Another vintage classic from the Grateful Dead, this one from 2/4/70.
(Hope you Dead haters will indulge me; I realize not everyone shares my tastes.)
It gives a pretty good picture of what they sounded like when I first started calling myself a “Deadhead.” I only wish the sound quality was better, but considering how long ago this was, I can’t complain.
As to the lyrics to China Cat Sunflower, how could I be expected to omit these pearls of psychedelic wisdom?
Feel free to interpret, but I think they’re as acid-soaked as the music, and not subject to rational analysis:
Look for a while at the china cat sunflower,
Proud walking jingle in the midnight sun.
Copperdome bodhi drip a silver kimono,
Like a crazy quilt stargown through a dream night wind.
Crazy cat peekin through a lace bandanna,
Like a one-eyed cheshire, like a diamond-eye jack.
A leaf of all colors plays a golden-string fiddle,
To a double-e waterfall over my back.
Comic book colors on a violin river cryin leonardo,
Words from out a silk trombone.
I rang a silent bell, beneath a shower of pearls,
In the eagle-winged palace of the queen chinee.
(If only I could write blog posts like that….)
Comments
One response to “China Cat Sunflower”
The lyrics to China Cat Sunflower, one of Robert Hunter’s first contributions to the Dead, are truly trippy. Then again, Hunter also wrote songs like “Jack Straw”, a coherent and heartbreaking tale that you can’t help but sing along with. Hunter’s solo work, especially “Amagamalin Street”, or his live guitar work, are worth picking up. Growing up a metalhead, I used to hate the Dead, but a few summers on the Cape with some true believers taught me to appreciate them.