... rings on her fingers & bells on her toes ...

nursery rhyme "Banbury Cross":

"Ride a cock--horse to Banbury Cross,
To see an old lady upon a white horse.
Rings on her fingers, and bells on her toes,
She shall have music wherever she goes."

[Source:] The Real Mother Goose, Rand McNally, 1916.

the annotated "Scarlet Begonias"

As I was walking round Grosvenor Square Not a chill to the winter but a nip to the air
From the other direction she was calling my eye
It could be an illusion, but I might as well try - Might as well try

She had rings on her fingers and bells on her shoes And I knew without asking she was into the blues
She wore scarlet begonias, tucked into her curls
I knew right away she was not like other girls - Other girls

In the thick of the evening when the dealing got rough She was too pat to open and too cool to bluff
As I picked up my matches and was closing the door
I had one of those flashes I'd been there before - Been there before

Well I ain't often right but I've never been wrong It seldom turns out the way it does in the song
Once in a while you get shown the light In the strangest of places if you look at it right

Well there ain't nothing wrong with the way she moves Scarlet begonias or a touch of the blues
And there's nothing wrong with the look that's in her eyes
I had to learn the hard way to let her pass by - Let her pass by

The wind in the willows playing Tea for Two The sky was yellow and the sun was blue
Strangers stopping strangers just to shake their hand
Everybody is playing in the heart of gold band - Heart of gold band


so was thinking of that but had to go through the ~ more popularly known, right? ~ and I think I like it less but it is easier to sing, it's pretty to sing ~

annotated "Sugar Magnolia / Sunshine Daydream"

Sugar magnolia, blossom's blooming, head's all empty and I don't care,
Saw my baby down by the river, knew she'd have to come up soon for air.

Sweet blossom come on, under the willow, we can have high times if youll abide
We can discover the wonders of nature, rolling in the rushes down by the riverside.

She's got everything delightful, she's got everything I need,
Takes the wheel when I'm seeing double, pays my ticket when I speed.

She comes skimmin through rays of violet, she can wade in a drop of dew,
She don't come and I don't follow, waits backstage while I sing to you.

["I got a girl in the head of the hollow, She won't come and I won't call 'er." --folk song,'Sourwood Mountain']

Well, she can dance a cajun rhythm, jump like a willys in four wheel drive.
She's a summer love for spring, fall and winter. she can make happy any man alive.

Sugar magnolia, ringing that bluebell, caught up in sunlight, come on out singing
Ill walk you in the sunshine, come on honey, come along with me.

Shes got everything delightful, shes got everything I need,
A breeze in the pines and the sun and bright moonlight [in the summer night moonlight] , crazy in the sunlight yes indeed.

Sometimes when the cuckoos crying, when the moon is halfway down,
Sometimes when the night is dying, I take me out and I wander around, I wander
round.

Sunshine, daydream, walking in the tall trees, going where the wind goes
Blooming like a red rose, breathing more freely,
Light out singin, Ill walk you in the morning sunshine
Sunshine, daydream. sunshine, daydream. walking in the sunshine.


which girl are you? morning sunshine daydream down by the river? in the thick of the evening, nip in the air, too pat to open & too cool to bluff?
are you present tense: she's got everything I need? or are you past tense: I had to learn the hard way to let her pass by?


-In the snide (bells on her shoes?) Scarlet Begonias, Jerry amiably laments that although the signs of foolishness were evident (knew right away/without asking), he was only a man who should have (but didn't) let her pass by. Must've been the roses....er..ruby begonias.

>describing someone as "too pat to open" is like saying that they were so sure of winning they forgot to show up. "Only some people get what they want." "Those are the ones who show up to get it."
>in Jerryspeak cool is a perjorative
It is?

-Ditto that "it is?". I never inferred that from his use of the word. And just to be picky, this is Hunterspeak! Well, Hunterwrite/Jerrysing ;-). Seems to me that the narrative has moved beyond the "forgot to show up" option by the time we reach the line in question (based on the line that precedes it). Anyway, I don't get a pejorative implication from the line, so much as rueful admiration.

-I bow to popular opinion, perjorative withdrawn.
When thinking about the line "too cool to bluff" I connected it with "thought you was the cool fool" of Sugaree, which is another similarly fractured Hunter/Garcia love song. And the FOTM verse "you're playing cold music on the barroom floor" is aimed at what else but the foolish cool?

-I used to play a lot of poker in the past, and “too pat to open” strikes me as an almost nonsensical contradiction. A pat hand is generally a winning hand, and with a pat hand you pretty much *have to* open in the first round of bidding after the deal.
Same thing with “too cool to bluff”—it makes no sense. You *have to* be cool if you’re going to bluff, and the cooler the better. There’s no such thing as “too cool” when it comes to bluffing.
My own personal take is that he’s describing a woman who won’t play the game. She sends out signals that she’s a player when you first meet her, but when it comes time to play the game, she presents another face—opposition, contrariness, and refusal to play by the rules.

-Her name is April Tucker. I know her. hehee. Her name is April Tucker, and that song is exactly right on. If Hunter has been drinking with April, he probably doesn't really have a clue either .. waking with a headache and a face sore from smiling the next day, in a hotel room in a city the name and location of which he was uncertain. Pretty sure he was also stone-broke.

-Scarlet Begonias has my favorite woman in it of all the women in the Dead oeuvre. She's cool, she's together, she's so confident and not afraid of drawing attention to herself, she wears scarlet begonias in her hair and bells on her shoes.