The Annotated "When Push Comes to Shove"

Lyrics omitted. The annotations below are reproduced by permission of David Dodd; the song lyrics themselves are copyrighted and are not reproduced here. Read them at the official source: dead.net/songs.

• In the Dark

First performance: December 15, 1986, at the Coliseum Arena in Oakland, California. "Push" occupied the third spot in the first set, following "C.C. Rider," and preceding "Beat It On Down the Line." "Black Muddy River" was also debuted at this show. "When Push Comes to Shove" remained in the repertoire through July 17, 1989.

Here there may be..."

bullets made of glass

From: Brendan Riley [mailto:bpriley@sonic.net]
Sent: Monday, July 28, 2003 10:15 PM
Subject: When Push Comes To Shove

Dear David,
driving west into the fog today, listening to the Dead debut When Push Comes To Shove from Oakland 1986, I bent my ear to hear the line about:
“bullets made of glass”
In Jules Vernes’ 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea, Captain Nemo invites Professor Aronnax on an undersea hunting expedition, which, among other marvels, will employ guns powered by compresed air, firing glass bullets:

“Monsieur, with a gun such as mine, all hits are fatal; an animal has only to be touched, however slightly, and it drops stone-dead, as if struck by lightning.”

“How can that be?”

“Because the bullets ejected by this gun are not ordinary bullets. They are little capsules invented by Leniebroeck, an Austrian chemist, and I have a considerable supply. These glass capsules are covered with steel and weighted with a pellet of lead. They are little Leyden jars, highly charged with electricity! On the slightest impact they are discharged. The animal, however powerful it may be, falls dead. Besides, they are so small that an ordinary gun can hold ten of them.”

What better example of a man afraid of love than Captain Nemo? or filled with a love so great he is afraid to share it with the world, which might be the same thing?

from 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea (1870) by Jules Verne
quotation from Signet Classic Edition, 1969;
Chapter XV: "A Written Invitation", pg. 120.
Translation by Mendor T. Brunetti

Sincerely,
Brendan Riley
Petaluma