"China Cat Sunflower" is a song performed by the Grateful Dead

Grateful Dead

The Grateful Dead was an American rock band formed in 1965 in the San Francisco Bay Area. The band was known for its unique and eclectic style, which fused elements of rock, folk, bluegrass, blues, reggae, country, improvisational jazz, psychedelia, and space rock, and for live performances of long...

 which was first recorded for their third studio album Aoxomoxoa

Aoxomoxoa

Aoxomoxoa is the third studio album by the Grateful Dead. It was originally titled Earthquake Country. Many Deadheads consider this era of the Dead to be the experimental apex of the band's history. It is also the first album with Tom Constanten as an official member of the band...

. The lyrics were written by Robert Hunter

Robert Hunter (lyricist)

Robert C. Hunter is an American lyricist, singer-songwriter, translator, and poet, best known for his association with Jerry Garcia and the Grateful Dead.-Biography:He was born Robert Burns in San Luis Obispo, California...

 and the music composed by Jerry Garcia

Jerry Garcia

Jerome John "Jerry" Garcia was an American musician best known for his lead guitar work, singing and songwriting with the band the Grateful Dead...

. The song is typically sung by Jerry Garcia. The first live recording of this song appeared on Europe '72

Europe '72

Europe '72 is a 1972 live triple album of performances by the Grateful Dead, recorded during their tour of Western Europe in early 1972.-History:...

, paired (as was typical) with "I Know You Rider

I Know You Rider

"I Know You Rider" is a traditional woman's blues song that has been adapted by numerous artists. Modern versions can be traced back to the song's appearance in the 1934 book, American Ballads and Folk Songs, by the noted father and son musicologists and folklorists, John Lomax and Alan Lomax...

". Lyrically, this song has many literary references, including Lewis Carroll

Lewis Carroll

Charles Lutwidge Dodgson , better known by the pseudonym Lewis Carroll , was an English author, mathematician, logician, Anglican deacon and photographer. His most famous writings are Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its sequel Through the Looking-Glass, as well as the poems "The Hunting of the...

's Alice in Wonderland, George Herriman

George Herriman

George Joseph Herriman was an American cartoonist, best known for his classic comic strip Krazy Kat.-Early life:...

's Krazy Kat

Krazy Kat

Krazy Kat is an American comic strip created by cartoonist George Herriman, published daily in newspapers between 1913 and 1944. It first appeared in the New York Evening Journal, whose owner, William Randolph Hearst, was a major booster for the strip throughout its run...

, and Dame Edith Sitwell's "Polka

Polka

The polka is a Central European dance and also a genre of dance music familiar throughout Europe and the Americas. It originated in the middle of the 19th century in Bohemia...

".

Live performances

The Grateful Dead first performed "China Cat Sunflower" on January 22, 1968 (although in concert recordings are noted from January 17, 1968 at the Carousel Ballroom in San Francisco, CA), and played the song well over 500 times in concert. 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

Dark Star (song)

"Dark Star" is a song released as a single by the Grateful Dead. It was written by lyricist Robert Hunter and composed by lead guitarist Jerry Garcia; however, compositional credit is sometimes extended to include Phil Lesh, Bill Kreutzmann, Mickey Hart, the late Ron "Pigpen" McKernan, and Bob Weir...

" and "The Eleven" - a position more familiarly (to Deadhead

Deadhead

Deadhead or Dead Head is a name given to fans of the American jam band, the Grateful Dead. In the 1970s, a number of fans began travelling to see the band in as many shows or festival venues as they could. With large numbers of people thus attending strings of shows, a community developed...

s) filled by "St. Stephen

St. Stephen (song)

"St. Stephen" is a song by the Grateful Dead, written by Jerry Garcia, Phil Lesh and Robert Hunter and originally released on the 1969 studio album Aoxomoxoa. The same year, a live version of the song was released on Live/Dead, their first concert album...

". Four instances of this arrangement have been released on official recordings, the first on the compilation album So Many Roads, the second on Dick's Picks Volume 22

Dick's Picks Volume 22

Dick's Picks Volume 22 is a two-CD album by the rock group the Grateful Dead, the twenty-second installment of the live archival release series. It documents portions of the concerts on February 23 and 24, 1968 at the Kings Beach Bowl in Kings Beach, California...

, and the other two on Road Trips Volume 2 Number 2

Road Trips Volume 2 Number 2

Road Trips Volume 2 Number 2 is two-CD live album by the American rock band the Grateful Dead. The sixth in their "Road Trips" series of albums, it was the first to contain a complete concert — the February 14, 1968 show at the Carousel Ballroom in San Francisco, California...

.

In late 1969 the Grateful Dead began segueing "China Cat Sunflower" into "I Know You Rider" during live performances. Over the next 26 years they would pair these songs together over 500 times, most often as a second set opener. Only twice during this extended period was "China Cat Sunflower" played without this pairing.

In popular culture

The song is featured in the Rock Band

Rock Band

Rock Band is a music video game developed by Harmonix Music Systems, published by MTV Games and Electronic Arts. It is the first title in the Rock Band series. The PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions were released in the United States on November 20, 2007, while the PlayStation 2 version was...

 video game series as downloadable content, along with 17 other Grateful Dead songs.

In the 2009 Ang Lee

Ang Lee

Ang Lee is a Taiwanese film director. Lee has directed a diverse set of films such as Eat Drink Man Woman , Sense and Sensibility , Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon , Hulk , and Brokeback Mountain , for which he won an Academy...

 film "Taking Woodstock

Taking Woodstock

Taking Woodstock is a 2009 American comedy-drama film about the Woodstock Festival of 1969, directed by Ang Lee. The screenplay by James Schamus is based on the memoir Taking Woodstock: A True Story of a Riot, a Concert, and a Life by Elliot Tiber and Tom Monte.The film premiered at the 2009 Cannes...

," the version of the song from Europe '72 is used in the part of the film showing everyone arriving to Woodstock, 1969.