MORE NEW THOUGHTS


The Mists of Avalon

Continued Last Thoughts on Woody Guthrie
by: Bob Dylan

The ones that wheel and deal and whirl and twirl
And play games with each other in their sand-box world
And you can't find it either in the no-talent foolw
That run around gallant
And make all rules for the ones that got talent
And it ain't in the ones that ain't got any talent but think they do
And think they're foolin' you
The ones who jump on the wagon
Just for a while 'cause they know it's in style
To get their kicks, get out of it quick
And make all kinds of money and chicks
And you yell to yourself and you throw down yer hat
Sayin', "Christ do I gotta be like that
Ain't there no one here that knows where I'm at
Ain't there no one here that knows how I feel
Good God Almighty
That stuff ain't real!"
No, but that ain't yer game, it ain't even yer race
You can't hear yer name, you can't see yer face
You gotta look some other place
And where do you look for this hope that yer seekin'
Where do you look for this lamp that's a-burnin'
Where do you look for this oil well gushin'
Where do youlook for this candle that's glowin'
WHere do you look for this hope that you know is there
And out there somewhere
And yer feet can onoly walk down two kinds of roads
Yer eyes can only look through two kinds of windows
Yer nose can only smell two kinds of hallways
You can touch and twist
And turn two kinds of doorknobs
You can either go to the church of your choice
Or you can go to the Brooklyn state Hospital
You'll find God in the Church of your choice
You'll find Woody Guthrie in Brooklyn State Hospital
And though it's only my opinion
I may be right or wrong
You'll find them both
In the Grand Canyon
At Sundown


Phil Lesh Interview in Relix (June/July 2002)
What does each of these guys bring to this band?
Warren Haynes is the street-smart roots guy. He's got that raw street, gutsy, smart, ballsy approach and he brings the kind of gravity that's really needed.

John Molo, the drummer, his knowledge of all of the little sub-genres of rhythm is encyclopedic. He has the capability of creating hybrid rhythmic genres. So you can move like an African, all in one groove. so you can move like an African, or you can move like John Travolta. The music moves in that way, too, and that's a unique gift.

Rob Barraco knows as much old Grateful Dead material as I do, and sometimes more. In "St. Stephen", we have this introduction and over the top of that, Rob will play the phrase that's the introduction to the body of the song. He combines motifs and ideas in this tapestry, which is continually evolving. And Jimmy Herring, we call him "Sunshine". Every note he plays is a poem and when you string a few of them together, it's like an epic, but it's all woven into what everyone else is doing.

Phil n Friends
There and Back Again

Celebration
Celebration in the wind
Open the doors, let the show begin
Come like lightning, come like rain
Come on the double with your ball and chain
Come with your trouble, your sweat and strain
Check 'em all at the door, with your grief and pain

Celebration, like days of old
When everything was solid gold
Silver, diamonds, pearls and wine
Blood and roses. Both yours and mine
Sunlight shining on a midnight line
That opens and closes like a holy shrine

Let a fresh wind tear through your soul
Swallow your sorrow and deliver you whole
Give you a reason to believe again
Finish that prayer before you say Amen

Celebration, one on one
Hold your judgement, till it's done
Until the last wheel is spun and still
The final sunbeam sets on the hill
The curtain not only fallen but burned
The very last lesson studied and learned

Let a fresh wind tear through your soul
Swallow your sorrow and deliver you whole
Give you a reason to believe again
Finish that prayer before you say Amen

You say there's nothing left to celebrate
Just stolen elections, corruptions and hate
Come on, come, let the good times roll
It means more now than you'll ever know
Begin again don't you ever give up
Tryin' to fit the ocean in a six-ounce cup
begin again as though the world will hear

Speak it like a beasst howling in the wild
Speak it from the heart like an innocent child
Speak it from the mountain, speak it from the plain
Speak it like a whistle ona northbound train

Speak it from the podium, speak it from the stage
Speak it from the prisons in tones of rage
Speak it in the tongues of god and men
Say it, say it, say it, say it, say it again
Speak it from the pits or from heaven above
In celebration, baby, speak it with love

Let a fresh wind tear through your soul
Swallow your sorrow and deliver you whole
Give you a reason to believe again
Finish that prayer before you say Amen
Like a breath of summer in a Winterland
Blowing rhythm so simple
Hears can easily understand


