The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #106219   Message #2192065
Posted By: PoppaGator
12-Nov-07 - 01:34 PM
Thread Name: Lyr ADD: Don't Ease Me In (Henry Thomas)
Subject: Lyr Add: DON'T EASE ME IN (from Grateful Dead)
Here's what I found by Googling the song title plus the word "lyrics": Two slightly different versions, both recorded by the Grateful Dead. Please keep in mind that Jerry Garcia was a very scholarly folkie and a virtuoso bluegrass banjo player before founding the Dead, so the "authenticity" of his version of this song should be beyond question>

One side of the Grateful Dead's first single, released in 1966. Played live right through to 1995, with some variations. Not played by any other Dead-related bands until Ratdog in 2006.

This is the 1980 studio version from "Go To Heaven":

DON'T EASE ME IN
(from Grateful Dead)

Chorus
Don't ease, don't ease
Don't ease me in
I've been all night long coming home
Don't ease me in

I was standing at the corner
Talking to Miss Brown
Well I turned around, sweet moma
She was way cross town

So I'm walking down the street
With a dollar in my hand
I've been looking for a woman, sweet moma
Ain't got no man

[chorus]

The girl I love
She's sweet and true
You know the dress she wears, sweet moma
It's pink and blue

She brings me coffee
You know she brings me tea
She brings 'bout every damn thing
But the jailhouse key

[chorus]

[chorus]
[chorus]

This is the 1966 single version::
Chorus
Don't ease, don't ease
Don't ease me in
I've been all night long coming home
Don't ease me in

I was standing on the corner
Looking all around
Well I turned around, sweet moma
I was way cross town

[chorus]

The girl I love
She's sweet and true
The dress she wears, sweet moma
It's pink and blue

[chorus]

She brings me coffee
She brings me tea
She brings me every darn thing
But the jailhouse key

[chorus]

The live 1966 version on "Birth Of The Dead" has some verses slighly different to the studio version:
I was standing on the corner
Talking to Ma Brown
Well I turned around, sweet moma
I was way cross town

The girl I love
She got my head [??]
And every time I see her
I [leave this town]

She brings me coffee
She brings me tea
She brings me every darn thing
But the jailhouse key

I was standing on the corner
Looking all around
The girl I love the best
Has left this town

This is the acoustic version from Dick's Picks Vol 8 in 1970:
Chorus
Don't ease, don't ease
Don't ease me in
I've been all night long coming home
Don't ease me in

I was standing on the corner
With a dollar in my hand
I was looking for a woman, sweet moma
Didn't have no man

[chorus]

I was walking down Main
Deep [Ellem] too
And all the women down there
They got the Texas blues

[chorus]

The girl I love
She's sweet and true
And the dress she wears, sweet moma
It's pink and blue

She brings me coffee
You know she brings me tea
She brings me 'bout every darn thing
Except the jailhouse key

[chorus]
[chorus]