![]() This repetition tells you that you’re supposed to be hearing G7 as the I7 chord in G Mixolydian, not V7 in C major. Their main technique is metrical placement and emphasis.įor example, “China Cat” begins with a repeated riff on G7. Most of “China>Rider” is modal, not functional, and the Dead use other techniques to establish the key/mode. The Dead use a cadence going into the second verse of “China Cat Sunflower.” The first guitar solo section ends with a IV-V-I cadence, C to D7 to G, which establishes firmly that G is “home base”. In Western tonal theory, you establish key centers using cadences. ![]() At first, it feels like the V7 chord in G major, but after a certain span of time, I start hearing it as the I chord in D Mixolydian instead. The band is playing a drawn-out groove on D7. I was listening to this recording recently, and I noticed that during the transitional jam, there’s a peculiar moment at about 3:34 where I sense the key center changing, even though there’s no change in chord or mode. Here’s a pair of Dead tunes, an original called “China Cat Sunflower” and an arrangement of a folk song, “ I Know You Rider.” The Dead performed them together, seamlessly joined by a modal jam, so they’re known as a single unit, “China>Rider.” Here’s my favorite version. Now that I’m teaching music theory, I’m finding a new angle for Dead appreciation: as a source of pedagogical examples. In my 40s, I’ve come to feel about the Dead the way I feel about my extended family: we’ve had our ups and downs, but they’ve always been there, they’ll always be there, we’re inseparably entangled. The specific epithet can be interpreted as ( sino) China ( feli) cat ( helianthus) sunflower.My emotions about the Grateful Dead have gone from intense obsession as a teenager, to embarrassment about my former intense obsession in my 20s, to nostalgic re-embracing of my fandom in my 30s. Epler named a new species of diving beetle (family Dytiscidae) for the song it is called Uvarus sinofelihelianthus. In the 2009 Ang Lee film Taking Woodstock, the version of the song from Europe '72 is used in the part of the film showing everyone arriving at Woodstock in 1969. The song is featured in the Rock Band video game series as downloadable content, along with 17 other Grateful Dead songs. Anyone out there remember what it was like to be three years old?" In popular culture 'It's about acid' does it less justice than the observation that it's about seeing, sensing, and making connections in a sensuous world. ![]() It's one of the very few rock-and-roll lyrics (including Dylan's) that has as much impact on the page as it does sung, if not more. Wybenga described the lyrics as "acid-drenched", and said, further: "China Cat Sunflower's lyric-composed, Robert Hunter has said, in a state where contemplation of a cat served as touchstone for an interplanetary journey-is a real masterwork. Wybenga as "that dodgy little Bobby intro that scratches your brain just behind the ears." This second riff has been described by author Eric F. The first is played by Jerry Garcia and then a second one played by Bob Weir is interwoven on top of it. ![]() The song begins with distinct guitar riffs. Only twice during this extended period was "China Cat Sunflower" played without this pairing. Over the next 26 years they would pair these songs together over 500 times, most often as a second set opener. In late 1969 the Grateful Dead began segueing "China Cat Sunflower" into "I Know You Rider" during live performances. Four instances of this arrangement have been released on official recordings, the first on the compilation album So Many Roads (1965–1995), the second on Dick's Picks Volume 22, and the other two on Road Trips Volume 2 Number 2.Ĭhina Cat Sunflower → I Know You Rider During the first year after its introduction into the band's set list, the song was played by itself or often in the middle of an extended jam between the songs " Dark Star" and "The Eleven"-a position more familiarly (to Deadheads) filled by " St. The Grateful Dead first performed "China Cat Sunflower" on January 17, 1968, at the Carousel Ballroom in San Francisco, CA, and played the song well over 500 times in concert. 1.1 China Cat Sunflower → I Know You Rider. ![]()
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