Throwing Stones Songtext
von Grateful Dead

Picture a bright blue ball just spinning, spinning free
Dizzy with eternity
Paint it with a skin of sky brush in some clouds and sea
Call it home for you and me

A peaceful place or so it looks from space
Closer look reveals the human race
Full of hope, full of grace is the human face
But afraid, we may lay our home to waste

There′s a fear down here we can't forget
Hasn′t got a name just yet
Always awake, always around
Singing ashes, ashes all fall down (singing ashes, ashes all fall down)

Now watch as the ball revolves and the nighttime falls
And again, the hunt begins, and again the blood wind calls
By and by again, the morning sun will rise
The darkness never goes from some men's eyes (oh, no)


It strolls the sidewalks, and it rolls the streets
It's taking turf, dividing up meat
Nightmare spook, piece of heat
It′s you and me, you and me

Oh! Flash blade in ghetto night
Rookie′s looking for a fight
Rat cat alley rolls them bones
Need that cash to feed that Jones
And the politicians throwing stones
Singing ashes, ashes all fall down
(Ashes, ashes all fall down)

Commissars and pin-striped bosses roll the dice
Any way they fall, guess who gets to pay the price?
Money green, the proletarian gray
Selling guns instead of food today

So, the kids they dance, they shake their bones
While the politicians throwing stones
Singing ashes, ashes all fall down
(Ashes, ashes all fall down)


Heartless powers try to tell us what to think
If the spirit's sleeping, then the flesh is ink
History′s page will be neatly carved in stone
The future's here, we are it, we are on our own
On our own, on our own, on our own, on our own, on our own, own, own

If the game is lost, then we′re all the same
No one left to place or take the blame
We will leave this place an empty stone
Oh, that shinning ball
We can call our home

So, the kids they dance, they shake their bones
While the politicians are throwing stones
Singing ashes, ashes all fall down
(Ashes, ashes all fall down)

Shooting powders back and forth
Singing black goes south while white comes north
And the whole world full of petty wars
Singing "I got mine and you got yours"

When the current fashions set the pace
Lose your step, fall out of grace
And the radical, he rants and rage
Singing "Someone got to turn the page!"

And the rich man in his summer home
Singing "just leave well enough alone!"
But his pants are down, his cover's blown
And the politicians throwing stones

So, the kids they dance they shake their bones
′Cause it's all too clear were on our own
Singing ashes, ashes all fall down
(Ashes, ashes all fall down)

Picture a bright blue ball just spinning, spinning free
It's dizzying, the possibilities
Ashes, ashes all fall down
(Ashes, ashes all fall down)

Singing ashes, ashes all fall down
Ashes, ashes all fall down
Singing ashes, ashes all fall down
Ashes, ashes all fall down
Singing ashes, ashes all fall down
Oh, ashes, ashes all fall down
Ashes, ashes all fall down
Ashes, ashes all fall down

Singing ashes, ashes all fall down
(Ashes, ashes all fall down)
Singing ashes, ashes all fall down
Ashes, ashes all fall down
Singing ashes, ashes all fall down
(Ashes, ashes all fall down)
Ashes, ashes all fall down
Ashes, ashes all fall down
Ashes, ashes all fall down
(Ashes, ashes all fall down)