Night of a Thousand Stars
Full moon rising over Alcatraz
Hangin’ there like a big topaz
Ruling this night of a thousand stars
With a back seat full of broken guitars
Raised in chains by Jehosaphat’s daughter
Served 20 years for walkin on water
Just out fishin’ for love in the rain
From an easy chair in the passing lane
If I had forgotten, I’d remember well
The fruit and the trees from which it fell
Many long years rollin’ homeward bound
Goin’ hell-for-leather on this merry go round

Night of a thousand stars, the sound of sweet guitars
On this night, on this night
On this night, on this night of a thousand stars

Down in the laundry with my head in my hands
Doin’ whatever the Lord commands
Poppin’ the hood off of a Ford V-8
Disguised with an out-of-state license plate
Payin’ my tax in whiskey and blood
Mixed in a barrel floating on the floor
Doin’ my penance for a life of crime
Singing B minor masses in double time
Tiger and a lion hanging on the wall
Between the head of a saint and a bocce ball
I’ve been rebuked and I’ve been scorned
But I can’t ever say that I haven’t been warned

Night of a thousand stars, the sound of sweet guitars
On this night, on this night
On this night, on this night of a thousand stars

I tried to serve you right, I tried to serve you well
It looked alright by morning light, in hindsight who can tell?

If I could recapture one moment of truth
From the firm foundation of a misspent youth
I’d fall like rain on this thirsty earth
A testament of beauty and worth

But if it don’t happen because it can’t
I hope and pray this wish you grant
From one man’s heart to a falling star
We always remember who we are

Remember the night of a thousand stars
When love ran naked in the resevoir
Writing mad sonnets in the midnight park
Leaving tracks of tears for her watermark
Drums of the jungle on the edge of night
Only you could see with your perfect sight
If you don’t remember you can be excused
’Cause it could never be reproduced

Night of a thousand stars, the sound of sweet guitars
On this night, on this night
On this night, on this night
On this night of a thousand stars


The Real Thing
He wore a song around his neck
Like some medal of honor
He carried his wisdom like a knife
An empty pocket was a temporary chain
Knowing you’ve got it coming ain’t no crime

Every blue note that rolled off his tongue
You could feel his soul twisting right in two
Nobody knew where he came from
Ah, but everybody knew, everybody knew

He was the real thing
No doubt about it
The kind that you remember when they’re gone
The real thing put here for a reason
And we knew, someday the whole world was gonna know his name
Yeh, he was the real thing

She whispered in his ear
And he heard the thunder
Singing ‘bout a world he never knew

Head spinning ‘round, he began to wonder
Was he made to love her or born to sing the blues
He searched inside him for the answer
But all he found was a troubled mind
He left her somewhere on the blue highway
But it wasn’t just another love that he left behind

It was the real thing
No doubt about it
The kind that you remember when it’s gone
The real thing
Not like passions fire but a burning
Smoldering eternal flame
Yeh, it was the real thing

And sometimes at night he longs for her whisper
But he hides from the dawn
’Cause he always wakes to find her gone

In some broken down dressing room
In some major city
The thunder plays an old familiar tune
He spies the face of a distant angel
Outside, beneath the halo moon
Finger on the trigger, needle in the vein
One more bullet it might be your last ride
But this ain’t no no-show, this ain’t no nervous breakdown
And it sure as hell ain’t the time to let the fool decide

This is the real thing
No doubt about it
Who cares if they love you when you’re gone
So, you were put here for a reason
But what gives you the right to quit when you’re tired
Anyway boy, this ain’t no game
This is the real thing

He wore a song around his neck
Like some medal of honor
He carried his wisdom like a knife


Again and Again
I'll tell you the same thing you told me
When you were on the run
In the even of your morning, the high, high noon of your night in the sun
A broken heart is a badge of honor, wear it with pride
Just when you think you're a goner you find

Somebody there willing to take your side
To prop up your soul like she did in the days of old

I've come a long way with you
A long, long way with you
Most of our dreams come true
Not all
I don't think they're supposed to do

