Jack Straw - Live at Barton Hall, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 5/8/77

"Jack Straw" is about two rambling outlaws named Shannon (no last name specified) and Jack Straw. The song has the Dead's usual wistful melodicism, but the duo's exploits aren't as cute as the sound implies. The friends rob a railroad watchman and murder people. Similar to "Candy Man," "Jack Straw" is essentially a murder ballad, but one played so sweetly that the killers seem endearing and the killing cartoonish.

The song is sung from two or three perspectives: that of Shannon (sung by Jerry Garcia), Jack Straw (sung by Bob Weir), and possibly a nameless narrator (sung in unison by Garcia, Weir, and Phil Lesh). We say "possibly" because that chorus-sung perspective is never positively identified as a separate perspective, and it could be driven purely for the sake of music, with no implications as to the characterization. This distinction regarding the third perspective matters at the end of the song. In the song, Shannon and Straw are on the run. They jump trains from Texas to Santa Fe, New Mexico, to Cheyenne, Wyoming, and then to Tulsa, Oklahoma, to settle "one old score." Last we see of them they're half a mile out of Tucson, Arizona, heading into an uncertain future. Well, some believe we are left with only Jack Straw at that point, but that part of the story is complicated.

From campfire debates to internet message boards to the authoritative Greatest Stories Ever Told site run by Dead scholar David Dodd, there's been some debate over one aspect of the song. Does Jack Straw kill his buddy Shannon? It's clear throughout the song that Jack Straw isn't happy that Shannon killed a man. It "hurts his ears" and "burns his eyes." He also states that if Shannon is going to cut a man down, "it might as well be me." It's a strange statement that's made clearer a few verses later: Ain't no place a man can hide, Shannon Keep him from the sun Ain't no bed will give us rest, man, You keep us on the run Straw's point seems to be that the fugitive life is no life at all, and he harbors some resentment, or at least regret, towards his friend. This feeds into the theory that Straw kills Shannon near the end of the song. Jack Straw from Wichita Cut his buddy down Dug for him a shallow grave And laid his body down Dodd proposes an alternate theory that perhaps the verse means that Straw cut Shannon down from a noose and gave him an honorable burial. Both theories rest on the idea that the buddy Straw cut down was Shannon, but there's not much reason to assume that. The victim is never identified as Shannon and, more importantly, the very next verse (also last verse in the song) goes: Half a mile from Tucson By the morning light One man gone and another to go My old buddy you're moving much too slow Those lines are sung by the Garcia-Weir-Lesh chorus, so many have assumed it means it's coming from a third perspective. It is possible, though, that the chorus still represents Straw's perspective, and he's still talking to Shannon. In that case, the buddy that Straw cut down may be something totally new to the story, and may hark back to that "old score" in Tulsa. No matter what interpretation is correct, like any work of great literature, the narrative of "Jack Straw" has left enough ambiguity that fans can continue to fill in the blank spaces with their own interpretations.