The music was written by Jerry Garcia and John Dawson and the lyrics are by Robert Hunter.
Like most of American Beauty, the song is largely acoustic and opens with Garcia playing a descending G major scale (G F# E D C B A G) in the bass register.
Following the group's October 1974–June 1976 touring hiatus, the song was performed in a significantly slower arrangement with extended guitar and keyboard solos.
In more recent history, Phil Lesh and Friends have performed a more uptempo version similar to the original.
Hunter plays a slightly different version on his album (released only in LP format) Jack O'Roses.