So many people either don't know or forget this...they shot guns, and even took pictures with them at their house in The Haight. An older Hippie even told me that all the Hippies in The Haight, and many Hippies themselves were and are pro second amendment just like myself. She told me that The Haight was thought at one time to have more guns than the police department
I take a little powder I take a little salt I put it in my shotgun and I go walking out Chuba-chuba Wooley-booley Looking high Looking low Gonna scare you up and shoot you Cause Mr. Charlie told me so Mr. Charlie": I've always thought the subject of the song was Charles Manson. The lyrics might be sung from the point of view of one of the followers, for whom "Mr. Charlie told me so" could be a perfectly succinct statement of philosophy. "Gonna scare you up and shoot you?" The random murders at the Tate and LaBianca houses. Manson's obsessions with guns, knives and torture is well documented in The Family and Helter Skelter.
One of them cowboys, he starts to draw, And I shot him down, Lord he never saw. Well I grabbed a bottle, cracked him in the jaw, Shot me another, oh damn he won't grow old. In the confusion, my uncle grabbed the gold, And we high-tailed it down to Mexico. I love those cowboys, I love their gold, I loved my uncle, God rest his soul, Taught me good, Lord, Taught me all I know Taught me so well, I grabbed that gold And I left his dead ass there by the side of the road.
If I had a gun for every ace I've drawn I could arm a town the size of Abilene Don't you push me baby cause I'm moaning low You know I'm only in it for the gold..
Down to the jewelry store packing a gun, says "Wrap it up. I think I'll take this one" "A thousand dollars please," the jewelry man said Dupree he said, "I'll pay this one off to you in lead"
1940 Xmas evening with a full moon over town Staggerlee met Billy DeLyon and he blew that poor boy down Do you know what he shot him for? What do you make of that? 'Cause Billy DeLyon threw lucky dice, won Staggelee's Stetson hat Baio, Baio, tell me how can this be? You arrest the girls for turning tricks but you're scared of Staggerlee Staggerlee is a madman and he shot my Billy dead Baio you go get him or give the job to me Delia DeLyon, dear sweet Delia-D How the hell can I arrest him when he's twice as big as me? Don't ask me to go downtown - I wouldn't come back alive Not only is that mother big but he packs a .45
I've waved my flags into the sun I've fought my wars, and now they're won And I don't need nobody's gun I bent their mind... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PvG3Z9c_1ho"]Grateful Dead - Can't Come Down-Mindbender-The Only Time is Now - YouTube
Well that particular song was to speak against it, by providing an example. Some songs are like that, others aren't
I think what's being lost here is what the image of the gun, not the reality, represents in the Western US mindset, and the boys, including the lyricists, were Westerners to the core. It was an equalizer in a time of tumult. A tool in a wild place. I once had a talk with, let's say one of the lyricists (I take my advantages when I see them), and he said that guns are a perfect metaphor for imperfect situations and imperfect actions, taken too quickly. Not the words of an NRA advocate, by far. The feeling I have gotten has been there were gun nuts, gun romantics, and pacifists doing their best to make a brave new space. And I got that very strongly last night at the Greek (Berkeley), listening to conversations in the line and crowd. ETA: I asked a few older heads, and one theme that popped out was that the image in the Haight was obsessed with Wild West/Victoriana. Quicksilver Messenger Service and the Charlatans both had lots of gun imagery. At least two Dead members served in the military, Jerry and Mickey. So they handled firearms,although Mickey less so as he was in a military band.