The intelligent rock musician is put in the position ofworking as hard as a poet or painter, while being expected to accept hisgifts with the self- deprecating shrug of the idiot savant.' (Flanagan, ix) However, the majority of rock lyricists aims at an audience which issupposed to recognize a song instantly during the few weeks it is playedheavy-rotation on FM radio and then forget it as soon as possible. Their code of mannersdictates that they not appear to take themselves very seriously, while thebest of their work contains all the passion, imagination, and craft oflegitimate art. Bill Flanagan argues that: 'Rock & roll musicians are strange artists. When comparing popular song lyrics to contemporaryor classic poetry, it is difficult not to miss a striking difference inquality-song lyrics generally tend to be outspoken and trite where poetryclouds itself in ambiguity and complex imagery. When analyzing song lyrics, certain basic differences from poetry have to beunderstood and observed. Otherwork of Hunter's includes lyrics for Zero and Bob Dylan as well as atranslation of Rainer Maria Rilke's Duino Elegies and volumes of poetry,most recently Sentinel. His songwriting collaboration with Jerry Garcia and, occasionally,other members of the Grateful Dead yielded such classic Dead tunes as 'Truckin',' 'Touch of Grey,' and 'Dark Star'.Hunter's lyrics emblazonthousands of tie-dyed t-shirts and skeleton-adorned bumper stickers. Born in 1941, Hunter grew up in California andstudied drama for a year at the University of Connecticut, before he spenthalf a year with the National Guard and later signed up for the samepsychedelic research that led Ken Kesey to write One Flew Over The Cuckoo'sNest.

Stephen,' 'China Cat Sunflower,' and 'Alligator' to the bandfrom New Mexico in 1967. Robert Hunter has been the primary lyricist for the Grateful Dead ever sincehe mailed 'St.

Robert Hunter's response: Fractures of Unfamiliarity and Circumvention in Pursuit of a Nice Time. Fractals of Familiarity essay '.an ambiguous lyrical world.' The Fractals of Familiarity and Innovation:Robert Hunter and the Grateful Dead concert experienceBy Jurgen Fauth, who welcomes your comments.Ī contribution to The Annotated Grateful DeadLyrics.

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