Sugaree
"Sugaree" is a song written by long-time Grateful Dead lyricist Robert Hunter and composed by guitarist Jerry Garcia. It was written for Jerry Garcia's first solo album Garcia, which was released in January 1972. As with the songs on the rest of the album, Garcia plays every instrument himself (except drums, played by Bill Kreutzmann), including acoustic guitar, bass guitar, and an electric guitar played through a Leslie speaker.
Elizabeth Cotten, a North Carolina folksinger, wrote and recorded a song called "Shake Sugaree" in 1966. The chorus of Cotten's song is "Oh lordie me/Didn't I shake sugaree?" The song influenced Hunter in the composition of "Sugaree."
The song was first performed live on July 31, 1971, at the Yale Bowl at Yale University, as was the song "Mr. Charlie". The song appears on numerous other recordings, including Dick's Picks Volume 3 and One From the Vault.
Rusty York recorded a Marty Robbins-penned song in 1959 (Chess 1730) also called, "Sugaree."
Fred Neil released a song in 1966 on his eponymous album called "I've Got a Secret (Didn't We Shake Sugaree)."
Podcasts:
Sugaree
by: Boppin' BI remember so well that special night
I went out and got lost in the big city lights
At the house of blue lights where the music was loud
I suddenly noticed her face in the crowd
Well she had cat eyes and a mystic smile
I knew that girl was gonna drive me wild
I shivered and shook as she looked at me
But how was I to know about my misery
Sugaree the devil led me to you
Sugaree I love the things that you do
I never had lovin' like this before
You took my keys and then you locked my door
Please give me more
She took a long cigarette and I took my chance
I lit it up and asked her for a dance
Her perfume was so sweet that it rattled my brain
The tattoo on her shoulder drove me insane
It wrote six six six lord in heaven above
With an antichrist woman I just fell in love
I said come on baby let's get out of this place
Her kisses knocked me out as they were fists 'pon my
face
Sugaree the devil led me to you
Sugaree I love the things that you do
I never had lovin' like this before
You took my keys and then you locked my door
Please give me more
From that very time on I was under her command
For givin' all I got I'm allowed to kiss her hand
I'm down for her on my bended knees
I got chains around my wrists I got chains 'round my
feet
But I'm a happy man though she rules my live
And with her long fingernails she cuts me like knife
If I may ever choose 'tween heaven or hell
You can bet I get both in my prison cell
Sugaree the devil led me to you
Sugaree I love the things that you do
I never had lovin' like this before
You took my keys and then you locked my door