Music and Words With Jerry Garcia And Robert Hunter, The Series (Part Four) [VIDEO]
This live album 'Skull and Roses' is from 1971 yet only contains two new Garcia-Hunter songs, but both are beauties.
"Bertha" kicks off the album with a rousing chorus, "I had to move, really had to move" which became a rallying cry instantly for the original generation of Deadheads.
"Wharf Rat" is on the other side of the dramatic spectrum, an emotionally affecting saga of a down and outer who imparts some hard won worldly wisdom to the song's narrator.
The song starts off with this explanation as a good definition: "A man running from anxiety, confused about his faith asks the lord if you care? Questioning his existence and a run around the corner explains a drastic change in events."
Then the chorus:
"I had to move, really had to move,
That's why if you please, I am on my bendin knees,
Bertha don't you come around here anymore." (Hunter/Garcia)