The 9/16 version marks a change - it's longer with more verses and two solos, and it's the first time the "I wish I was a headlight" verse appears (sung by all). They sometimes sing the verse, "I'd drink muddy water, sleep in a hollow log, than stay here in Frisco, be treated like a dog" - which would be dropped in later years.
Garcia has a cool, poppy guitar solo, and he keeps soloing under the vocals in the second half, which is a nice touch. Phil takes the singing lead with Weir harmonizing the music is more upbeat and bouncy than later Riders, taken at a faster speed with Garcia's constant rhythm-guitar chirps and Weir's Byrds-style chords the harmonies are straight folk. There are lots of live Riders from '66, mostly identical to each other - they turned this old blues into a happy pop song that fits in well with the mid-'60s folk/rock sound. (studio - these early takes were also released on the "Birth of the Dead" CD) A somewhat better version was recorded at the Scorpio Records session in June '66 but one of the Dead's trademarks was already becoming apparent - their songs were better at live shows. I Know You Rider was one of the first songs the Dead recorded, at the Autumn Records session in November '65 - not a standout version, but it shows they already had the arrangement in place, and it wouldn't significantly change during the next year. There's an excellent discussion of the origins of Rider here: The lyrics the Dead chose are very evocative in their compressed blues style, being somehow foreboding and hopeful at the same time. Some of the alternate lyrics of other versions are here: In the late '50s it started circulating as a folk song and was covered by a number of people in the early '60s Garcia picked up the song from the folk scene and brought it to the Dead - possibly they had even been doing it in the Mother McCree's jugband.
#CHINA CAT SUNFLOWER SERIES#
Our story begins with I Know You Rider, which first emerged as a series of floating blues verses in the '30s. (Note that this is not a guide to best-of versions in fact, I won't even be mentioning the best versions.) The first China>Rider we have was played on 9/30/69, 40 years ago - these two songs have a tangled history in the early years of the Dead, so I'll offer a brief introduction to how their performances evolved up to '74.
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