Is this a song about a ghost looking out to sea, a suicide inthe garden or a brown-haired girl. Tune in next lifetime to find out.

"It Must Have Been the Roses"
Words and music by Robert Hunter

Reprinted with permissions copyright Ice Nine Publishing


Annie layed her head down in the roses
She had ribbons, ribbons, ribbons
in her long brown hair
I don't know, it must have been the roses
All I know is I could not leave her there

I don't know, it must have been the roses
The roses or the ribbons in her long brown hair
I don't know maybe it was the roses
All I know was I could not leave her there

Ten years the waves rolled the
ships home from the sea
Thinking well how it may blow
in all good company
if I tell another what
your own lips told to me
may I lay neath the roses
and my eyes no longer see

I don't know, it must have been the roses
The roses or the ribbons in her long brown hair
I don't know maybe it was the roses
All I know was I could not leave her there

One pane of glass in the window
No one is complaining though,
come in and shut the door
Faded is the crimson from the
ribbons that she wore
and it's strange how no one
comes round anymore

I don't know, it must have been the roses
The roses or the ribbons in her long brown hair
I don't know maybe it was the roses
All I know was I could not leave her there

Annie layed her head down in the roses
She had ribbons, ribbons, ribbons
in her long brown hair
I don't know, it must have been the roses
All I know was I could not leave her there

I don't know, it must have been the roses
The roses or the ribbons in her long brown hair
I don't know maybe it was the roses
All I know was I could not leave her there




First performance: February 22, 1974, at the Winterland Arena in San Francisco by the Grateful Dead.

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