the mythic reading of ‘rubin and cherise’
By Ella Bernard
At first listen,
’Rubin and Cherise’, the opening track of Jerry Garcia Band’s only studio album Cats Under the Stars, reads as a simple song about love and infidelity. But, the more I listened, the more I was gripped by the ambiguity of the lyrics towards the end, driving me to scavenge Genius Lyrics for any clue. My quick search for clarity yielded little fruit. Only one note had been posted to Genius Lyrics: ‘Songwriter Robert Hunter had originally written an alternate ending, including three additional verses’. I was going to have to go a bit further down the rabbit hole to get the answers I set out to find. Lucky for me, the Deadheads, the immense fan base of the Grateful Dead, remain committed scholars and have yielded plenty of online forums discussing every nook of the Grateful Dead & Co’s discography, whether attending concert after concert in the 70s or have recently been enticed by the wealth of performances available on spotify; I was able to find Hunter’s absent lyrics there. The missing verses patch the gaps and suggest an allegory to Greek Myth. Or, and I hate to be the one to tell you this, they make this sweet song a little darker.
Reuben, Reuben, tell me truly true
I feel afraid and I don't know why I do
Is there another girl for you?
If you could see my heart, you would know it's true
There's none Cherise, except for you.
‘Rubin and Cherise’ follows the young couple in the celebratory setting of ‘Carnivale’, or Mardi Gras in New Orleans. Rubin masters the “painted mandolin.” His sweet music is so enchanting to passersby that even “the breeze would stop to listen in, before going its way again.” Cherise fears Rubin strays from her. She’s dressed in white, leading us to guess that it may be their wedding night. Rubin tries to quell Cherise’s charges, but the appearance of “Sweet Ruby Claire,” dressed in red, seizes Rubin’s attention instead. His song begins to play just for Sweet Ruby.
Each note cut a thread of Cerise's fate
It cut through like a blade
Cherise’s voice rings out “from the face of the mandolin,” as her suspicions are confirmed. Rubin continues to deny his affections for Ruby. Then, the song concludes:
The truth of love
an unsung song must tell
The course of love must follow blind
without a look behind
Reuben walked the streets
of New Orleans 'till dawn,
Cerise so lightly in his arms
and her hair hung gently down
This makes for a rather dissatisfying ending. We don’t know whether the young couple has made up, despite Rubin’s love for another woman, or maybe they’re spending one last night together before going their separate ways. It never sat right with me. This is where the unsung verses, only found in Hunter’s Box of Rain anthology of lyrics that will run you about $200, or for free on The Well, may provide some clarity.
Ahoy old Ferryman
Riverboat of Charron ride
Though alive, take Reuben to the other side
For his sweet Cerise has died
It's a long lonely walk from Hell
to the burying ground
Cerise may return
but don't you look around
for your glance would cut her down
The truth of love an unsung song must tell
The course of love must follow blind
but Reuben looked behind
Reuben walked the streets of New Orleans till dawn
with the ghost of Cherise in his empty arms
and her hair hung gently down
There are explicit mentions of Rubin crossing over to the underworld to retrieve Cherise after her death; the lines “but don't you look around, for your glance would cut her down” and “The course of love must follow blind, without a look behind” are directly evocative of the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice. Euridice, shortly after marrying Orpheus, dies from a snake bite. Orpheus was a skilled lyre player, and his sweet melodies were moving to heavenly and earthly beings alike. I’m reminded of Rubin’s ability to capture the attention of the wind with his mandolin. Orpheus won the protection of the gods through his songs of grief, allowing him passage into Hell to retrieve Cherise…. Wait no, Eurydice. Hades was moved by Orpheus’s music and allowed him to lead Eurydice out of the caves of hell, so long as he did not turn around. Eurydice took on another form in hell as a suggestion of her former self. Unable to hear her footsteps behind him and fearing trickery from the god, Orpheus turned around right before exiting, sending Eurydice back to hell. Maybe Rubin mirrors Orpheus as his eyes stray to Ruby Claire, bright red, an alternate form of Cherise. Hunter’s lyrical intention in these added verses is clear, giving the song a life very different to the one we know now.
Garcia preferred the simplicity and ambiguity of the final version of the ending, refusing to sing Hunter’s extra verses, as they were supplied later to Garcia, who apparently disliked reworking a finished project. These verses have never been sung. Garcia’s final version nonetheless is as merry as it is compelling, as you want to dance away both the love and pain. An informant in the form of a good friend of mine, who I nominate as a trustworthy source on account of the dancing bear tattoo on the left side of his ribcage, was weary of my appetite for something concrete in Hunter’s lyrics. “Hunter leaves his lyrics open to the interpretation of the individual which is what’s so great about them.” So, take from my reading what you wish. I’m not going to tell you this is what he really meant, but the omitted verses definitely change the tone of the song. Check out ‘Rubin and Cherise’ and take what you will from the lyrics, as Hunter’s recurrently vague lyricism and Garcia’s open ended recording allows.
Sources:
https://genius.com/The-grateful-dead-reuben-and-cherise-lyrics
http://artsites.ucsc.edu/gdead/agdl/reub.html#ruby
https://people.well.com/conf/deadsongs.vue/topics/166/Reuben-and-Cerise-page01.html