Late Grateful Dead lyricist Robert Hunter’s unheard song 'Movin' Right Along' released by David Nelson Band
Grateful Dead's poetical, lyrical maestro and singer Robert Hunter, who passed away in September last year, wrote a song we haven't heard till now; the newly-released lyrics were revealed on January 22 for a song titled 'Movin’ Right Along'. According to Rolling Stone, before his death, Hunter emailed a bunch of fresh lyrics regularly to one of his post-Jerry Garcia songwriting collaborators offering the artist to apply the words to music. That particular year, that artist was David Nelson, from the David Nelson Band.
Nelson and Hunter’s friendship and working relationship dates back to the early-1960s when the two played as part of Bay Area bluegrass outfits the Wildwood Boys and Hart Valley Drifters, according to JamBase.
In 2016, Nelson, who went on to co-found rock band New Riders of the Purple Sage, wrote melodies for those proposed lyrics, recorded them, and released a few on an album. However, 'Movin’ Right Along', was left on the shelf. Recently, Nelson heard it again and realized how far-seeing it was. Now, the David Nelson Band as a tribute to Hunter, who died of natural causes at 78, has released their 2016 version of 'Movin’ Right Along', the first unheard Hunter lyric since his passing.
'Movin’ Right Along', with a length of over eight minutes, demonstrates Hunter’s flair in channeling a character with lyrics that infuse a sense of rugged Americana. Good examples of this would be 1979's 'Wharf Rat', which is said to have encompassed all that is genius of the lyricist, and 1970's 'Black Peter', which has been shrouded in a certain sense of mystery as to what it entails.
'Movin’ Right Along' features a narrator who has lived and died several times, including in a coal mine, on a picket line, “protecting contraband,” and in an unnamed fight for “liberty.” Hunter rarely wrote politically-spirited lyrics, which drove Nelson to want to finally reveal the track even more so.
Speaking to Rolling Stone on the day Iran sent missiles into Iraq, January 8, Nelson says, “It impressed me how timely it was. It fits in with what’s happening now: ‘Loaded my gun and went to war. Movin’ right along. I shot left and I shot right, now listen to my song.’ Boy, that just stunned me in terms how current it was.” Nelson insisted that Hunter was writing about himself on this one, “I didn’t see it as a farewell song, and I don’t think he did either,” He says. “But it’s a testament to him.”
