Grateful Dead - Foolish Heart Lyrics






Carve your name
Carve your name in ice and wind
Search for where
Search for where the rivers end
Or where the rivers start
Do everything that's in you
That you feel to be your part
But never give your love, my friend,
Unto a foolish heart

Leap from ledges
Leap from ledges high and wild
Learn to speak
Speak with wisdom like a child
Directly from the heart
Crown yourself the king of clowns
Or stand way back apart
But never give your love, my friend
Unto a foolish heart

Shun a friend
Shun a brother and a friend
Never look
Never look around the bend
Or check a weatherchart
Sign the Mona Lisa
With a spraycan, call it art
But never give your love, my friend
Unto a foolish heart

A foolish heart will call on you
To toss your dreams away
Then turn around and blame you
For the way you went astray
A foolish heart will cost you sleep
And often make you curse
A selfish heart is trouble
But a foolish heart is worse

Bite the hand
Bite the hand that bakes your bread
Dare to leap
Where the angels fear to tread
Till you are torn apart
Stoke the fires of paradise
With coals from Hell to start
But never give your love, my friend
Unto a foolish heart

Unto a foolish heart....





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Grateful Dead Foolish Heart Comments
  1. K.... C....

    How would you like to have them for a wedding band ? That’s what they look like ! Jerry!

  2. M.... D....

    How do Jerrys expressions always match my feelings...

  3. C.... K....

    only took me 30 years to see this video

  4. R.... ....

    The Dead. You either get it or you don't. And if you don't please don't act like you do. It's not becoming. Peace.

  5. M.... J....

    "Stoke the fire of paradise"

    M.... J....

    F yeah!

  6. r.... ....

    One of the most underrated Dead songs

  7. A.... H....

    How have I been a DeadHead since 92 and I missed this video somewhere in my travels. Excellent! Always loved Foolish Heart from 4/4/90 was one of my early tapes.

  8. w.... ....

    Uh...Where is Bill? He's not playing with the band here? I see him tipping his hat to viewers but he's alone. What;s the deal? Actually, I don't care. I hate this song. Hate the keyboard riff in particular. Hate the chorus...Love the Dead. Favourite band of all time! Hate this one though.

  9. V.... D....

    Essa música é fantástica e atemporal... 💀

  10. W.... R....

    All clear. You may give your love to me.. I'm only at selfish heart 💓.

  11. d.... ....

    If this was all I'd ever heard of the dead, I seriously would have never listened to them again. Thank God for bootlegs.

  12. D.... R....

    Love it

  13. A.... W....

    I love this song!

  14. b.... ....

    Billy must of been busy that day as he is missing from most of the video

  15. P.... ....

    Jerry's 80's hair!

  16. D.... M....

    In the dark was the first studio album I bought from the dead. It holds a special place in my heart because I had to let it grow on me because it wasn’t live

  17. s.... h....

    THIS WAS THE LAST GREAT SONG THAT THEY WROTE AND RECORDED.................................

  18. m.... 2....

    God bless I haven't seen that video since I was a teenager. I love ya Jer.

  19. D.... K....

    Dare to leap, learn to speak ✌

  20. m.... s....

    Breathtaking.

  21. G.... N....

    too bad no celtics in this video.

  22. R.... S....

    Love this song!

  23. K.... M....

    Perfect song. under appreciated but true lyrics for sure. Jerry!

  24. P.... T....

    We are so far removed from how nature would have us live.How can so few have so much when so many have so little?

  25. P.... T....

    This music makes me feel so good.

  26. M.... G....

    Wow, With all due respect to the man Georges Melies who not only made some of the first films with magic in a studio built of mostly glass if not mistaken, He was one of films first geniuses.
    Watch a movie called "HUGO" It is a wonderful look into part of his life. He died in 1939. In any case this video sucked. maybe my opinion is skewed by years of watching movies without any CG or any over dubbing and green screen effects. First and foremost the best drummer for the band is hardly seen, Why? Was it his choice? Then you have most of the band wearing clothes they wouldn't wear unless they were at the Grammys. I don't know. I apologize for my dislike of this film record that should have stayed in the can.

