The Eleven

The Grateful Dead

4/4 time
    A (stacatto rhythm or acapella) 
         High green chilly winds and windy vines in loops around the
                                                                                   G        A      A G A
         Twining shafts of lavender, they're crawling to the sun
         Undernfoot the ground is patched with climbing arms of ivy
         Wrapped around the manzanita, stark and shiny in the breeze
         I wonder who will water all the children of the garden
         When they sigh about the barren lack of rain and droop so hungry 'neath the sky
         Now William Tell has stretched his bow, and it won't stretch no further
         And now it may require a change that hasn't come before
                                                                                                     A jam--> A D E (x16)

11/4 time
             A D E                A      D        E
                        No more time to tell how
                        This is the season of what
                        (Eight sided whispering hallelujah hat trick)
                        It's the time of returning
                        With thought jewels polished and gleaming
                        (Six brown walkers on the jinglebell rainbow)
                        Now is the time past believing
                        Child has relinquished the reigns
                        (Five men writing with fingers of gold)
                        Now is the test of the boomerang
                        (Four girls waiting in the foreign dominion)
                        Tossed in the night of redeeming
                        (Sink beneath the waters to the coral below)
                                     *Solo*   A D E (repeat)

3/4 time
                        A                 D                E               A                A D E
                        Eight sided whispering hallelujah hat trick
                        Seven faced marble eyed transitory dreamdoll
                        Six brown walkers on the jinglebell rainbow
                        Five men writing with fingers of gold
11/4 time
                                     No more time to tell how
                                     This is the season of what
                                     Now is the time past believing
                                     Child has relinquished the reigns
                                     Now is the test of the boomerang
                                     Tossed in the night of redeeming...

I guess Phil wanted to do a tune with a weird time signature, and this is it. Most times, the band would blow off the first part of the song and go into the 11/4 jam out of St. Stephen or Dark Star. The time signatures are annotated in the lyrics. Intro/verse is 4/4, jam and chorus are 11/4. The song ends for all practical purposes when the band goes into the jam at the end of the bridge/chorus. However, I've heard so many versions of the song, including Robert Hunter's, that I wanted to tack on the bridge and chorus at the end as their separate parts. The bridge is 3/4 time, and goes back into 11/4 time for the chorus. The 11/4 count goes - A (1 2 3) D (1 2 3) E (1 2 3 1 2).