When the last rose of summer pricks my finger

And the hot sun chills me to the bone
When I can't hear the song for the singer
And I can't tell my pillow from a stone

I will walk alone by the black muddy river
And sing me a song of my own
I will walk alone by the black muddy river
And sing me a song of my own

When the last bolt of sunshine hits the mountain
And the stars start to splatter in the sky
When the moon splits the southwest horizon
With the scream of an eagle on the fly

I will walk alone by the black muddy river
And listen to the ripples as they moan
I will walk alone by the black muddy river
And sing me a song of my own

Black muddy river
Roll on forever
I don't care how deep or wide
If you got another side
Roll muddy river
Roll muddy river
Black muddy river roll

When it seems like the night will last forever
And there's nothing left to do but count the years
When the strings of my heart start to sever
And stones fall from my eyes instead of tears

I will walk alone by the black muddy river
And dream me a dream of my own
I will walk alone by the black muddy river
And sing me a song of my own
And sing me a song of my own

Beautiful!
Now I am sitting here crying, again.

It was either this or Box of Rain and Box of Rain would've made me cry. :hug:

Box of rain is good as well, but Black Muddy River is one of my favorites. I heard or read somewhere that Phil listened to & sang "Box of Rain" going back & forth to visit his dieing father so it has a lot of meaning to him.

Phil's dad when he was dying of cancer. Phil had already come up with the melody, went to talk to Hunter and Hunter happened to already have snippets and ideas for lyrics that fit the melody. It was one of those things that just kind of fell into place (as so often happened with the Dead).

:hug:

I had it played at my mom's memorial service a few weeks ago. She asked me to pick the music.

Imagine - John Lennon
Amazing Grace - Faith Hill
Time after Time - Cindi Lauper (this was our song)
You can't always get what you want/I shall be released - Bette Midler
Black Muddy River - Grateful Dead
What a wonderful World - Louis Armstrong

:cry: :cry: :cry: