Great slice of ’80… with a quick glimpse into meltdown territory

Dig in...

In all its glory

Emerges within of great sequence of songs, and it’s the second to last one until ‘85

Ah, 1980!

The whole show is Bobby-mix oriented, and yes, it really showcases his phenomenal contributions. The China-Rider and that whole second-set suite give the listener a deeper appreciation of his genius.

I was hitchhiking to see a girl I met at a GD show. A guy picked me up and I tossed this China>Rider into his cassette player. As he dropped me at my destination, I offered to send him some tapes. He said, please send the one you just played. My pleasure. (Who knows maybe he’ll read this.) Anyway, the creativeness of Jerry Garcia is in full-on here as he invents on the fly/ in the moment throughout the Chinacat and transition. And the mix-up, accidental or otherwise, in the “sun’s gonna shine” verse just provides another opportunity to take this to new places. Likewise, after the “headlight” lyrics. As a suite, this one is top-shelf. Oh yeah, the girl and I have been married for 20 years. Thanks for the ride, man.

Yup

she's a rollin' down the line... SCHRED

Interesting outro riff by Brent in the intro. And Bobby mixes this one up with great effect, e.g. the deliberate two-chord hits in the transition. He propels the Fire in similar fashion. The Scarlet is also one of a good handful without the “ain’t nothin’ wrong” verse which, in some interpretations, signals the eagerness to just play.