Now we're left with a stick and a ball
Twirling leaves at the end of the fall
Buckets of rain and a looking glass
Tickets for the boardwalk and an overnight pass

I've come a long way with you
A long long way with you
Come a long way with you
A long, long way
Most of our dreams come true
Not all
I don't think they're suppoed to do


No More Do I
Meet me under painted thunder
Lift me up to gospel skies
Let me live in yon blue heaven
When I die, when I die
When I die, when I die

Let me love you without ending
Don't say no I beg of you
Let me give all I got to give
While I live, while I live
While I live, while I live

Never give me cause to doubt you
I'll lay all my cards down too
Learn to trust the things you tell me
Loving you, loving you

Where we're going I can't tell you
Somewhere on the other side
Driving blind across the border
Born to ride, born to ride
Born to ride, born to ride

I will stand by you forever
If you'll always stand by me
On the shifting sand or water
Take my hand, take my hand

No more, no more, no more do I
Seek reflection in a dead man's eye
Seek my fortune in shades of black
run down spinnin' on the outside track
Ice cold wind screamin' at my back
Lightning fails at the thunder's crack

Meet me under painted thunder
Lift me up to gospel skies
Let me live in yon blue heaven
When I die, when I die
When I die, when I die


Patachwork Quilt
I never knew, but then who really did
If you were at all like me,
you managed to keep yourself hid
A patchwork quilt of a life
Memories embroidered on your soul
So, please forgive me, for putting you in my song

But the spirit she moves me
In fact she pushes me along
It's a patchwork quilt of a life
Can't stop the river, just let it roll

We were at Jones Beach when we got the word
Saddest sound that I've ever heard
Bluest note nobody could play
Ravens sang with us that night on the stage
Tears of sadness, tears of rage
But nobody spoke, we all felt old and in the way

So walk beside me, or above me I don't know
These days, it seems, I'm lost wherever I go
"God, how could you," I heard somebody say
"What do we do with our lives now anyway
Now that our North Star can no longer be found"
There's a banjo moon in a tie dyed sky
Hippies dance and babies cry
Church bells ring as a silver haired angel looked down

And the blood of his music
Runs through the veins of our guitars
Bright lights, Dark Star

I never knew you, but then who really did
If you were at all like me
You managed to keep yourself hid


Liberty
Saw a bird with a tear in his eye
Walking to New Orleans, My oh My
Hey now Bird, wouldn't you rather die?
Then walk this earth when you're born to fly?

If I was a sun, I'd look for shade
If I was a bed, I would stay unmade
If I was a river, I'd run uphill
If you call me, you know I will
If you call me, you know I will

Ooo...Freedom, Ooo...Liberty
Ooh...Leave me alone
To find my own way home
To find my own way home

Say what I mean and I don't give a damn
I do believe and I am who I am
Hey now mama, come and take my hand
Whole lotta shakin' all over this land

If I was an eagle I'd dress like a duck
Crawl like a lizard and honk like a truck
If I get a notion I'll climb this tree
Or chop it down and you can't stop me
Chhop it down and you can't stop me

Ooo...Freedom, Ooo...Liberty
Ooh...Leave me alone
To find my own way home
To find my own way home

Went to the well but the water was dry
Dipped my bucket in the clear blue sky
Locked in the bottom and what did I see?
The whole damn world looking back at me

If I was a bottle, I'd spill for love
Sake of mercy i would kill for love
If I was a liar I'd lie for love
Sake of my baby, I'd die for love
Sake of my baby, I'd die for love

Ooo...Freedom, Ooo Liberty
Ooh...Leave me alone
To find my own way home
To find my own way home
I'm gonna find my own way home
I want to find my own way home


Midnight Train
I spin around
Headlights flashing in the pouring rain
We run around
Black lightning on the midnight train
You question me
I gesture and empires fall
Waves roll on
Through the windows in an empty hall
Oo - Blade-runner Bardo

I snap awake
Light implodes through a ragged shade
We stand our ground
Facing karma on a rusty blade
You make your move
Dice roll and tumble round
Rhapsode in Jade
Arrow ripple on a mountain lake
Oo - Laughing Bones

I reach for you
Flames crackle in the dark of night
We lose the path
Leaves shiver in a silent scream
You speak some truth
Visions vanish in a flowing stream
Time slips away
Innocence in yearning flight
Oo - shifting sands


