It’s worth noting that Jerry Garcia was born on a Saturday. Saturday’s child works hard for its living,Īnd a child that’s born on the Sabbath day The verse opens with a reference to the proverbial rhyme, “Monday’s Child”, by suggesting that our narrator may be “Saturday’s child”, all grown-up.Īs the rhyme says, “Saturday’s child works hard for its living”: Self centered to the extreme First verse to “Althea” by the Grateful Dead. Next, we have the first verse, which is packed with references and abstractions: If nothing else, we can cling to Garcia’s warm, tender voice and virtuosity on his instrument for comfort. This meaning can also be applied to lives other than Jerry’s, as the lyrics can be seen as a source of hope and some reassurance that you are not the only one who feels lost and dejected. Many see this as an indirect letter from Hunter to Garcia, hoping to send him the message that he’s headed down a bad path in life, with his heroin habit and other addictions, and he needs to take a step back and see things for what they are. He continues to say that he’s being torn apart by treachery, and she tells him to just relax. She replies that he might need somebody to watch his back. Our narrator, Jim, tells this woman named Althea that he’s lost and lacks direction in life. Settle back, easy Jim” First chorus to “Althea” by the Grateful Dead. The song opens with a guitar solo that is bursting with soulful energy, and sets the melodic tone for the rest of the song. It is likely that Hunter was aware of all of these things when writing the song, and channeled energy from each of them while writing the lyrics. The name Althea was also used by the poet Richard Lovelace, in his 1649 poem “To Althea From Prison”, which was written to address a real-life woman named Lucy Sacheverell.įinally, an althea is a type of hibiscus flower such as the Marsh Mallow or Hollycock. Meleager, who was in a nearby field, suddenly felt a pain in his chest and dropped dead. When Althaea heard what her son had done, she took the log from its safe hiding place and quickly burned it in the fire. They ended up in a fight with Meleager that resulted in their death. His girlfriend Atalanta also participated, and since she was the first to strike the boar, Meleager awarded her the prize for being the most instrumental figure in the hunt.Īlthaea’s two brothers, the uncles of Meleager, did not like that the prize had been awarded to a woman. When Meleager was an adult, he participated in a hunt for a boar that was terrorizing his village. Upon hearing this, she removed the log from the fire and kept it in a safe place for many years. When Meleager was a small child, Althea was visited by the Fates who told her that her son’s life depended on a specific log that was in her fire at the time.
In Greek mythology, Althaea is the mother of the hero Meleager. The name Althea has roots in Greek mythology, and is derived from the ancient Greek name Althaea, which translates to “healer of wounds”.
We’re going to look at the lyrics, the inspiration that Hunter drew from, and of course, how this song can be applied to the life of Jerry Garcia, whom was struggling (in all eyes but his own) with a nasty heroin habit beginning in the late 1970s all the way until his death in 1995.įirst, a bit of background on the name Althea, and where Hunter may have gotten it. Rather than going into a long diatribe about how much I love the Grateful Dead (you can find that here), we’re going to stick to the meaning of “Althea” today. Many people draw inspiration from “Althea” and find ways that the lyrics apply to their own life, forever evolving as they grow older and experience more things. The Garcia interpretation is far from the only meaning of the song, though, and thus is the beauty of Robert Hunter’s songwriting. In addition to placing Garcia’s guitar playing at the forefront, the lyrics to “Althea” can be interpreted to be about him and the circumstances of his life at the time of its writing, and for his final 15 years that followed. With lyrics penned by Robert Hunter and musical arrangement by Jerry Garcia, “Althea” is one of several dozen examples of wonderful songwriting to come from the pair. Today, “Althea” is one of the most well-known songs in the band’s catalogue, right up there with “Touch of Grey”, “Friend of the Devil“, “Casey Jones”, and of course, “Ripple” in terms of mainstream recognition. The track saw official release in April 1980, on the Dead’s eleventh studio album, Go to Heaven, and it appeared in the live rotation in August 1979. “Althea” by the Grateful Dead is a fan-favorite that has had deadheads picking apart its meaning for decades.
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