I Feel the Wind

The coronavirus has touched everything, nothing will ever be the same.  For everything there is a season, and there comes a time when we have to practice social distancing.  ‘Comes a Time’ came out on Reflections, which is Jerry Garcia’s third solo album, released in 1976 and it was also on Hundred Year Hall which is a two-CD live album by the Grateful Dead, their first album to be released after Jerry Garcia’s death.  The lyrics were written by Robert Hunter and the music is by Jerry Garcia.  This song has several themes, Blindness and seeing, Empty cups and Dreams, which Hunter also used in many other songs.  Blindness and seeing are a dichotomy or a contrast between two things being represented that are ordinarily opposed to each other, and this could relate to light and dark, or day and night, birth and death, as well as to knowledge and ignorance.

In this song it says, “When the blind man takes your hand, says ‘don’t you see?’” along with “I can’t see much difference between the dark and light” and this part comprises the blindness and seeing theme.  In ‘Help on the Way’ some lyrics say, “I was blind all the time I was learning to see” and in ‘Attics of My Life’ several lines say, “Full of tastes no tongue can know, and lights no eye can see, Bent my ear to hear the tune, and closed my eyes to see”.  In Bertha Hunter wrote, “Try to see what’s going down, try to read between the lines I turned round to see.”  In the song ‘Box of Rain’ Hunter has lyrics that say, “What do you want me to do; to do for you to see you through?  Look into any eyes you find by you; you can see clear to another day  A box of rain will ease the pain and love will see you through.”  ‘Black Peter’ has lyrics, “All of my friends come to see me last night  See here how everything lead up to this day  Now let’s come run and see.”  ‘Truckin’ has lyrics, “Other times I can barely see” and in ‘Scarlet Begonias’ it says, “Once in a while you get shown the light in the strangest of places if you look at it right.”  Hunter also co-wrote a song ‘None So Blind’ with Ralph Woodson and Pete Sears writing the music and this was on the album Trichromes that was released in 2002 by the Trichromes, a rock band led by former Grateful Dead drummer Bill Kreutzmann. This song starts out with, “None so blind as will not see”.

In this song it says, “You’ve got an empty cup only love can fill”, and this cup theme is also in ‘Ripple’ where the lyrics say “Reach out your hand, if your cup be empty.”  The line, “Gotta make it somehow, on the dreams you still believe” is repeated three times in this song.  ‘Box of Rain’ has, “It’s all a dream we dreamed one afternoon long ago.”  ‘Help on the Way’ has “Without love in the dream it’ll never come true.” ‘ Stella Blue’ has, “All the years combine, they melt into a dream It seems like all this life was just a dream.” ‘ Mission In The Rain’ has, “Ten years ago I walked this street, my dreams were riding tall Tonight I would be thankful Lord, for any dreams at all.”

This song has regret and pain in the line, “Never in my mind to cause so much pain.”  The best lines in this song come near the end with, “From day to day just letting it ride You get so far away from how it feels inside You can’t let go ‘cause you’re afraid to fall But the day may come when you can’t feel at all.”  This could be about someone that lives their life casually, not willing to reveal their feelings, they hang on to what they have out of fear, but this may not work out for them, as one day they may become so numb from life that that are no longer able to express any feelings at all.

Comes a time when the blind man takes your hand
Says, “Don’t you see?
Gotta make it somehow on the dreams you still believe
Don’t give it up, you got an empty cup
That only love can fill, only love can fill”
Been walkin’ all mornin’, went walkin’ all night
I can’t see much difference between the dark and light
And I feel the wind and I taste the rain
Never in my mind to cause so much pain
Comes a time when the blind man takes your hand
Says, “Don’t you see?
Gotta make it somehow on the dreams you still believe
Don’t give it up, you got an empty cup
Only love can fill, only love can fill”
From day to day just letting it ride
You get so far away from how it feels inside
You can’t let go ‘cause you’re afraid to fall
But the day may come when you can’t feel at all
Comes a time when the blind man takes your hand
Says, “Don’t you see?
Gotta make it somehow on the dreams you still believe
Don’t give it up, you got an empty cup
That only love can fill, only love can fill, only love can fill”

Written for Song Lyric Sunday where the prompt is Touch/Feel.