i can still recall the first time hearing this song played live on an acoustic guitar and the chills it sent through my body. hearing my friend matt play this song, was part of the inspiration for me to pick up a guitar in the first place, and this has always been a song i've been drawn to in my grateful dead listening experience. the studio version (youtube link below) off of their 1970 album Workingman's Dead is an exquisite piece of music, filled with beautiful harmonies and terrific instrumental fills that a solo acoustic guitar cannot fully appreciate (it's said that jerry garcia traded pedal steel guitar parts for crosby stills and nash's "teach your children" and in return they taught the dead how to harmonize [imagine what it'd be like to be in the san francisco music scene in the late 60's/early 70's!]). the whole album is really a masterful work of americana-styled music, and is where i think the band really began their drastic shift from psychedelic rockers to true musicians.
while the grateful dead are a band known for "being high" this song doesn't evoke the same feelings of "high" as in a stoned or intoxicated state. to me the "high time" is a man who is enjoying himself and living his life to the fullest. and this woman wants to join him on his journey, but hers is not quite as spectacular and joyful as his. he is able to recognize this, and is okay with the reality of the situation, and keeps encouraging her that "i could show you a high time" and "we could have us a high time" and he will help her through this time in her life, and it doesn't have to be much more complicated than that.
a simple kind of love, one which doesn't need to be complicated. let's both just enjoy ourselves "come in when it's raining / go on out when it's gone".
that'd be nice.
high time - grateful dead
you told me goodbye
how was i to know
you didn't mean goodbye
you meant please don't let me go
i was having a high time
living the good life
well i know
the wheels are muddy
got a ton of hay
now listen here baby
'cause i mean what i say
i'm having a hard time
living the good life
well i know
i was losing time, i had nothing to do
no-one to fight, i came to you
wheels broke down, the leader won't draw
the line is busted, the last one i saw
tomorrow comes trouble (note 1)
tomorrow comes pain
now don't think too hard, baby
'cause you know what i'm saying
i could show you a high time
living the good life
don't be that way
nothing's for certain
it could always go wrong
come in when it's raining
go on out when it's gone
we could have us a high time
living the good life
well i know
▶️ 3Speak