Dire Wolf
Grateful Dead Lyrics

In the timbers of Fennario, the wolves are running round
The singer sets the scene of a cold and desolate winter in Fennario where the wolves run wild.

The winter was so hard and cold, froze ten feet 'neath the ground
The winter in Fennario was extremely harsh, frozen solid to a depth of 10 feet underground.

Don't murder me, I beg of you, don't murder me Please, don't murder me
The singer pleads for their life, begging not to be killed.

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
The artist had a meal and drank whisky before going to bed for the last time, implying that they may have died in their sleep.

When I awoke, the Dire Wolf, six hundred pounds of sin Was grinning at my window, all I said was come on in
The artist wakes up to find a giant Dire Wolf outside their window and invites it in without fear or hesitation.

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
The singer and the wolf sit down to play cards, but the singer realizes that something is wrong when every card in their deck is the Queen of Spades.

In the backwash of Fennario, the black and bloody mire The Dire Wolf collects his dues, while the boys sing 'round the fire
After the events with the Dire Wolf, the scene shifts to Fennario where the wolf is receiving tribute in a dark and bloody swamp while others gather around singing.

I beg of you don't murder me Please, don't murder me No no no don't murder me I beg of you, don't murder me Please, don't murder me Please, don't murder me
The repetition of the artist's plea highlights their desperation to stay alive and not be killed.