Grateful Dead – China Cat Sunflower

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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.

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Lyrics submitted by itsmyownmind

Track duration: 05:33


China Cat Sunflower song meanings
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  • 0
    Memory:Song is just over 5 minutes. For so many years, while I'm waiting for something I know is gonna take about five minutes, I've sung this song to myself. I can hear the two drummers, backup vocals, Garcia's great lead on that Gibson SG, his vocal, everything. Not to mention the many memories of my first girlfriend, trippin' and laughin'...
    LOL... Really has made the waits interesting.
    Flag Castlrideron April 10, 2013   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:I went to some shows at Frost Ampitheatre at Stanford in spring of 1985. The shows were amazing. I spent a little QT with Bobby... I was young and hot back then and so was he. Anyway I took waayyy too many mushrooms and this song always brings me back to those glory days. Ya gotta love Robert Hunter. I dig the cat and queen references. I dig the bay area. I dig my ex-bfs.... All of 'em. I hope they are all happy - wherever they all are.
    Flag sociocatson January 22, 2010   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:Ha, it's funny that it's about acid, as I actually discovered this song while on a few hits and became really attached to it as it really gelled with the way I was feeling--very free and curious and happy as fuck.

    Props R. Hunter
    Flag Royal0rleanson September 09, 2008   Link
    • 2 Replies
  • 0
    General Comment:To Quote Robert Hunter "It's about Acid, enough said"
    Flag bookmakeron February 22, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:thought i might add that the first live performance was on Jan. 17th 1968 at the Carousel Ballroom in San Francisco. And was first recorded on Aoxomoxoa.
    Flag Balisong084on April 26, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:China cat is not slang for heroin. "china" is a slang for heroin though or "fine china." It recieved that slang because a lot of opium used to come from china.
    The song is about tripping on acid has nothing to do w/ heroin. Hunter wrote this at Lake Chapala in Mexico. He says he had a cat sitting on his belly and was in a sensitive state of mind(had gotten in a fight w/ the band I believe) and he followed the cat to Neptune where there were rainbows and cats marching on the rainbows. So the song is about his experiance on acid in a sensitive state of mind.
    Flag Balisong084on April 26, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:Hunter said in his lyric book "Box of Rain" that this is the only song that he's never had to explain the meaning. Some things people just "get".
    Flag phlyme2themoonon April 01, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:Yes the song isn't really about anything, its things you observe on an Acid trip. The supblot to the song was Hunter left the group for awhile in a dispute and stayed at the actual ChinaCat Sunflower hotel, hence the title and lyrics.
    Flag You All Are Stupidon February 25, 2006   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:I'm not so sure that "china cat" is actually a slang term for heroin. Sites like that are notoriously unreliable because they're generally run by people with no real drug knowledge or experience.

    According to Robert Hunter, the song isn't really about anything. He wrote the lyrics on acid (shocking!) and wasn't in a real coherent state of mind.
    Flag nooooooooon January 29, 2006   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:china cat is a slang for heroin
    heres a link

    parentingteens.about.com/cs/herpes/l/…
    Flag ross2pon August 25, 2005   Link

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