Customer Reviews

A Box of Rain: Lyrics: 1965-1993 (Poets, Penguin)

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I have to admit to a great deal of personal bias here because I am a lifelong DeadHead. So it stands to reason that my opinions towards Hunter may be a bit coloured and clouded. (Pun possibly intended.) But this is a wonderful collection of lyrics. Hunter is a true poet whose song lyrics deserve to live and breathe in printed form. I always felt there was a poetry to rock lyrics: Bob Dylan, Lou Reed, Jim Morrison, Richard Hell et al. Robert Hunter also deserves to be recognized on that list of Rock Poet Laureates. Beautiful lyrics like Box Of Rain and Ripple take on a new life when read from the page. It gives one the chance to see how good the use of language actually was. Terrapin is a tour de force epic of Rock poetry and almost everything from American Beauty and Workingmans Dead ring out as great poetry. While there is some average, weaker material as well, this gives Hunter a chance to earn acknowledgment for the fine poet that he is. The Grateful Dead would never have achieved their legendary status without the mystical, magical lyric ability of Robert Hunter. This book is a treasure trove that deserves a place next to the Dylan lyric book from 62-85 and the collection of lyrics put out by Lou Reed as well.

...and my tunes were played on the harp unstrung would you hear my voice come through the music would you hold it near as it were your own?' Part of the experience of a Grateful Dead concert (and now The Other Ones, Ratdog, Phil Lesh and friends, and Mickey Hart's band) was listening to the words of Robert Hunter dance and twirl in your head. Hunter probably isn't the greatest American poet of the second half of the 20th Century, but he does know how to turn a phrase, borrow a line, and mix a metaphor. And his strange mix of phrases went well with the strange mix of American music written by the late Jerry Garcia. Box Of Rain is a must reference for anyone interested in the lyrical end of rock and roll. The book will clear up many an on going debate on just what Jerry was singing all those nights so long ago. And for all those people who can't understand why the Grateful Dead was so successful, this book will let you in on part of the secret. 'If you get confused, just listen to the music play....'

WOW! This is an amazing book featuring the lyrics of Robert Hunter (primary lyricist of the Grateful Dead). Helps with those totally un-understandable (is this even a word?) lyrics but more importantly is a reflection on a remarkable career including personal notes and non-Dead songs. Hunter's work s truly wonderful & I would even be willing to bet non-DeadHeads would enjoy this book for its poetic values. Peace & of course...ENJOY!

This book is a must have for any hard core Dead head

Not only does this book contain all the lyrics for the songs Hunter composed for the Dead (through 11/1/93, at least), but it also contains many lyrics that never got incorporated into songs, as well as some that were recorded by other bands or by Hunter himself. Really allows one to see the inner workings of the songs - an essential, though often underappreciated aspect of the magic of some of the best of the Dead's song repertoire. --Mike Dobb

Driving around a curve on a mountain backroad, I saw what looked to be a book lying in the middle of the road ahead. I stopped, opened the door and reached down to pick it up. Must have fallen out of someone's car and then been run over: the cover pockmarked by gravel, the pages loose.

The title instantly grabbed my awareness: A Box of Rain - Almost 40 years of a prodigious poetic output, the sculpting of over 250 songs.

This collection of lyrics represents most of what the Grateful Dead performed - along with many songs either done by other groups or sung by Hunter himself. This book is a superb fusion of the mystical and the mundane - If Garcia's music was the skeleton of the Dead, these lyrics surely must be the flesh.

Would the Dead have acheived anything near their anointed state without these lyrics? I truly doubt it. Robert Hunter and Bob Dylan are in a class by themselves; these writings bear witness to that fact.





Extracts: A Field Guide for Iconoclasts

... one of the greatest poets ever. in my opinion. reading his poems as oposed to listning to them on a album is a vastly differnet experiences. his words touch me like no other. this book is absolutly amazing, especially reading the things the dead never played. "jack o roses" the seventh section of "terrapin station" is the most beautiful thing iever read ( you can hear hunter sing it by going to the hunter archive at dead.net". everyone should read this, and for the few that really get it, it will be a transcendant experinece.

Hunter's lyrics for the Dead sing alone, without music: he's the best living poet in the Enlish language; maybe the greatest ever. But geez, Bob, stop trying to re-write Terrapin! Sometimes a writer gets too close to his work to see it well. The first version is perfect, man.

This is one of the most intoxicatingly, heartbreakingly beautiful books ever written. Even without the music these magical lyrics take on a life of their own and go a long ways to explain just why the Grateful Dead have the effect they do on people

This is a really effective authoritative publication of Hunter's lyrics. Robert Hunter had a big impact on the lyrical imagination of 60's rock, and this book bears witness to that fact. It presents the lyrics with minimal distractions, which causes my only complaint with this book. Hunter's notes/comments are sparse and usually very brief. Some additional explanations and background information, while perhaps being somewhat distracting from the lyrics, would make this more interesting.