The piece, split up into seven distinct movements, is the band's longest studio recording at sixteen minutes and twenty-three seconds long.
[a][2] Since the 1995 death of Garcia and the dissolution of the Grateful Dead, many groups consisting of former members of the band, such as Furthur and Bob Weir & Wolf Bros, have performed the piece in full (a performance of the suite sans "Terrapin Transit" appears on Wolf Bros' Live in Colorado Vol.
[4] An unused piece of music intended for the suite, entitled "The Ascent", was included on the 2004 reissue of Terrapin Station appearing in the Beyond Description (1973-1989) box set.
In his book A Box of Rain, Hunter stated that the title "Terrapin Station" came about as "the first thing that came into [his] mind" at the beginning of a writing session that would yield the entire set of lyrics written for the track.
[5] The song marks a noticeable departure from the band's usual sound due to Keith Olsen's production.
While "Lady with a Fan" almost always preceded the "Terrapin Station" section, the latter was performed separately during the band's May 22, 1977 concert (found on Dick's Picks Volume 3).
Live performances of "Terrapin Part 1" will most commonly conclude with this section, segueing into the "Drums" > "Space" portion of the show in most cases.
"Terrapin Part 1" has received highly positive reviews since its release, and is by many considered one of the band's greatest compositions.
[7][12][13] Rolling Stone Australia included the song in their list of "Jerry Garcia's 50 Greatest Songs", highlighting "Lady with a Fan" as having "one of Garcia's prettiest melodies" and praising the orchestral elements as "a Baroque climax of massed choral vocals and strings.