Watch "China Cat Sunflower/I Know You Rider" (432Hz) - Grateful Dead - Europe '72 video on DTube
Europe '72 was the third live, multi-disk album of the Dead's past five Warner Bros. releases, showcasing how the group's reputation increasingly rested on live performance. The album contained mostly new material, in addition to live arrangements of tracks found on previous studio albums. Lead guitarist Jerry Garcia continued his songwriting collaboration with lyricist Robert Hunter; as rhythm guitarist Bob Weir had begun writing material with John Perry Barlow due to his penchant for rearranging Hunter's lyrics, Europe '72 features his last major collaborations with the lyricist. Pigpen made his third singing-songwriting contribution to a Dead album, writing "Mr. Charlie" with Hunter. The new songs were never officially released in studio form save for a studio version of "One More Saturday Night", which came out as a single to promote the tour and then appeared on Bob Weir's solo album, Ace. Consequently, Europe '72 was treated as a new-material release as much as a live retrospective, and the new songs on the album were largely considered definitive versions.[6]
Archetypal American images abounded on "Jack Straw",[7] while "Cumberland Blues" and "Tennessee Jed" were firmly rooted with regional imagery and sentiment.[8] "Truckin'", which had recently become the band's most recognized song, catalogued its own troubled-but-resilient pathway through American life. The Dead's segue pairing of "China Cat Sunflower" into "I Know You Rider" likewise linked their psychedelic past into a more traditional context.[9]