Clementine - Grateful Dead

Chopped olive sandwiches, roses and wine

Cold ripe persimmons, my sweet Clementine

There’s a chill in the meadow, of bottomless time

I go on, I go on, I cannot fill my cup

There’s a hole in the bottom, the spring has dried up

I run through the forests of linear time

Chop through the branches and cut through the vines

I’ll be back in a moment, though it may take me years

In the lava rock canyons corroded with fears

Of corruptible bodies and grief beyond tears

I’ll go on till I hear the sweet voices behind

That I’ve left for the comfort of cold Clementine

This is the 2 Feb 1968 version:

Chopped olive sandwiches, roses and wine

Red ripe persimmons, my sweet Clementine (note 1)

I go on, I go on, I can’t fill my cup

There’s a hole in the bottom, the well has dried up

I run through the forest, I cut past the vine

Head through the thickets of linear time

(A field full) of voices, sweet voices behind (note 2)

I’ve left for the comfort of cold Clementine

Notes

(1) the 20 Jan 1968 version is «Cold ripe persimmons»

(2) the 23 Jan 1968 version is «…never was mine»

The 20 Jan 1968 version is essentially the same as the 2 Feb one,

but with the first verse only.

The 23 Jan 1968 version has Jerry singing the

first verse, then repeating the first two lines of the first verse,

followed by the third and fourth lines of the second verse

The 26 Jan 1969 version is a more complete one:

Chopped olive sandwiches, roses and wine

Cold ripe persimmons, my sweet Clementine

There’s a chill in the meadow of bottomless time

I go on, I go on, I can’t fill my cup

There’s a hole in the bottom, the spring has dried up

Just a thought for the moment, it never was mine

Just like a (fat through) and cut past the vines

I run through the forests of linear time

I go on, I go on, I can’t fill my cup

I go on, I go on, though it might take me years

In the lava rock canyons all corroded with fears

Corruptible bodies and grief beyond tears

I go on till I hear the sweet voices behind

That I’ve left for the comfort of cold Clementine