Lot 1005
GRATEFUL DEAD "FIRE ON THE MOUNTAIN" HANDWRITTEN LYRICS c.1972
23 November – 10 December 2020, 13:00 PST
Los AngelesSold for US$19,062.50 inc. premium
Looking for a similar item?
Our Popular Culture specialists can help you find a similar item at an auction or via a private sale.
Find your local specialistAsk about this lot
Client Services (San Francisco)
Client Services (New York)
GRATEFUL DEAD "FIRE ON THE MOUNTAIN" HANDWRITTEN LYRICS
c.1972
Mickey Hart handwritten lyrics for "Fire on the Mountain," 1 page, [Novato, 1972], being an early version of lyrics for the Mickey Hart/Robert Hunter song. Verso with partial set list also in Hart's hand and with drawing in another hand.
Provenance: Purchased from Grateful Dead roadie and eventual Gratedful Dead Productions President Laurence "Ram Rod" Shurtliff by the consignor.
Mickey Hart was: involved in a number of projects during his hiatus from the Grateful Dead, February 1971-October 1974, including recording several albums with his own bands and for others such as frequent Dead contributor Robert Hunter at his Novato, CA studio. Hunter recounted co-writing with Hart the song "Fire on the Mountain" in the liner notes of the Box of Rain box set: "Written at Mickey Hart's ranch in heated inspiration as the surrounding hills blazed and the fire approached the recording studio where we were working."
Hart recorded the song in 1972-73 for his unreleased Area Code 415 album and again for his unreleased Fire on the Mountain album recorded 1973-74. It appeared as an instrumental entitled "Happiness is Drumming" on the Hart side project Diga Rhythm Band's Diga album and was eventually worked into the Grateful Dead lives sets beginning in March 18, 1977 at Winterland Arena, San Francisco. By the time it appeared on Shakedown Street the lyrics had changed considerably from the present early version. The notes on the verso of the page list a four-song set list: "Sugar Magnolia / Scarlet Begonias / Not Fade Away / Warf Rat" [sic]. "Fire on the Mountain" was frequently paired with "Scarlet Begonias" to the point where the combination became known as "Scarlet Fire." It's very likely that Hart pulled out these lyrics from his files for the 1977 incorporation of the song into the Dead repertoire.
The present lyrics follow Mickey Hart's early version of the song where he delivered them in a proto-rap style and include verses and phrases that were later trimmed.
In full: "Wrong Way Billy what you standin' th[ere for] / Get up, get off, set out the door / You're playing cold music on the bar-room floor / Drowned in your laughter, DEAD to the core / There a dragon with matches, he's loose on the town, / Takes a whole pail of water to cool him down / There's a FIRE - FIRE on the Mountain 3x / Wound in barb wire, hell I ain't sore, / Only hurts when I laugh or roll on the floor. / Only hurts a little, least that's what I'm told, / When you're drawn in hot oil, it can even feel cold / FIRE 3x / I know I'm in love / but can't tell you why, / feels like poison, shoots me down when I fly. / FIREMAN, FIREMAN, call off your dogs, / This isn't a blaze, just a hog en a long [?] / There's a fire on the Mountain, it's runnin around / What doesn't go up, can never come down. / FIRE 3x / Baby's in Scarlet, Shackles in grey [sic] / elf loves to love, she's got it salted away / Put it down heavy, pick it up lean / You've got to lay it dirty and play it back clean / FIRE 3x."
Mickey Hart handwritten lyrics for "Fire on the Mountain," 1 page, [Novato, 1972], being an early version of lyrics for the Mickey Hart/Robert Hunter song. Verso with partial set list also in Hart's hand and with drawing in another hand.
Provenance: Purchased from Grateful Dead roadie and eventual Gratedful Dead Productions President Laurence "Ram Rod" Shurtliff by the consignor.
Mickey Hart was: involved in a number of projects during his hiatus from the Grateful Dead, February 1971-October 1974, including recording several albums with his own bands and for others such as frequent Dead contributor Robert Hunter at his Novato, CA studio. Hunter recounted co-writing with Hart the song "Fire on the Mountain" in the liner notes of the Box of Rain box set: "Written at Mickey Hart's ranch in heated inspiration as the surrounding hills blazed and the fire approached the recording studio where we were working."
Hart recorded the song in 1972-73 for his unreleased Area Code 415 album and again for his unreleased Fire on the Mountain album recorded 1973-74. It appeared as an instrumental entitled "Happiness is Drumming" on the Hart side project Diga Rhythm Band's Diga album and was eventually worked into the Grateful Dead lives sets beginning in March 18, 1977 at Winterland Arena, San Francisco. By the time it appeared on Shakedown Street the lyrics had changed considerably from the present early version. The notes on the verso of the page list a four-song set list: "Sugar Magnolia / Scarlet Begonias / Not Fade Away / Warf Rat" [sic]. "Fire on the Mountain" was frequently paired with "Scarlet Begonias" to the point where the combination became known as "Scarlet Fire." It's very likely that Hart pulled out these lyrics from his files for the 1977 incorporation of the song into the Dead repertoire.
The present lyrics follow Mickey Hart's early version of the song where he delivered them in a proto-rap style and include verses and phrases that were later trimmed.
In full: "Wrong Way Billy what you standin' th[ere for] / Get up, get off, set out the door / You're playing cold music on the bar-room floor / Drowned in your laughter, DEAD to the core / There a dragon with matches, he's loose on the town, / Takes a whole pail of water to cool him down / There's a FIRE - FIRE on the Mountain 3x / Wound in barb wire, hell I ain't sore, / Only hurts when I laugh or roll on the floor. / Only hurts a little, least that's what I'm told, / When you're drawn in hot oil, it can even feel cold / FIRE 3x / I know I'm in love / but can't tell you why, / feels like poison, shoots me down when I fly. / FIREMAN, FIREMAN, call off your dogs, / This isn't a blaze, just a hog en a long [?] / There's a fire on the Mountain, it's runnin around / What doesn't go up, can never come down. / FIRE 3x / Baby's in Scarlet, Shackles in grey [sic] / elf loves to love, she's got it salted away / Put it down heavy, pick it up lean / You've got to lay it dirty and play it back clean / FIRE 3x."
Additional information
Bid now on these items
