I was wondering how they worked this song up before getting it to the album. Was trying to see if I could find one version when Jer comes in with that high note lead off of Wake of the Flood. Unfortunately I couldn't find one yet. Anyway, from archive.org here are the early days for its development. What follows are my notes from listening to the streams.
February 1973
09 (FRI), Palo Alto
First ever, nothing really great here. Last minute of final jam has a slight Watkins Glen Soundcheck Jam middle feel.
15 (THU), Wisconsin
Tinny and somewhat stilted, lack of direction, not fully resolved motifs, not too on the beat, lack of punch, just doesn’t sound right. Seems to get better after all lyrics are out of the way but Weir seems to lose some interest. They do the Dm Emaj7 jam for the first time.
19 (MON), Chicago, IL
Comes from The Other One, so much more lively at start, more familiar album-like lead in, rhythm fully developed and so it has momentum. Garcia motifs are well developed and he can turn the phrases. They’re finally getting it to work for the first time and you can hear how comfortable Jer is by his relaxed manner with the vocals. Post lyrics jam has proper cadence; they really go exploring, get to exhaustion, then use the Dm Emaj7 jam to revive. Whoever saw this show got lucky.
21 (WED), Champaign, IL
Out of Truckin>Drums>Eyes, hard to hear (not soundboard), not quite on the beat, they sound a little tired, they fade at the end and don’t bother with the Dm Emaj7 jam and go to Stella Blue. IMHO, this is one of those times where they try to get the magic they had from the prior time they played it but it just won’t happen for reasons unknown. This sort of thing happens. Like trying to dream a good dream you once had but it keeps taking wrong turns that are weird.
22 (THU), Champaign, IL
One thing nice about playing the same venue twice in a row is that there isn’t a need for a sound check earlier in the day, you have a very relaxing morning without any travel, and you look forward to playing that night. It shows.
They work their magic via Dark Star>Eyes>China Doll. The get through the lyrics quickly without any waste of time and everything is going right. They're on the beat, Jer is really pretty good this night, they go to the post lyrics jam and get to the Dm Emaj7 jam in record time, at roughly the 8 minute mark. They stay there for a full eight minutes, taking you into and out of the Dm, over and over, probably to your mental breaking point, making you think that they are from another planet. (T3rrapin has provided the chords, if he is actually correct, for this end jam technique, and you can find it in another post in the Eyes forum.) The song has finally come into its own and they know just how they like to work it. It must have been a fun night for Assembly Hall and all those college kids, mid-semester.
From what I can tell this may have been a real turning point for Jerry. He had finally found one of the better jamming vehicles for his riffing capabilities, the complex sounding Maj7 to the resolved I, followed by the lower-down-the-neck same Maj7, to make it all succinctly circular in the post lyric jam. This would really accentuate his nimble picking abilities against Weir’s counterpoint rhythm strokes, and in the soothing feel that it has they would set you up for the Dm modulation, with that driving bass lead (this can be seen in the Grateful Dead movie, by the way), and then back into the soothing Emaj7 jam. Then they keep returning to the Dm segway over and over until the band runs out of ideas and/or steam, at which point they just settle the whole “mother ship” down for a gentle landing.
February 1973
09 (FRI), Palo Alto
First ever, nothing really great here. Last minute of final jam has a slight Watkins Glen Soundcheck Jam middle feel.
15 (THU), Wisconsin
Tinny and somewhat stilted, lack of direction, not fully resolved motifs, not too on the beat, lack of punch, just doesn’t sound right. Seems to get better after all lyrics are out of the way but Weir seems to lose some interest. They do the Dm Emaj7 jam for the first time.
19 (MON), Chicago, IL
Comes from The Other One, so much more lively at start, more familiar album-like lead in, rhythm fully developed and so it has momentum. Garcia motifs are well developed and he can turn the phrases. They’re finally getting it to work for the first time and you can hear how comfortable Jer is by his relaxed manner with the vocals. Post lyrics jam has proper cadence; they really go exploring, get to exhaustion, then use the Dm Emaj7 jam to revive. Whoever saw this show got lucky.
21 (WED), Champaign, IL
Out of Truckin>Drums>Eyes, hard to hear (not soundboard), not quite on the beat, they sound a little tired, they fade at the end and don’t bother with the Dm Emaj7 jam and go to Stella Blue. IMHO, this is one of those times where they try to get the magic they had from the prior time they played it but it just won’t happen for reasons unknown. This sort of thing happens. Like trying to dream a good dream you once had but it keeps taking wrong turns that are weird.
22 (THU), Champaign, IL
One thing nice about playing the same venue twice in a row is that there isn’t a need for a sound check earlier in the day, you have a very relaxing morning without any travel, and you look forward to playing that night. It shows.
They work their magic via Dark Star>Eyes>China Doll. The get through the lyrics quickly without any waste of time and everything is going right. They're on the beat, Jer is really pretty good this night, they go to the post lyrics jam and get to the Dm Emaj7 jam in record time, at roughly the 8 minute mark. They stay there for a full eight minutes, taking you into and out of the Dm, over and over, probably to your mental breaking point, making you think that they are from another planet. (T3rrapin has provided the chords, if he is actually correct, for this end jam technique, and you can find it in another post in the Eyes forum.) The song has finally come into its own and they know just how they like to work it. It must have been a fun night for Assembly Hall and all those college kids, mid-semester.
From what I can tell this may have been a real turning point for Jerry. He had finally found one of the better jamming vehicles for his riffing capabilities, the complex sounding Maj7 to the resolved I, followed by the lower-down-the-neck same Maj7, to make it all succinctly circular in the post lyric jam. This would really accentuate his nimble picking abilities against Weir’s counterpoint rhythm strokes, and in the soothing feel that it has they would set you up for the Dm modulation, with that driving bass lead (this can be seen in the Grateful Dead movie, by the way), and then back into the soothing Emaj7 jam. Then they keep returning to the Dm segway over and over until the band runs out of ideas and/or steam, at which point they just settle the whole “mother ship” down for a gentle landing.