Grateful Dead album cover opened
Let me begin by saying I know next to nothing about The Grateful Dead and am familiar only with the songs that got airplay, like Casey Jones and Truckin’. When I first started blogging at WordPress and started following Jim Adams’ blog, I learned he was a dedicated Deadhead. I started learning some and listening to some from his blog. When I went searching for songs with August in the title or lyrics containing August and came across “Wharf Rat,” I gave it a chance, liked what I heard, and decided it would be this week’s choice for Mixed Music Bag’s August 2025 post. If it wasn’t for Jim, I would have skipped right by this one. Thanks, Jim.
best heard in summer
soul’s yearning for better times
grave for winter ears
Wharf Rat is from Grateful Dead’s live album, released on September 24, 1971. It is their second live double album and their seventh album overall. Although published without a title, it is generally known by the names Skull and Roses (due to its iconic cover art) and Skull Fuck (the name the band originally wanted to give to the album, which was rejected by the record company.) It was the group’s first album to be certified gold by the RIAA and remained their best seller until surpassed by Skeletons from the Closet.
Unlike Live/Dead, the album contained several lead and background vocal overdubs. For the three new original compositions (“Bertha”, “Playing in the Band”, and “Wharf Rat”), the band invited Jerry Garcia associate Merl Saunders to overdub organ parts. This made the organ playing of Saunders more prominent than that of Pigpen, whose contributions tend to be buried in the mix.
I found an excellent article by Chris Huber at “Extra Chill” about Wharf Rat, including analysis of the lyrics and important offshoots from the song. I don’t want to steal anyone’s thunder, so please learn more here.
Cover Art
The album's cover art, composed by Alton Kelly and Stanley Mouse, is based on an illustration by Edmund Joseph Sullivan for an old edition of the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam.
Personnel on Wharf Rat
Jerry Garcia – lead guitar, vocals
Bob Weir – rhythm guitar, vocals
Phil Lesh – bass guitar, vocals
Bill Kreutzmann – drums
Ron "Pigpen" McKernan – organ, harmonica, vocals
Merl Saunders – organ
source material: wikipedia
Wharf Rat
Old man down
Way down, down, down by the docks of the city
Blind and dirty
Asked me for a dime, a dime for a cup of coffee
I got no dime, but I got some time to hear his story
My name is August West
And I love my Pearly Baker best more than my wine
More than my wine
More than my maker, though he's no friend of mine
Everyone said
I'd come to no good
I knew I would Pearly, believe them
Half of my life
I spent doing time for some other fucker's crime
The other half found me stumbling around drunk on Burgundy wine
But I'll get back on my feet someday
The good Lord willing
If He says I may
I know that the life I'm living's no good
I'll get a new start
Live the life I should
I'll get up and fly away
I'll get up and fly away, fly away
"Pearly's been true
True to me, true to my dying day," he said
I said to him
I said to him, "I'm sure she's been"
I said to him, "I'm sure she's been true to you"
Written by: Robert Hunter, Jerome Garcia
Glyn Wilton is the host of Mixed Music Bag.
Tao Talk 
I love your choice, Lisa. This song features two characters, the narrator and the old man August West that he runs into down by the docks who tells his story. August West is a down on his luck alcoholic that attempts to bum a dime for a cup of coffee. He says that he is in love with a woman named Pearly Baker. August loves Pearly even more than he loves his wine, and certainly more than his maker, meaning God. August feels that God has turned against him, because he landed in jail for a crime that somebody else committed. August reflects on his life of being in jail and being drunk on Burgundy wine and he feels that he can pull himself out of this rut that he is in, if the good Lord is willing to help him.
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I’m glad you love this one, Jim. It’s a sorrowful story, and like my poem says, best to read it is bright summer not winter or it could really bring someone down. I like how the narrator comforts August by saying he’s sure she’s still waiting for him. I also love the fact that the song inspired a support group not only for The Grateful Dead but for other bands also. One drop in the lake ripples very far (and I’m not talking about Ripple Wine.)
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Nice choice, Lisa. Bill & I spent a lot of Friday & Saturday nights at the Fillmore East where the Grateful Dead appeared frequently. Even if we didn’t go to see them specifically, chances are they were in the line up. Who knows …. we might have been there the night Wharf Rat was recorded.
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So. very. cool. Nancy. I’m envious.
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Until about 7 years ago, I knew nothing about the Grateful Dead except their name. Then I started to explore some of their music, but my knowledge remains spotty. I don’t believe I had heard “Wharf Rat” before – good song, though unlike “Casey Jones”, “Sugar Magnolia” and “Truckin’,” I’m not sure I’m going to remember it next week. :-)
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I’m about where you are with their catalog, Christian, but I will remember this one. Happy you gave it a listen.
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Lisa, it was a very cool time and the impetus behind us attending many more concerts in the following years.
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I don’t know a lot about this band, but I have heard some of their songs, just not a lot of them. This is a good choice Li! :D
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Thanks much, Carol Anne. I wasn’t expecting August to be a man’s name, but it works.
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I bought this album when it first came out and played it a LOT that fall. On this song the bass sets the mood right from the beginning. The music fits the story well. Some of my favorite Robert Hunter writing comes via songs like this – where you get a narrator and his story (like “Me & My Uncle”, “Jack Straw”, and “Dupree’s Diamond Blues”, all of which I covered in last week’s series on crime).
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Steve, I have no idea how many of their songs are good ones but this one is. Will look up your post, as I’m interested how the songs tie in with a crime theme.
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The Grateful Dead were a band that for some reason I just couldn’t get into. There are certain songs that I actually like though. This is one of them Lisa.
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Very random, but that image reminds me of a can of sardines. 🤓🐟
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:) Very cool. Sardines on the wharf makes sense to me.
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🤓🥂
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