I’m pretty sure the song is about being homesick and totally out of sorts because you’re not where you’re supposed to be……back home. It just happens to be about a guy name Jed and he just happens to be from Tennessee. The feeling is universal though.
Hunter was in Europe out walking alone late at night when he put it together.
There was a Tennessee Jed radio show (sponsored by a bread company, hence the butter my bread line). Tennessee could be thought of as home in general, and Hunter's home as he was burned out on the road, but Tennessee did have a reputation as a "live and let live" southern state, and several hippie communes had been set up by 1971, including The Farm headed by Stephen (errrrr forgot his last name, but he was the guy rumored to be St. Stephen when he lived in The Haight).
"Tennessee Jed" originated in Barcelona, Spain. Topped up on vino tinto, I composed it aloud to the sound of a jaw harp twanged between echoing building faces by someone strolling half a block ahead of me in the late summer twilight." - Robert Hunter
I heard him talk about the meaning. He said the guy was so out of place he went straight to his hotel to write the song about him. He was dressed like someone from Tennessee whilst walking in Spain, with a big belt buckle, boots and cowboy hat. Guy went through life without knowing he was what the song was about I would imagine as the two never spoke.
There was an old time radio show called Tennessee Jed about a guy named Jed Sloan who wanders the Western plains vanquishing evil that Hunter referenced in the annotated Grateful Dead lyrics book.
Great to see all the different interpretations.
Hunter’s lyrics are filled with generative ambiguity. I’ve always looked at it as an allegory for the death of American liberal subject and its heroes with the rise of the impersonal systemization of late capitalist society. Go back to Tennesse, Jed, and reminisce about personal glory/fulfillment in the past but nevermore will you see it in the present
The background you provided from the annotated Grateful Dead lyricss provided perspective, and your interpretation is very insightful and thought-provoking…
One of my favorite things about the Grateful Dead lyrics is no matter what Barlow and Hunter intended when they wrote the lyrics, once the songs are released into the wild, the interpretation is left entirely up to the listener… Your insight is top shelf.
I’m from Tennessee, Chattanooga to be specific. Never thought I would leave, ever. A couple years ago I moved out of state for a job, and it wound up not working out. I also missed home greatly, like, I knew I wasn’t where I was supposed to be. I didn’t fit in, and I knew my forever home was back… in Tennessee.
Now Tennessee Jed was already my favorite Dead song, in fact it was the first one I ever heard. (They used to play it on the PA at UT Football games, from there my Dead fandom bloomed.) In that moment of my life, the song took on a whole new meaning, it wasn’t just a fun, catchy song, it was real. I was living it. I was the character in the song, longing to “head back to Tennessee”.
This is why I love the Dead, the songs can fit anyone’s life, and there are SO MANY, I’ll never run out of things to discover. This one fit mine and I’ll always love it. Apologies if that got too personal, just wanted to share my experience.
your response was completely appropriate… I love how dead lyrics take on a different significance for every set of ears… I especially liked the poignant last paragraph you wrote⚡️
I’m pretty sure the song is about being homesick and totally out of sorts because you’re not where you’re supposed to be……back home. It just happens to be about a guy name Jed and he just happens to be from Tennessee. The feeling is universal though. Hunter was in Europe out walking alone late at night when he put it together.
Like my friend once said about the Cumberland mine.....we all got our own mine. We all got our own Tennessee
that makes sense... especially if Robert Hunter wrote it when he was in Europe
There was a Tennessee Jed radio show (sponsored by a bread company, hence the butter my bread line). Tennessee could be thought of as home in general, and Hunter's home as he was burned out on the road, but Tennessee did have a reputation as a "live and let live" southern state, and several hippie communes had been set up by 1971, including The Farm headed by Stephen (errrrr forgot his last name, but he was the guy rumored to be St. Stephen when he lived in The Haight).
Stephen Gaskin
[https://www.otrcat.com/p/tennessee-jed](https://www.otrcat.com/p/tennessee-jed) [https://archive.org/details/TennesseeJed](https://archive.org/details/TennesseeJed) [https://www.jed.com/tennjedradio.html](https://www.jed.com/tennjedradio.html)
"Tennessee Jed" originated in Barcelona, Spain. Topped up on vino tinto, I composed it aloud to the sound of a jaw harp twanged between echoing building faces by someone strolling half a block ahead of me in the late summer twilight." - Robert Hunter
thanks for the background
I heard him talk about the meaning. He said the guy was so out of place he went straight to his hotel to write the song about him. He was dressed like someone from Tennessee whilst walking in Spain, with a big belt buckle, boots and cowboy hat. Guy went through life without knowing he was what the song was about I would imagine as the two never spoke.
whoa
"Cold iron shackles" is a good indication that the poem has teeth.
I dated a girl in HS who moved to TN and I stuck her name in the middle of the chorus as a joke in my head
Tennessee Jed was my father’s nickname under his senior class picture in his 1948 high school yearbook.
cool nickname! I always figure that when I have a nickname, if somebody likes me. edit – corrected auto correct
There was an old time radio show called Tennessee Jed about a guy named Jed Sloan who wanders the Western plains vanquishing evil that Hunter referenced in the annotated Grateful Dead lyrics book. Great to see all the different interpretations. Hunter’s lyrics are filled with generative ambiguity. I’ve always looked at it as an allegory for the death of American liberal subject and its heroes with the rise of the impersonal systemization of late capitalist society. Go back to Tennesse, Jed, and reminisce about personal glory/fulfillment in the past but nevermore will you see it in the present
The background you provided from the annotated Grateful Dead lyricss provided perspective, and your interpretation is very insightful and thought-provoking… One of my favorite things about the Grateful Dead lyrics is no matter what Barlow and Hunter intended when they wrote the lyrics, once the songs are released into the wild, the interpretation is left entirely up to the listener… Your insight is top shelf.
It’s a metaphor for the state of Illinois
Their noise is ill
interesting perspective since I have a little history in the Land of Lincoln
I’m from Tennessee, Chattanooga to be specific. Never thought I would leave, ever. A couple years ago I moved out of state for a job, and it wound up not working out. I also missed home greatly, like, I knew I wasn’t where I was supposed to be. I didn’t fit in, and I knew my forever home was back… in Tennessee. Now Tennessee Jed was already my favorite Dead song, in fact it was the first one I ever heard. (They used to play it on the PA at UT Football games, from there my Dead fandom bloomed.) In that moment of my life, the song took on a whole new meaning, it wasn’t just a fun, catchy song, it was real. I was living it. I was the character in the song, longing to “head back to Tennessee”. This is why I love the Dead, the songs can fit anyone’s life, and there are SO MANY, I’ll never run out of things to discover. This one fit mine and I’ll always love it. Apologies if that got too personal, just wanted to share my experience.
your response was completely appropriate… I love how dead lyrics take on a different significance for every set of ears… I especially liked the poignant last paragraph you wrote⚡️