He's Gone

Rat in a drain ditch, caught on a limb,
You know better but I know him.
Like I told you, what I said,
Steal your face right off your head.

Now he's gone, Lord he's gone, he's gone.
Like a steam locomotive, rolling down the track
He's gone, he's gone, nothing's gonna bring him back...
He's gone.

Nine mile skid on a ten mile ride,
Hot as a pistol but cool inside.
Cat on a tin roof, dogs in a pile,
Nothing left to do but smile, smile, smile!

Now he's gone, Lord he's gone, he's gone.
Like a steam locomotive, rolling down the track
He's gone, he's gone, nothing's gonna bring him back... He's gone.

Going where the wind don't blow so strange,
Maybe on some high cold mountain chain.
Lost one round but the price wasn't anything,
Knife in the back and more of the same.

Rat in a drain ditch, caught on a limb,
I know better but you know him.
Like I told you, what I said,
Steal your face right offa your head.

Now he's gone, Lord he's gone, he's gone.
Like a steam locomotive, rolling down the track
He's gone, gone, nothing's gonna bring him back... He's gone.

Ooh, nothing's gonna bring him back.

Words by Robert Hunter; music by Jerry Garcia
First recorded on the Grateful Dead's album Europe 72

They wrote it about Grateful Dead drummer Mickey Hart's father, who had been their money manager but stole from them and took off, but it could have been written for Karlheinz...


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