Jerry Garcia and Bill Kreutzmann
Copyright Ice Nine Publishing; used by permission.

The wheel is turning
and you can't slow down
You can't let go
and you can't hold on
You can't go back
and you can't stand still
If the thunder don't get you
then the lightning will

Won't you try just a little bit harder?
Couldn't you try just a little bit more?
Won't you try just a little bit harder?
Couldn't you try just a little bit more?

Round round robin run around
Gotta get back where you belong
Little bit harder, just a little bit more
Little bit farther than you than you've gone before

The wheel is turning
and you can't slow down
You can't let go
and you can't hold on
You can't go back
and you can't stand still
If the thunder don't get you
then the lightning will

Small wheel turn by the fire and rod
Big wheel turn by the grace of God

Everytime that wheel turn round
bound to cover just a little more ground

The wheel is turning
and you can't slow down
You can't let go
and you can't hold on
You can't go back
and you can't stand still
If the thunder don't get you
then the lightning will

Won't you try just a little bit harder
Couldn't you try just a little bit more?
Won't you try just a little bit harder?
Couldn't you try just a little bit more?

"The Wheel"

Musical details: Recorded on

Covered by

First performance June 3, 1976, at the Paramount Theater in Portland, Oregon. It occupied the encore position. Other firsts at the concert were "Lazy Lightning"/"Supplication," "Might As Well," and "Samson and Delilah." "The Wheel" usually appeared out of "Space" or "Drums." It occupied a steady spot in the repertoire since its first introduction.


The Wheel

Compare Hunter's "Lay of the Ring" from the Eagle Mall Suite.:
"Age by age the ancient wheel
creaks and turns around"

A potent symbol throughout human history.


If the thunder don't get you, then the lighting will

Nearly a quote from Merle Travis' song, "Sixteen Tons." "If the left one don't get you, then the right one will," speaking of his two fists, one of steel and one of iron.

Round round robin...

This note from a reader:
Subject: Round Robin
Date: Wed, 12 Mar 1997 13:15:12 -0500
From: "Thomas E. Malloy"

Dear David,

I enjoy your excellent Dead pages. Your work has become a resource for me as I learn new Dead songs and think more deeply about them.

I was reading your analysis of The Wheel and wanted to pass along an idea. The phrase "round round robin ..." may not be a reference to the bird. Rather, there is a reserach design used in biology and psychology called the round robin. Imagine four people A, B, C, and D that all interact with one another. Measurements of each person's behavior in response to another is measured (e.g., smiling). The data structure looks like this:


                    A  B  C  D

               A    -  x  x  x

               B    x  -  x  x

               C    x  x  -  x

               D    x  x  x  -  

where x's are one person's response to another and -'s are diagonal elements. This is a very unusual design in science and indeed has a wheel like quality. I don't know if Robert Hunter had this in mind when composing the lyrics, but the logic of this design is highly consistent with the theme of this song. Also, this is a sturcture used in athletic events (round robin tennis tournament).

Again, thank you for such high quality scholarship.

Sincerely.
Tom Malloy
Professor of Psychology
Rhode Island College


Small wheel ... Big wheel

Echoing a line from the African American spiritual, "'Zekiel Saw De Wheel":
"De big wheel run by faith,
Little wheel run by de grace of God..." ---Johnson: The Books of American Negro Spirituals. ii, 145.

keywords: @bird, @thunder, @lightning
DeadBase code: [WHEE]
First posted: March, 1995.
Revised: November 27, 2002