Leave Me Out of This
Little angel on my shoulder
Barkin' in my rightmost ear
Says "You better walk the line
If it's fire that you fear"

Little devil on my left
And he's diggin' in his heels
Says "Forget this straight and narrow jive
Let's talk on how it feels"
But she's a feisty little angel
For a creative born of light
Says "Take your fork and hit the road
'less you're lookin' for a fight"

By now he's glowing scarlet
With his nostrils blowin' steam
And I think I better interrupt
Before they start to scream

Leave me out of this
Leave me out of this
So sister Angel, Brother Satan
Leave me out of this

'Now hold on just a minute
I said, "I've seen enough
Arguing is one thing
But this here's getting rough"

Leave me out of this
Leave me out of this
I see an angel and a demon
I hope to god I'm only dreamin'
Leave me out of this

And it's getting pretty boring
Just to listen to them yell
So I'm going back to bed
And they both can go to hell

Leave me out of this
I never asked for this attention
Leave me out of this
Won't be the bone of your contention
I never asked for your assistance
So sister Angel, Brother Satan

Leave me out of this
Leave me out of this
Leave me out of this
Leave me out of this


Welcome To The Underground
A lot of strangers out there
A lot of danger out there
A cold, cold world ain't no place to be alone
You look like you could use a friend
I've used a few myself, my friend
That's why we're here or didn't you know
Me and you, I think we're two of a kind
I've seen enough, I don't need to read your mind

Welcome to the underground
Leave your name on the other side
Do you feel at home, take a look around
Could you cut the throat of a neighbor
Take a good friend and chop him down
Welcome to the underground

There's some permanent fixtures
Statues of our patron saints
The faces change every year or two
Over there's the elevator goes all the way down to Hell
Won't go up no matter what you do
"Hey Kristina, honey if you'd be so kind
It's his first day, see that he has a good time"

Welcome to the underground
Leave your name on the other side
Do you feel at home, take a look around
Could you cut the throat of a neighbor
Take a good friend and chop him down
Welcome to the underground

"I used to run with the Kennedys
Hang out with the Trumps
I've got pictures, guess they're in my other coat
I've been screwed, blued, and tattooed
raked across the coals
Ain't it ain't no joke, feel like I'm falling, falling, falling, falling, falling"

Welcome to the underground
Leave your name on the other side
Could you feel at home, take a look around
You might see somebody famous
Maybe even a hero if you stick around
Welcome to the underground


Rock-n-Roll Blues
Sunshine pourind all over the place
Lightning up the smile on your sweet face
All I'm asking is a little bit more
Shaking that river like there ain't no shore
I was born about an hour ago
Seems like forever but I don't know
Give it up for love so I've been told
It seldom gets younger but it never grows old

Whatever you need is whatever you got
Twenty to life of another shot
Eviction notice or a permanent pass
Where the rolling sky meets the mountain grass
Rusty roses and the lilies are red
Dust bugs hanging out under the bed
God's in his heaven, it's like I said
Without our love we might as well be dead

Most of the time finds me hanging around
Like an unwanted object in the lost and found
A long lost stranger on the middle ground
A CC Rider on the outward bound
Rock-n-Roll Blues, Rock-n-Roll Blues
Slapping your face, and kicking the bruise
Breaking your arm, shaking your hand
Like some poor devil in a rock-n-roll band

Sweating the small stuff or painting it large
You got to give value to what you charge
You might be skating on mighty thin ice
But I didn't come here to give you advice
I come to whistle and to strum my guitar
Sing for my supper and to drive my car
To love my woman for all I'm worth
To give full measure for my days on earth, days on earth

Here are some words that I found in this random book that really have alot of meaning and understand to me. So I wrote them down, and now I shall share it with you.

