Dust Off Those Rusty Keys Just One More Time

Today is the fifteenth anniversary of the founding of Gates of Vienna. It should be an auspicious occasion, but the fact that Dymphna can’t help me commemorate it has kind of taken the starch out of me. I just don’t have that much to say.

So we’ll have some music instead. Thinking about this anniversary made the song “Stella Blue” by the Grateful Dead came into my mind. It was a staple of their live shows for more than twenty years, from 1973 until whatever the last one was before Jerry Garcia died. The studio version was first released in the summer of 1973 on the album Wake of the Flood, but I first heard it at a live show in Philly in March of 1973.

This version is from 1977 at Winterland. It doesn’t include any video footage, but I chose it for Garcia’s fine guitar solos, even if he does blow the words in a couple of places:

The lyrics are below the jump (the official version from Robert Hunter’s collection A Box of Rain):

Stella Blue

Music by Jerry Garcia, words by Robert Hunter

All the years combine
they melt into a dream
A broken angel sings
from a guitar
In the end there’s just a song
comes crying like the wind
through all the broken dreams
and vanished years

Stella Blue

When all the cards are down
there’s nothing left to see
There’s just the pavement left
and broken dreams
In the end there’s still that song
comes crying like the wind
down every lonely street
that’s ever been

Stella Blue

I’ve stayed in every blue-light cheap hotel
Can’t win for trying
Dust off those rusty strings just
one more time
Gonna make ’em shine

It all rolls into one
and nothing comes for free
There’s nothing you can hold
for very long
And when you hear that song
come crying like the wind
it seems like all this life
was just a dream

Stella Blue

12 thoughts on “Dust Off Those Rusty Keys Just One More Time

  1. I’m so sorry your lady is not there to celebrate with you. But thank you both for those years.

  2. Beautiful. I’ve not been here for the whole period, but thanks indeed. By way of contrast, here’s my favourite band with their greatest number (imho): https://youtu.be/0IsVgJOclik

    Odd as it may seem, this brings tears to my eyes, because the implied threat of violence is so frightening.

  3. The Anniversary Waltz by Vera Lynn

    We just discovered each other
    Tonight when the lights were low
    One dance led up to another
    And now I can’t let you go

    So tell me I may always dance
    The Anniversary Waltz with you
    Tell me this is real romance
    An anniversary dream come true

    Let this be the answer
    To our future years
    Through millions of smiles
    And a few little tears
    May I always listen to
    The Anniversary Waltz
    With you

    Let this be the answer
    To our future years
    Through millions of smiles
    And a few little tears
    May I always listen to
    The Anniversary Waltz
    With you…

  4. Please continue; the news you provide is important and needed and generally unavailable elsewhere.

  5. Congratulations on 15 years, Baron. I just discovered you a few months ago, but I’ve been reading regularly. Like PGiddy wrote, please continue. You’re a good resource for news from the Euro zone. Knowing the goings-on in that region help to paint a clearer picture of the overall fight between nationalism and global communism.

  6. You have done spectacular and we , your readers from all over the world , enjoy all you have put into it . As a South African I appreciate the fact that there are still people in the world who love their cultures and wish to retain them . Yes , I too wish that Dymphna was here , but as I learned when I was merely 27, we all have to let go at a given time . I might visit Canada in Spring . Thanks for so much so far . May I be so rude as to ask you to continue uninterrupted . I do find it quite enlightening.

  7. Congratulations! I believe I’ve been here (on and off) for 12 or so years, probably not from the very beginning, but not sure. You’re doing a great job. Here’s for another 15, cheers!

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