Lyrics of
Dire wolf

Dire Wolf is a song by the Grateful Dead, written by Robert Hunter and Jerry Garcia. The song narrates a fictional encounter with a giant wolf, as a metaphor for death. It was partly inspired by the cartoon style of The Big Bad Wolf and the traditional English tale The Dire Wolf.

In the timbers of Fennario,
The wolves are running 'round.
The winter was so hard and cold,
Froze ten feet 'neath the ground.

Don't murder me,
I beg of you, don't murder me.
Please, don't murder me.

I sat down to my supper,
'Twas a bottle of red whisky.
I said my prayers and went to bed,
That's the last they saw of me.

Don't murder me,
I beg of you, don't murder me.
Please, don't murder me.

When I awoke, the Dire Wolf,
Six hundred pounds of sin,
Was grinning at my window,
All I said was "Come on in".

Don't murder me,
I beg of you, don't murder me.
Please, don't murder me.

The Wolf came in, I got my cards,
We sat down for a game.
I cut my deck to the Queen of Spades,
But the cards were all the same.

Don't murder me,
I beg of you, don't murder me.
Please, don't murder me.

In the backwash of Fennario,
The black and bloody mire,
The Dire Wolf collects his due,
While the boys sing 'round the fire.

Don't murder me,
I beg of you, don't murder me.
Please, don't murder me.
Don't murder me,
I beg of you, don't murder me.
Please, don't murder me.
Please, don't murder me.