The Alternate ‘Black-Throated Wind’ Lyrics Bob Weir Briefly Sang With Grateful Dead

Within the Grateful Dead songbook there are plenty of examples of songs whose compositions and arrangements were augmented and changed in one aspect or another. Tweaks to lyrics, instrumental sections added and removed, tempo modifications and even complete overhauls with new song titles are among the ways Dead songs have changed.

One song that briefly underwent a lyrical modification was “Black-Throated Wind,” which was sung by guitarist Bob Weir, who today celebrates his 76th birthday. Weir co-wrote “Black-Throated Wind” with his frequent songwriting partner John Perry Barlow. On March 5, 1972, the Grateful Dead performed “Black-Throated Wind” for the first time when it appeared as the second song of their show at the Winterland in San Francisco. Months later, it was released on Weir’s solo album, Ace.

In his memoir named after a “Black-Throated Wind” lyric Mother American Night, Barlow, who died in 2018, described the circumstances surrounding the song’s composition:

“In January 1972, Weir came out to the Bar Cross [Barlow’s ranch in Wyoming] so we could write songs together for his first solo album …

“We were feeding about 800 cows every morning and then writing songs in the afternoon and evening. We were still trying to figure out how to do this together. Bobby would sit there with a guitar and I would sit there with a legal pad.

“We began with ‘Black-Throated Wind.’ Oddly enough, I had written the chorus while riding on a bus to the airport in Kathmandu and not anywhere near drowning in the Mother American night. If anything, I was drowning in the weird Nepali night. It was the first thing that ever showed up that seemed like it might be part of a song and not a poem.

“I sang those lines for Weir, and he perversely put them into a different melodic setting than I’d just sung. I then wrote the rest of the lyrics. The last few verses were like a dental extraction. They have grown on me over the years, but at the time, it was all perspiration and no inspiration and wretchedly painful. I do think the line “You ain’t gonna learn what you don’t want to know” is actually pretty good.”

Weir and the Dead continued to play “Black-Throated Wind” through October 1974 when they took a break from touring. After the hiatus, “Black-Throated Wind” was absent from Dead setlists until 1990, when it returned to somewhat regular rotation until the band’s final tour in 1995.

Upon its return on March 16, 1990, Weir sang an alternate set of lyrics that drastically changed the arrangement from what had been performed in the early-1970s. The new lyrics were sung by Bobby again on March 26, 1990, when the Dead performed a show at the Knickerbocker Arena in Albany, New York.

“Black-Throated Wind” was not played again by the Grateful Dead until September 14, 1990, when they performed at Madison Square Garden in New York City. That performance saw Weir go back to the original 1972 lyrics, with the alternate verses seemingly gone for good, perhaps even forgotten altogether.

“If I came up with some new lyrics, I can’t remember what they were,” Weir told Jesse Jarnow on the Good Ol’ Grateful Deadcast podcast. “I’m gonna have to look into that. You’ve piqued my curiosity.”

Jarnow also cited a 1989 interview Weir did with Blair Jackson in which Bobby discussed “Black-Throated Wind” prior to debuting the short-lived alternative lyrics. Lamenting that the lyrics needed “some adjusting” Weir revealed:

“The character in that particular tale is not somebody I can get behind. It’s always been a poor fit for me. There’s stuff in there I just didn’t want to be singing; that seem like words to fill out a melody rather than something I really cared about, and that finally got in the way.”

Click here to read the alternate “Black-Throated Wind” lyrics. Listen to the March 1990 performances of the Grateful Dead played with Weir and Barlow’s alternate lyrics, as well as its 1972 live debut below: