Robert Hunter (1941 – 2019)

No group has had a greater impact on my life than the Grateful Dead. Known perhaps primarily for their extended exploratory jams, a good deal of the appeal of their music for me has always been the lyrics. The group had two main lyricists, John Perry Barlow, who wrote mostly with Bob Weir, and Robert Hunter, who wrote mostly with Jerry Garcia. We lost John Barlow last year. And now I am incredibly sad to say we’ve lost Robert Hunter too. Hunter was responsible for the lyrics to such fantastic songs as “Dark Star,” “Stella Blue” and “Brokedown Palace.” He also penned the lyrics to my all-time favorite song, “Ripple.”

I was fortunate enough to meet the man once. He gave a poetry reading at the University of Oregon in the early 1990s, when I was a student there. I got to the auditorium early (I am always early to everything), and grabbed a seat in the front row. There was an open door next to the stage leading outside, and through that doorway I spied Robert Hunter standing there, smoking a cigarette. I could see only him, not whoever might be accompanying him. I grabbed my copy of A Box Of Rain from my backpack and went outside to see about possibly getting an autograph. Turned out he was by himself out there. That surprised me. I assumed he’d have a group of friends and maybe some fans around him. But he was alone. So I had a chance to talk to him to a bit. And he signed my book. I was struck by how relaxed he was, how friendly and completely natural and genuine he was. He put me at ease immediately.

Meeting him meant a lot to me, but the lyrics that he wrote of course mean so much more. These are the songs I sing to myself when I’m driving, when I’m worried, when I’m confused about the world, when I’m sad, and when I'm happy. These are the songs that are with me whatever I’m doing. So many of Robert Hunter’s lyrics deal, in one way or another, with death itself, and I have a feeling these songs will be with me when I go. At least, I hope so. As Jerry Garcia sings in “Ripple,” “Let there be songs to fill the air.”