John Perry Barlow

John Perry Barlow died a couple of months back. I didn't get around to sharing my thanks with friends for his great poetry that moved me so many times over the years in his collaborations with
the Grateful Dead and Bob Weir.

https://blog.archive.org/2018/04/24/highlights-from-the-tribute-to-cyberspace-philosopher-john-perry-barlow/




https://youtu.be/Nqou2V5VooQ

Black-Throated Wind

Grateful Dead

Bringing me down
I'm running aground
Blind in the light of the interstate cars
Passing me by
The buses 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
Oh, 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

Songwriters: John Barlow / Robert Hall Weir