  27. J.... G....

    Shit I never knew there was a video for this song. Youtube keeps me truckin

  28. M.... S....

    This album was the anti-In The Dark, with the band members all working out and recording their parts separately, rather than you know, actually playing together. That said, I do love the feel of this rendition, as well as Victim Or The Crime. They have an interesting "suspended in space" texture.

  29. T.... R....

    What an absolutely great melody.  One of my faves by the Dead.

  30. C.... A....

    if only they had played a video like this at a shoreline show ... i'd still be on the hill

  31. M.... B....

    My bones are knocking.

  32. M.... N....

    "...carve your name in ice and wind..."

    From "Franklin's Tower": if you plant ice, you'll harvest wind.

  33. b.... r....

    I love how everyone knows how magical this is you can see it in their faces

    b.... r....

    blooming rose: I love how you're a fan of both the Dead and George Harrison. BTW the Shook Twins are pretty good, interesting use of the banjo, nice!

  34. B.... A....

    Good advise.

  35. c.... r....

    solo veo odio e injusticia en este mundo cada vez mas superficial, plastico y barato, y con razón, tenemos el cerebro bombardeado de formulas para afrontar "la vida", formulas que son supuestamente las correctas, nos piden que seamos de una determinada forma, que actuemos todos igual, dentro de nuestros telefonos, computadoras o casas, quejandonos, sin hacer nada, si hacemos nos reprimen, nos pegan cada dia de una forma nueva, estamos muy solos, nos enseñan sobre como creernos superiores a todo, nos enferman, no se quienes, si algun orden oligarquico que maneja el mundo, grupos que nos quieren asi arrastandonos o nosotros mismos. supongo que poco de lo sanador que queda en este mundo se lo debo a jerry garcia y a su banda, las vibraciones de los grateful dead llevan consigo muchisima informacion y es bastante facil de decodificar lo cual los hace aun mas grandes, como payadores, bueno vienen de ahi, del folklore, del pueblo, de la gente. esta cancion con sus jeites ochentosos me regala paz y una cierta nostalgia que aporta la experiencia de los grandes esqueletos que tocan estos acordes. gracias jerry, me.salvaron y lo siguen haciendo. macri gato

  36. T.... D....

    Favorite Dead song.

    T.... D....

    This, and Ripple are my favorites, but to be fair, so many of the Grateful Dead songs that I haven't heard.

  37. D.... ....

    Bob in a bow-tie! Amazing. Great tune, great album, great band. Nicely quirky video 😃

  38. F.... L....

    I cried

  39. M.... B....

    Damn ! Every time I listen to this song my bones begin to knock.

  40. J.... S....

    "never give your love my friend unto a foolish heart."

  41. S.... W....

    The best band EVER I seen them 12 times in Compton Terrace in Arizona David her hands down the best band that I ever seen in my life at all times and I've seen a lot Iron Maiden Judas Priest Metallica Megadeth Motley Crue it's a it's a world of your own I love him rest in peace Jerry I love you

    S.... W....

    Agreed that they were the best band ever (and I've seen Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Black Sabbath, etc), but they did not play Compton Terrace 12 times.
    Between 1980 and 1992 they played Compton Terrace 9 times. In 1994 they did 3 nights at what was then known as the Blockbuster Desert Sky Pavilion.
    So maybe you saw 12 Grateful Dead shows in and around the Phoenix area between 1980 and 1994, but not all of them were at Compton Terrace.

  42. C.... G....

    heard this at my first show at buckeye lake 88. and next time at deer creek 89. Great song. shine on jerry, vince, brent, keith, pigpen.

  43. M.... l....

    We miss you Jerry wherever you are

    M.... l....