**If your vibrations are paranoid, that's what's being received. And when you're around pets, or very young children, or very flipped out psychotics, they will know you immediatey. You can come and say, "Hello dear, how are you?" and the dog will growl...you can't come on, because they're listening to the vibrations that hand is reaching out and sending. And you realize that every moment you are a full statement of your being. And you are sending out vibrations that are affecting everything around you. Which in turn is affecting that comes back. And when you meet somebody who is caught in the world of WE AND THEM and you are HIM to that person. And you get caught in his mind net. You are both just intensifying one another's paranoia.**

**And the fact of he matter is: as you go out on the astral plane, you see more and more. And the final thing you see in the world of form, before you go into the formless, and into TOTAL UNITY, you see the world of YIN AND YANG. Yin and Yang is another astral plane. And it's one of the highest planes, in the world of form, but it's still duality. It's still polarization. There is god, there is man. There is Good. There is Evil. Yes/No, Pleasure/Pain. Loss/Gain. The world most everybody is ilving in, most of the time**

**The only way out of that, is to take the poles of every set of opposite and see the way in which THEY ARE ONE. And: If you can get into that place where you see the interrelatedness of EVERYTHING. And: you see the oneness in it all. Then no longer are you attached to your polarized position. THE WHOLE THING ABOUT GENERATION GAPS IS A HYPE. THE SPIRIT IS THE SPIRIT. When you can center and see your whole life as a story in which chapters are UNFOLDING, then the moment to moment ego involvement, "Am I getting enough at this moment?", ceases to be a dominant theme. And you start to live in the way.**

**The way is the harmony of the universe. When one comes into the spirit, when one sees how it is, one understands that behind all the individual differences (Man/Woman, Big/Little, Old/Young, Good/Bad), every lavbel you can think of becomes background instead of figure. What stands out is : Here We Are. Here and Now. That is all There IS. And, if it isn't beautiful, man, there's NOTHING. So you say, well, i can't have it beautiful now. But later! When we can get the food home, it will be beautiful. But LATER NEVER exists. What's happened to life insurance, to tenure, to planning, saving, responsibilities? Nothings Happened To Any Of It!**

**Sometimes you think,If only you could throw it off, or If only I didn't have these kids around my neck...You can't get away from the day because it's in your Head! Thats what you're trying to get away from. And the only way to get away is CHange your HEAD! Simple as that! You want to change your environment!! CHANGE YOUR HEAD!! It's all the ecstatic moment! IF you know how to dig it...if not..it's a travesty. That's all. Profane.**

**Desire is a trap. Desire is the creator. Desire is the destroyer. Desire is the universe. And that applies to the physical plane and the astral plane. The causal plane. Everything is a creation of desire. That's why Naga (The Naked Ascetic), worked on getting Ramakarishna to go beyond his love for Kali. Give up even the desire to be experiencing the bliss of being it ALL. Of Being with the Divine Mother.**

**The Buddhists say, "Cut out all the Middle stuff! They say, "Don't get hung up on all thee different desire trips. Just go beyond it all."**

**Truths are very straightforward and very simple. The First one concerns the fact that life always has in it the element of unfulfillment. Call it suffereing. Birth, old age, sickness, not getting what you want, getting what you don't want, even getting what you want in this physical world is going to be suffering because: YOU'RE GOING TO LOSE IT! IT's always this way in time. Anything that is in time is going to pass away! Lay not up your treasures where moth and rust doth corrupt! That's the trap of time. As long as you want anything in time, it's going to pass because TIME PASSES**

**The second noble truth is: The cause of suffering is desire (or craving). If you don't try to hold, you don't suffer over the loss. If you don't worship life, you don't fear death. But if you try to hold on to life....it's very sad. Did you ever see a really beautiful woman, like a top model, who is just getting to the point where her looks are changing into what could be an internal beauty...if she hadn't been so busy with her external beauty. She is caught in the beauty of time which withers and yet, we've all touched people who were so beautiful as beings that never notice whether they are physically beautiful. IT's like an eternal beauty lives within them. How Poignant! IF you attach yourself, if you crave temperal things, beauty, possessions, achievement! ANYTHING!! HOW POIGNANT!!**

**Lame, Halt, Blind, Dying. We're all dying. At this moment your body is disintigrating before your very eyes. If you've taken LSD you may have seen it do this, but you know it's happening anyway. It's all a downhill trip. All the way. Boy, what a funny place to get attached! To something that's got to go like that.SO supposedly, the cause of suffering is attachment or desire. They ALL say the same thing!**

