August 9th brought sorrow like I never knew before
I’ve lost a lot of things in life but this one hurt much more
My entire world stood still the second that I heard the news
Sentenced to a lifetime with the everlasting blues
To me, you held the keys to things I never heard before
It unlocked places deep within and taught me to explore
Your voice was like cool aloe on the sunburn of my soul
It covered me like liquid would and filled this gaping hole
Within it I heard trouble and I heard of victories too
I crossed the country listening for the sound that came from you
I found a place I hoped existed deep within my heart
I sorted out the things of life, found pieces for each part
My dad is up there with you and I hope you’ve gotten to play
He’s the sax player pissed that I saw YOU every Father’s Day
I think by now he probably sees what he couldn’t way back then
You don’t just see Garcia once, you saw him again and again
Sometimes it hurts to say it and I’d never care to boast
But with all the family I have lost, I still miss you the most
I didn’t even know you, I was just a dot in space
The times you looked my way were times I never can erase
You didn’t have to move an inch to make your point so clearly
You sang about my past and future and I miss you so dearly
You didn’t need to dance much and I’m not sure that you could
There was no need to be flashy, you were just that fuckin good
Your gifts showed me the desert and they also showed me oceans
They took me to the very depths of all of life’s emotions
The metronome inside of you was turned back just a little
Your fingers shook each note you played as if upon a fiddle
Through song I grew in wisdom that was far beyond my age
You and Hunter were the ink that filled most every page
From The Warfield to MSG and everywhere in between
You were by far the greatest that my ears have ever seen
I felt joy unspeakable and I felt the deepest sorrow
Immersed in every moment with no worries about tomorrow
But one day when tomorrow came, and you had gone away
The weight of the news that changed it all that devastating day
Never would the contents of my life hang on your strings
I was hemorrhaging salt and water while you were getting wings
Some say time’s a healer but I’m not sure if that’s true
Twenty two years have come and gone and still this day is blue
Of all the things that I have lost that weren’t really mine
None of them compare to what was lost on August 9…

Dead To The Core,
Dean Sottile (pronounced So Tilly)
@gd50th on Twitter
Grateful Dean on FaceBook and Fans
#NFA #Garcia75th #GratefulDead