    He's in heaven. You'll see him again one beautiful, easy, happy day long from now. He leads the dead. It'll be a cakewalk for you having realized him.

    M.... l....

    Nooo, he is here😉

    "Speak with wisdom, like a child, directly to the heart..." still renews me everytime! 💓

    M.... l....

    jerry is grateful hes dead this world has gone to hell in a bucket

    M.... l....

    Rip Brent

  44. D.... B....

    love that G.D thanks Jerry,Bobby,Phil, Billy, Mikey and keyboardist too!Frogger out law sk8er of the San Mateo county sheriff's crime log! HA HA ha never did nothing! Constitutional violators HA ha hah thank you fellow guitarists and musician who created some of best concert series ever Frogger Derek Bullene

  45. C.... D....

    Great late song, their later catalog is so poorly appreciated, I feel.

    C.... D....

    Not really. In fact having heard hundreds of shows I have to say my favor tie foolish- really the pinnacle of them was later: 6-27-95. Might find a good copy on archives. Foolish heart evolved in slip knot in the mid late 1970's. It has old roots you know. Peace

  46. D.... ....

    Don't they all look so handsome?

    D.... ....

    Yes. Really

  47. M.... S....

    I think this was the opener of my first concert in Miami 1989, 14 years old ! Miss you Jerry, you had a way of melting any bitterness in the heart, as bittersweet as it can be!

    M.... S....

    What a beautiful comment and testament. 14 years old- how precious.

  48. D.... C....

    built to last wasn't the best dead album but this was a damned fun song

    D.... C....

    Recovered the discipline necessary to sell records without abandoning the GD's traditional sound and ethos. Poppy or not, it could only be them.

  49. s.... h....

    sometimes they sound so much better in the studio than live, like this song!!! great video too.......

  50. t.... ....

    Words to live by.

    t.... ....

    A selfish heart is trouble a foolish heart is worse tru that

  51. j.... 6....

    I was expecting a Steve Perry cover

    j.... 6....

    hahaha. feel you

  52. A.... O....

    Carve your name
    Carve your name in ice and wind
    Search for where
    Search for where the rivers end
    Or where the rivers start
    Do everything that's in you
    That you feel to be your part
    But never give your love, my friend,
    Unto a foolish heart

    Leap from ledges
    Leap from ledges high and wild
    Learn to speak
    Speak with wisdom like a child
    Directly from the heart
    Crown yourself the king of clowns
    Or stand way back apart
    But never give your love, my friend
    Unto a foolish heart

    Shun a friend
    Shun a brother and a friend
    Never look
    Never look around the bend
    Or check a weatherchart
    Sign the Mona Lisa
    With a spraycan, call it art
    But never give your love, my friend
    Unto a foolish heart

    A foolish heart will call on you
    To toss your dreams away
    Then turn around and blame you
    For the way you went astray
    A foolish heart will cost you sleep
    And often make you curse
    A selfish heart is trouble
    But a foolish heart is worse

    Bite the hand
    Bite the hand that bakes your bread
    Dare to leap
    Where the angels fear to tread
    Till you are torn apart
    Stoke the fires of paradise
    With coals from Hell to start
    But never give your love, my friend
    Unto a foolish heart

    Unto a foolish heart....

    A.... O....

    THANK YOU!!!!!!! best to ya, Jor

    A.... O....

    Amie OMalia thanks

  53. B.... D....

    I'm fucking DEAD till I die,baby !!!

  54. B.... D....

    My favorite band of all time !!!!!

  55. B.... D....

    Actually,one of mWHICH was when I saw my first show ! AND,I started learning how to play their songs on guitar about the same time !
    y very fave Dead tunes.And,I've been listening to them since BEFORE I was 12 years old in 1974 !

    B.... D....

    DaFUQ just happened there ??

  56. J.... R....

    wow,well said,..you aren't alone...to me it's like coming home after long trip,no pun intended...it's nice to roam..but there's no place like home...

