By: COLLIN GALLION

8-18 Media

Special to the Journal

Do my eyes deceive me? Is that part 9 of Collin’s Guide to The Grateful Dead? The one where some 18 -year -old kid babbles on about a band that’s infamous for 45 minute songs, with only 3 minutes worth of lyrics? Yes, yes it is.

In today’s column, we’ll be talking about a man who should’ve been talked about far sooner than now. He is a man of great vocabulary; a man known for building entire stories and ballads within a matter of minutes. He is why every lyric from nearly every song is as infectious and electrifying as the last. He is the one, the only, Robert Hunter. We’ll be taking a brief look at Hunter’s life, how he got involved with the band, and how his lyrics and words helped to build the Grateful Dead into master storytellers and prophets. With all that said, let’s begin.

Robert Burns was born on June 23, 1941, in Arroyo Grande, California. Robert’s childhood, unlike the others, was a bit rougher. His father had served during World War II, and was ruined by his service in the war, followed by a severe case of alcoholism. His father would later abandon Robert at seven-years- old, divorcing when he was nine. Following the divorce, Robert spent most of his childhood drifting through various foster homes throughout the state. When he was 11, his mother remarried to Norman Hunter, a sales manager at McGraw-Hill Publishing. With this new father, Norman would educate Robert in writing and english.

After a brief stint in the National Guard, Robert returned to Palo Alto in 1961. While there, he would be introduced to Jerry Garcia while working together on a local production of Damn Yankees. From there, the two, as described by Dennis McNally, “Began a conversation that would last their lifetimes.” During the Grateful Dead’s development, Robert would be brought in to help the band produce more original music, since their debut album consisted mainly of cover songs. This process began around 1968, when Robert took his experiences and hallucinations during an acid test in 1963 to help write his first song with the band, “Dark Star.” While the original single of “Dark Star” would sell poorly, it would become one of the band’s most important and iconic songs in their 30 year catalog. And the rest, as they say, was history.

Robert would spend the next 30 years of his life writing songs for the Grateful Dead, from trippy tracks like “China Cat Sunflower” to Americana ballads like “Uncle John’s Band.” With every song he wrote, Robert tapped into any human emotion he could. Whether it’d be depression, anger, happiness, or just a feeling of peace, Robert knew how to tap into each emotion, and from those emotions, draw out the words to the next big song.

Part of Robert’s ability to craft such beautiful lyrics was from the people he worked with. Whether it was Jerry Garcia or Phil Lesh, Robert knew the strengths and weaknesses of his partners, and would use them to help him write some of his best songs. Among them was “Box of Rain,” a song that he was able to write within a few minutes to give to Phil Lesh, who wanted to write a song for his dying dad. Along with that is pretty much every song that he’s written with Jerry. Robert’s knowledge of Jerry was so vast and detailed, people joked that Robert knew Jerry better than Jerry knew himself.

He was, also, very stern about how people interpreted his lyrics, and how people would want to rewrite his songs. One of those instances was back when Robert was writing “Sugar Magnolia” with Bob Weir. During the process, Robert and Bob got into an argument over the lyric “Jumps like a Willys in four-wheel drive.” Robert hated the lyric and demanded it to be taken out, while Bob refused. Because of this, Robert refused to write another with Bob ever again, hence why Bob would go on to write songs with John Barlow.

Sadly, Robert passed away on September 23, 2019, at age 78. Despite his death, Robert is still celebrated as one of, if not, the most important man in Grateful Dead history. Without his cryptic and inspiring lyrics, the Grateful Dead would be as appreciated as they are today. So we say thank you, Robert, for making the Grateful Dead who they are today.

Stay tuned for part 10 of Collin’s Guide to The Grateful Dead, where we’ll figure out what to talk about next. Until then, stay weir’d!