I Know You Rider - Grateful Dead Song Review

I wish I was a headlight, on a northbound train
I wish I was a headlight, on a northbound train
I'd shine my light through the cool Colorado rain

This song is obviously best remembered coming out of China Cat Sunflower hence the "China Rider" abbreviation for the medley that was adopted on cassette sleeves.

The song is listed as composed by "traditional" and early recordings are credited to the great field work of ethnomusicologist Alan Lomax (so you know this song goes way back). I've heard a dozen or more different versions from various bluegrass and Americana themed groups.  Most of these alternative takes on the song are much slower. Nothing compares to the Grateful Dead's interpretation, they really "souped it up."

2nd Set Opener (Most Commonly)

Getting China Rider is about as good as it gets to open the 2nd set in my experience (note that it also appeared other locations in the set earlier on in the band's tenure, including occasionally opening the show).  I will never get tired of the jam from China Cat into I Know You Rider.  It's just a collective swell  behind Jerry's "pedal to the medal" soloing.  This combination is one I can guarantee I've never fast forwarded through in 20 years of listening to The Grateful Dead.

Jerry's Verse

If I had to pick a favorite part, well of course it would be "Jerry's verse" where he sings the lines at the top of this blog... this is a part of the recording where you would actually prefer to be listening to an "audience recording" so you can hear the swell of cheers when he belts it out.


I Know You Rider Without China Cat Sunflower

As I said in my review of  Franklin's Tower and Fire on the Mountain, hearing the songs that are part of a famed medley (ie Help>Slip>Frank and Scarlet>Fire) without their proper predecessor just doesn't feel right.  It's like having dessert without enjoying dinner first...


Favorite Versions

I think that the versions of this with Brent are the ones are the most excellent.  The version on Without a Net is definitely one of my favorites.  I think that the song was really consistent even until the last days of Jerry playing it, but it probably lost a little fire at the tail end of the Grateful Dead (during Vince Welnick's tenure).

Of course, there's also a fantastic version on Europe '72.  I seem to be bringing up that double disc in all the recent song reviews, it's really amazing how packed that live recording is with great Dead songs.  It's also interesting to contemplate the vocal overdubs that are on those recordings.  Some day I'm going to do a close listen to the versions on Europe '72 and compare them to the soundboards from box set release of the entire tour that was The Dead finally did a couple years ago.  73 CD box set (!) Is that the biggest box set of all time?  How do we get a similar release from the 1990s??


I Know You Rider Song Rating on a Scale of 1-10: 9.2

Disclaimer: This is part of my blog that reviews all things Grateful Dead for fun. Music is a beautiful thing because it is so personal and subjective, so keep in mind that this is one man's opinion(read my blog manifesto to understand my Grateful Dead background a little more).

Note: comments are encouraged and appreciated (enter them below) but it takes several days for them to show up in the blog entry (due to a Disqus plugin issue).  

China Cat Sunflower - Grateful Dead Song Review

Chinal Cat Sunflower originally released on the Dead's third studio album Aoxomoxoa is a real "one of a kind" rock song. The opening "fat" rhythm guitar figure and the beautiful lead contrapuntal melody (played by Bobby!) set the tone for the song as a combination of rock and "mystical" eastern themes. This happy melody should've inspired an entire genre of music to develop but never have I heard anything else remotely like China Cat Sunflower.

I mean, really, this song is a psychedelic gem that is so creative in melody and lyric that it is a total masterpiece.

The two versions that are really the most familiar to me are the Europe '72 and the Without a Net versions - both live. That isn't to write off the Aoxomoxoa studio version which is phenomenal too (and perhaps a little more psychedelic as a result of heavy studio effects).

Look, for a while at the China Cat
Sunflower
Proud walking jingle in the midnight sun

The rest of the lyrics are pure fantasy much like the opening stanza. This song sounds like the result of talented musicians taking the world's best acid and having the perfect trip. No wonder nothing else quite like it is out there.

The song is totally well played almost every time and leads into I Know You Rider (hence the designation China Rider on tapes and setlist transcriptions). I can't think of any time I've heard China Cat and it was weak. Some great Dead songs really suffer from being inconsistent (Help on the Way comes to mind for some reason) but China Cat Sunflower -> I Know You Rider was always a winner.

For a medley with so much jamming the structure of China Cat Sunflower remained pretty rigidly the same for decades - even down to Jerry's scripted lead. Of course there was a lot of noodling in the transition into I Know You Rider but that was always a really consistent surge of energy as the tempo and dynamics of the song increased. The rock soloing in between the two songs always remained in the keys of D and G so wasn't harmonically explorative but extremely effective.

China Cat Sunflower is one of the first "real" dead live songs I fell in love with. What I mean is that while I enjoyed my cassete copies of Skeletons From the Closet and parts of American Beauty and most of Workingman's Dead, I had some very epiphanous moments while listening to China Rider (on both Without a Net and Europe '72) during which I started to understand what the Grateful Dead were really about. I can't put into words what the Grateful Dead concert experience was like but I could partially describe it as a joyous collaborative musical improvisation that incorporated the energy of the audience. China Rider is a good example of this at its best because it "worked" almost every time.

I am really glad I got to see a China Rider live (12-9-1993 at Los Angeles Sports Arena). It wasn't the rarest song but I only saw it once in the 17 Grateful Dead shows I went to. I will never get tired of these songs and when it comes on I will always stop what I am doing and listen carefully to the jam that connects the two songs.

China Cat Sunflower Song Rating on a Scale of 1-10: 9.9

Disclaimer: This is part of my review of every Grateful Dead song from A-Z. Music is a beautiful thing because it is so personal and subjective, so keep in mind that this is one man's opinion (and be sure to read my blog manifesto to understand a little more about where I'm coming from).