Standing on the Moon Lyric Analysis

Have you ever wondered what you would see, hear and feel if you were looking down at Earth from the moon? So have The Grateful Dead, and it became obvious in their song, Standing on the Moon. This song is about how The Grateful Dead imagined what it would be like to be standing on the moon. I can relate Standing on the Moon to the society in which we live and when this song was written.

I can relate this Grateful Dead song to the society in which we live because the song says: "Standing on the moon, I see the battle rage below. Standing on the moon, I see the soldiers come and go." This quote pretty much says that we are in several wars and soldiers come often but can get injured or die twice as fast. "I hear the cries of children and the other songs of war. It's like a mighty melody that rings down from the sky." This part of Standing on the Moon means that children all over the globe have awful lives and Jerry Garcia sings that he can hear their cries from the moon. Also, this quote talks about all of the wars going on. Jerry Garcia definately did not like war and was very saddened by everything that involved fatal combat. All of this talk about war relates to the world and our society because even though the Vietnam war was not going when this song was written, other wars were and battle is not good and definately necessary to end.

Secondly, this song is easy to relate to when it was written. Standing on the Moon says, "I can see Southeast Asia, I can see El Salvadore." When this song was written, the Vietnam war was still going on, and millions of people were suffering all over Southeast Asia in countries such as Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia; so they mentioned it. Earlier in the song, Garcia referred to "Old Glory standing stiffly, crimson, white, and indigo." This means that while other parts of the world were all at war with each other, America was the only country focused on putting the first man on the moon. It's interesting when you really think about it, this song could have been written only yesterday and it would be relevant, just changing the battle sites, such as Afghanistan and Iraq instead of Southeast Asia & El Salvadore. Today, if you were standing on the moon, you would probably see a close resemblance to how it looked in the 70's. When they wrote this song, The Grateful Dead viewed a hate-filled world, but since this song was written, the world has only gotten hopelessly worse. Young people still cry and grieve because of starvation, fear, and sickness.

Riding a rocket to the moon is a popular fantasy among young children, although when you get there, you think about how lonely you are. As the song says, "Standing on the moon with nothing left to do. A lovely view of heaven but I'd rather be with you." Even though it is a great view, you just might want to ride that rocket back on home to be with friends and family that love you in your home instead of being very lonely up there on the "crescent in the sky".