In the second guitar solo, there’s the same C to D7 cadence you heard in the first solo. (The lack of resolution to C helps too.) There are a few places in “China Cat” where the information you get from a cadence conflicts with the metrical emphasis and repetition. 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. 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.
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