**Third Noble Truth. Give up ATTACHMENT. Give up desire. You end the births, you end the deaths, you end the suffering, you end the worry. And this whole thing that keeps you STUCK. If I'm not attached to this partifular time-space locus, then i can free my awareness from my body and i can become ONE with it ALL. I can merge with nature.**

**The fourth noble truth is: The eight-fold path. Which says: Get your life straight. Do your work. Do everything you've got to do. Watch your speech. Watch your thought. Watch your calmness. Get your calm center going. Live your life in such a way as to get yourself straight. To get free of attachment that just keeps sucking you in all the time. Get Free of desire. GET FREE OF DESIRE. It's a little like a roller coaster. This is just the way it works. You've really been working on yourself and you're very pure and something very high happens to you. You feel liberated. And then...Your ego walks around and pats you on the shoulder "Pretty good! Look how Holy you're becoming!" and you fall.......... again...**

**That's one of the traps. In fact, the higher you get, the harder you fall. Each time. It's those fierce LIONS guarding the inner gates. All this stuff happens when you are extricating yourself from this web of desire, which is your ego. Which is your cognitive framework of the universe. (It's all the same thing). And this extrication (believe me), doesn't happen without an internal struggle. This is called Straightening by Fire. If a being gives way to all his desires, or panders to them, there will be no inner struggle, no 'friction'. No fire. But if, for the sake of attaining a definite aim, you struggles with the desires that hinder - they will then create a fire which will gradually transform their inner world with a single whole- ouspensky- in search of the miraculous....**

**What calming the mind is all about is what meditation is for. Is to cool you out so you REMEMBER so you see how it all is. Try sitting around when you're full of self-pity. Wow, dig that sef-pity. Isn't that exquisite. Full Bloom! What an extraordinary color. It must be a new brand of self-pity. A particularly fragrant variety. I just really want to smell that one. TO sit and smell it for ever so long. Such a good one. But really, I wish I could have time to groove with you, but I've got to get on with my life. I have important things to do today. All right pity? Okay? I'll sit with you for one minute. Here we are. You've got a minute. Do your thing. FOrty seconds Left!!!**

**So I can do nothing for you but work on myself......You can do nothing for me but work on Yourself!!**

**Oh, I'm going to do good things for my child. Balony! That's all ego. Just work on yourself and everytime you work on yourself, you get calmer. You hear more. You sense more. You ARE more. You're more present. What are you offering a child? Not a set of social roles. Passing in the night....you're offering a chid here and NOW-ness. The treasure of consciousness. The treasure of awareness. If you don't help other beings cut through the illusion because you're through the illusion. What else? What else is there? What are you doing? Doing the more of the dance. Within the dance? Are we always going to meet on the stage? Don't we ever take off these costumes? That's what I feel. We are always on the stage. In our costumes. I know to play good child. I've been in that role for years. I know how to do it. ("don't talk ack, go to bed early, don't get your knees dirty, eat all the food on your plate, hello i'm home, is anybody home? sure i'll have some food.") If I give you the external things, I'm a good parent.**

**You and I can always starve together. If we're backstage in the HERE AND NOW. If we're not in the HERE AND NOW, no matter how much food we put in our bellies, it's never going to be enough and that's the feeling of the western man. IT's not enough. He's got it all going in. As fast as he can shovel it. He's got every sensual gratification he can possiby desire and It's Not Enough because there's no HERE AND NOW-ness about it. HERE AND NOW is the doorway to all that energy. Because if you're truthfully HERE AND NOW, there's no more you. That's the way it works. Did you ever go to the movies and get so caught up in the movie that you forgot who you were. And then the lights came on and you wondered.....Where am I? What's going on? Oh, it's a movie. What you've got to do is create in yourself an absolute calm center where it's always right HERE AND NOW. It is just light. It is just IS-ess. (getting into the tub, eating, getting into bed, up the stairs, talking) Just the IS-ness.**

**WHen you meet a being who is centered, you always know it. You always feel a kind of calm, emanation. It always touches you in that place where you feel calm. But, you can't hustle it. You can't make-believe you're calm when ou're not. It never works. Everybody knows. You know. It's horrible. you Must center. Find that place inside yourself. You're doing it from that place. And, whatever your dance is. You will ALWAYS ALWAYS find it there.