The Annotated "New Speedway Boogie"

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.

"New Speedway Boogie"

• Workingman's Dead
• What A Long, Strange Trip It's Been
• Fallout From the Phil Zone

First known performance: December 20, 1969, at the Fillmore Auditorium in San Francisco. It appeared in the second set, following "The Eleven" and preceding "Turn on Your Lovelight." It was played through September of 1970, then dropped from the repertoire for over twenty years, reappearing in February of 1991. It appeared occasionally thereafter.

Hunter's footnote in A Box of Rain says:

("Written as a reply to an indictment of the Altamont affair by pioneer rock critic Ralph J. Gleason)"

The title is reminiscent of song titles of the type: "New Minglewood Blues."

Speedway

rap Jack

From: Max Kaplan [mailto:maxk@optonline.net]
Sent: Sunday, October 05, 2003 9:19 AM
Subject: New Speedway Boogie Annotation

Hey David,
Not sure if you still update this stuff but I had a comment about the "rap Jack" I'm not a big CB radio person but I'm pretty sure Hunter was talking about the random jabbering on a CB channel which is know as the rap jack.
Thanks man,
Max

I don't know but I been told

"I ain't never been to heaben but Ah been told
Dat de streets in heaben am paved with gold."

The entire song, with its proclamation of confusion and not knowing, sits squarely with the best of the tradition of ambiguity in Grateful Dead lyrics.

in the heat of the sun a man died of cold

The line is evocative of the line from "Oh Susanna": (also echoed in "Black Muddy River.")

"The sun so hot I froze to death
Susanna, don't you cry."

And this note from a reader:

erin wolfe wrote:

Greetings.

First of all, I love your site! It's great, and I hope it continues for a long time.

I came across a reference for "New Speedway Boogie" that I thought you might be interested in, although the context is completely different.

"In the heat of the sun a man died of cold."

The reference is from Geoffrey Chaucer's "Troilus and Criseyde," which was finished in 1385. This particular bit is a direct translation of a sonnet by Boccaccio (although I don't know which one). Troilus is madly in love with Criseyde, and he says this (Book I, Stanza 60):

"Alas! what is this wonder maladye?

For heat of cold, for cold of heat, I dye."

I think it works...

Peace and thanks for the site,

Erin Wolfe