Lately I’ve been referencing this song a bit — I included it at the end of this week’s edition of Planet Waves FM and quoted it in today’s edition of Planet Waves. Here are the full lyrics. John Perry Barlow didn’t write a lot of songs for the Grateful Dead, but they all stand out: The Wheel, Playin’ in the Band, Cassidy and — Throwing Stones. By the way John is the guy who came up not with the term ‘cyberpsace’ but rather who first noted that the Internet is a dimension of its own. He is one of its most fierce guardians, among other things founder of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which helped crush the evil copyright troll Righthaven. — efc
Words by John Perry Barlow; music by Bob Weir
Copyright Ice Nine Publishing; used by permission
Picture a bright blue ball, just spinning, spinnin free,
Dizzy with eternity.
Paint it with a skin of sky,
Brush in some clouds and sea,
Call it home for you and me.
A peaceful place or so it looks from space,
A closer look reveals the human race.
Full of hope, full of grace
Is the human face,
But afraid we may lay our home to waste.
There’s a fear down here we can’t forget.
Hasn’t got a name just yet.
Always awake, always around,
Singing ashes, ashes, all fall down.
Ashes, ashes, all fall down.