  57. K.... C....

    love it

  58. D.... ....

    The alter-ego of the band.... fine craftsmen. The music equivalent of painterly.
    It is an alter-ego because the live band was much different. You were vital part of the live band.... energy.
    This side of them is like eye candy... like a Van Gogh. Both make my heart smile.

  59. N.... ....

    All these years later, these lyrics are profoundly meaningful for me now more than ever. Such a great lesson. If you ever get confused, listen to the music play.

    N.... ....

    Lol you were on gas when that profound meaning came to you, weren't ya? ;)

  60. H.... M....

    Who is playing the keyboard?

  61. H.... M....

    On replay...for the rest of my days

  62. A.... N....

    Billy's in the video!

  63. M.... H....

    One of my favorite videos-ever. And a Mullet, too.

    M.... H....

    when mullets were mainstream

  64. a.... ....

    On that morning in August of 1995 I remember waking up in that crappy attic apartment in Little Five Points here in Atlanta to the announcer on WSB 750AM saying "Rock & roll lost a legend today....." and in the little pause after I whispered "Jerry" - made sense with how crazy that summer had been on tour and how sick he looked near the end. The station started playing this song of all songs by the GD to pick to associate with the band (doubt this one was ever heard more than a few times on the radio.....why not Truckin' or Touch or Uncle John's I will never understand). So, this song will always remind me of that sad day and my wet shirt from the tears my lady Deadhead friends cried into my shoulder. I kept my composure intact though, even at the memorial we had at Piedmont Park to honor Jerry that night. It wasn't until a few months later when I heard a Stella Blue from 89 on tape and Jerry sang "when it seems like all this life was just a dream..." that I finally let it all go and grieved. Still miss you, Jerry. Anyway, this is a pretty good later-era Jerry tune with some really great lines from Bobby (he's practically playing lead throughout the verses - this song is a great representation of his unique playing style). Wonder why Billy didn't make the video shoot?

    a.... ....

    We all remember where we were when Jerry died and this is a very underrated newer song gettin me thru sum shit amazing lyrics every word

    a.... ....

    Criminal Records was a stop over late in 94. Nice part of the country.

    a.... ....

    atlbobr you brought tears to my eyes with that post.

    a.... ....

    You take me back to that day and the pain in my stomach wants to overflow out my heart tears but i just think of the good times and know we can all be together forever and ever when we make it to the promised land. Trust in God. God Bless.

    a.... ....

    atlbobr69 Yep I remember exactly where I was. At the department store I worked at before opening. We had a radio station on and not the Muzak yet. I let out this god aweful sound I can’t even describe it. Of course the one coworker that was a fan was off that day, I was walking around in this haze of sadness

  65. D.... ....

    awesome video!

  66. o.... ....

    I remember wakin up to this tune several years ago after a very strange mushroom trip at a festival  in shartlesville, pa......it was like an old friend

    o.... ....

    Oreocookie- lol. Hugs. Lol

    o.... ....

    thankyou2532 no one is telling you how to live your life. Why you feeling the need to on a grateful dead comment feed?

    o.... ....

    Thank u Jerry for talking to me today my friend ❤️✌️

    o.... ....

    What an absolutely beautiful memory! I really would have loved to have an experience like that. Sounds like a cool place, I'll have to add it to my bucket list of places to travel. Thanks for sharing that cool memory, peace and love, brother!

    o.... ....

    yeah wild times in ol' shartsville baby

  67. l.... ....

    Phil really lays it down on this pleasant tune

  68. F.... R....

    amazing !

  69. R.... R....

    The quality of the vid and audio are both fantastic; thanks for sharing!

  70. D.... ....

    hahaha I hope that whoever produced this video for them fined tuned their craft a little more after this...or kept their day job.

    D.... ....

    +Shawn Boyle this video is beautiful

    D.... ....

    Shawn Boyle Yea whatever debbie downer

  71. M.... ....

    Why have I never seen this video?

