By 1979 we hadreleased a single on Atlantis Records of LA and were getting lots of airplay in the SF Bay Area market.the name China Cat was well-exposedduring that period. The Dead were a big influence.īut wait, there's more.
Since i was the bass player (and one ofthe creative forces in that band) I worked into our songs a lot ofsyncopation. IN addition, we covered a few Dead arrangements of cover songs(Know You Rider, Not Fade Away). During the period of 1971-72and then again between 19 I was in a Bay Area band calledChina Cat, the name adopted by myself as a direct result of my love thatDead song.
This ispurely a piece of trivia-with-a-small-T. 2.Īn enduring song in the band's repertoire, usually paired with "I Know YouRider" in concert, leading to the designation "China/Rider."Ī reader writes: Date: Mon, 13:51:32 -0700Īnyway, this message is in reference to China Cat Sunflower. Grateful Dead: Authentic Guitar Classics Vol.Hunter has posted the manuscript of an early draft of the song in his archives. Look for awhile at the China Cat Sunflower The recording is also marred by a woman who is obviously dosed and having difficulty on or near the stage, as she is picked up well on the mics and detracts somewhat from the listening experience.The Annotated "China Cat Sunflower" "A leaf of all colors plays a golden-stringed fiddle." The Annotated "China Cat Sunflower"An installment in the Annotated Grateful Dead Lyrics.ġ997-1998 Research Associate, Music Dept., University of California Santa CruzĬhina Cat SunflowerWords by Robert Hunter music by Jerry GarciaĬopyright Ice Nine Publishing used by permission. Next up is their always welcome pairing of "China Cat Sunflower" and "I Know You Rider." The jam that would bridge these two songs would soon develop into a thing of beauty in itself, but at this stage is still a bit awkward. The band's enthusiasm for the song is contagious, and the audience responds in kind. "Sugar Magnolia" is still relatively new at this point and it's obvious that Bob Weir has created a real gem. This classic song still sounds quite fresh here, and Garcia sings with a passionate voice that sounds healthy and clear. Sparks are flying, and although one expects that "Cryptical" reprise to surface out of this twenty minute sequence, it's a delight as the band eases into "Black Peter" instead. Several more numbers from Workingman's Dead are performed, and then we get to the first peak of the show: "That's It For The Other One." Although lacking the "Cryptical Envelopment" reprise section following "The Other One," this is nonetheless great exploratory Dead, and following the drums section, the band reaches heavy psychedelic territory. They continue with a bouncy rendition of "Cold Rain And Snow," considerably more relaxed than the version recorded on the first album. They follow with an extremely rare, electric version of "Monkey And The Engineer," a Jesse Fuller song that they rarely played - and even then, only in acoustic sets. The recording begins just in progress, with a punchy version of "Truckin'," which is beginning to show signs of becoming a good improvisational vehicle for the band. Garcia and Hunter had experienced a truly prolific phase that year, writing many of the songs that would eventually come to define the group for a new, much larger fanbase in the 1970s.
This was a particularly interesting time for the Dead, as the band could still achieve the heavy psychedelic explorations of the 1960s era, but were firmly headed in a new, song-based direction. The group had recently recorded American Beauty, and the material from that release, along with that from Workingman's Dead, cut earlier in the year, made up the bulk of the music from their set on this night. The Dead's prior New Year's Eve had been spent on the East Coast, but this time they were surrounded by family and friends both on and off the stage, a tradition that would continue for the next two decades. Following sets by Stoneground, Hot Tuna and The New Riders of the Purple Sage, the Grateful Dead hit the stage.