    M.... ....

    was just wondering the same thing. I know I had just had my daughter then, after a difficult pregnancy, so I can only assume that's why. 

  72. p.... ....

    Such an amizing song that is WAY too underplayed.

  73. K.... S....

    Great music. I saw Billy K. at around 2:36 or so.

  74. C.... ....

    It's a pity.  Between 1980 and 1995 they only released two albums of original material and both were very good.  They were really becoming an even better band than they had been and it would have been great if they had been more productive over that stretch.

    C.... ....

    Agree with you 100% they were becoming better songwriters. Songs like Days Between So Many Roads. Foolish Heart is a well put together composition

    C.... ....

    I agree, Brent had a bigger influence then people realized until he was gone. Vince was an OK replacement. I like the fact that he probably was instrumental in getting the band to play 'Baba O'Riley' which I got to see at Alpine Valley in WI. Followed them to the next 3 shows in Chicago @ (the old) Soldier Field. Who knew those would be Jerry's last :(
    RIP Jerry, we loved you.

    C.... ....

    Sorry, Kenneth, but your memory is extremely faulty.
    1.The Grateful Dead never played Baba O'Riley at Alpine Valley
    2.The Grateful Dead never played a 3-night run at Soldier Field
    3.The Grateful Dead never played Alpine Valley and Soldier Field in the same year

    C.... ....

    Unfortunately they hated going to recording studios. That and Jerry once said that he didn't enjoy song writing and "would rather fill in the o's in a phone book".

    C.... ....

    @Bill Beliakoff I never heard that quote before. It's a puzzler, coming from the writer of music for so many great songs. Maybe he was talking about writing whole songs, words and music. Not sure, but I think the only Dead song written entirely by Jerry was Cream Puff War.

  75. w.... ....

    aye Tiblo - I miss you
    every day

  76. N.... S....

    Billy is in the video just not the group shot

  77. S.... ....

    What is the inside scoop on why no Billy in this video? I love Bob at 4:42 is it rock star? Or what is that thing with glass in my face?

  78. F.... ....

    Dude, phil is a stud without his glasses!! I never knew he was so handsome , in a totally plutonic way of course

    F.... ....

    +FortWarren - You mean "platonic", not plutonic -- LOL

    F.... ....

    of course

    F.... ....

    Pluto used to be a planet , I feel so cheated now.

  79. C.... W....

    I like any dead songs.

  80. r.... ....

    lol well said

  81. D.... D....

    ok, he is there in a bowler... fine... but 3/4 of the video is the band playing with only 1 drummer... no billy... ??

  82. v.... ....

    Bobby with his hair slicked back. They had so much fun doing this. My religion, these boys, forever. Miss you Jerry.

  83. w.... ....

    HAPPY BIRTHDAY JERRY!

  84. M.... P....

    Bill? he's in there, wearing the bowler hat.

  85. J.... C....

    "Sign the Mona Lisa with a spray can call it art." I'll love this band after death...Deadhead forever,forever Gratefuly Deadicated!

    J.... C....

    J.D. Casey IV i love that lyric as well

  86. K.... K....

    miss the days!

  87. S.... S....

    Literally insane, the masters. I am in awe

  88. C.... P....

    These guys cleaned up well! <3

  89. S.... S....

    from the days when MTV stood for Music Television. not 16 and pregnant.....

    S.... S....

    Sean Spring Yup.

  90. V.... F....

    Where is Bill kreutzmann??

  91. i.... ....

    ...unto a foolish♥

  92. A.... F....

    I LOVE THIS SONG !!!!!

  93. B.... ....

    This is just silly. You know that Garcia was saying during filming, "Do we *really* have to do this?"

    B.... ....

    That's funny. Sum of it's stupid I love the burning heart at the end tho. Like sumone said words 2 live by.

  94. m.... ....

    Wow - I haven't seen this in years. Very cool.

  95. t.... ....

    where's BK?