Row Jimmy 

First performance: February 9, 1973 at Rose Maples Pavilion, Stanford University. "Row Jimmy" was in the second slot in the first set. Other firsts at this show included "China Doll," "Eyes of the World," "Here Comes Sunshine," "Loose Lucy," "They Love Each Other," and "Wave That Flag." 

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I've always seen it this way as well. Notionally the two songs are about Hunter's experience with the flood of Vanport, Washington in 1949. I've always pictured Row Jimmy as the during/escaping the flood song, while Here Comes Sunshine is literally the wake of the flood. 

For instance: 

the levee doin the do-pas-o 

A levee dancing is probably a metaphor for it breaking. 

Grass shack nailed to a pine wood floor Ask the time? Baby I don't know 

From Hunter's note in Box of Rain: "living in other people's homes, a family abandoned by father; second grade" 

Broken heart don't feel so bad Ain't got half a what you thought you had 

Putting all these pieces together, you get a picture of the Flood's devastating effect on the townspeople, although clearly the actual story is something we are not aware of. 

Whereas in Here Comes Sunshine: 

Wake of the flood, laughing water, forty nine Get out the pans, don't just stand there dreaming, get out the way 

Recovering from the flood 

Good to know you got shoes to wear, when you find the floor Why hold out for more 

Grateful for basic necessities after the disaster (when others had nothing?) 

Been down before, you just don't have to go no more 

A resiliency built up by going through such a disaster 

yep - I kinda think of it in the same terms - Row Jimmy is the lead up to and beginning of the flood, HCS is the aftermath. 

The way both start off with commands, as if given to a child gave me the first inclination, but they just feel like two aspects of the same story. 

In an interview in 1976 Garcia was asked which song he thought hadn't got to many other people; 

Well, I don't know, but there are some songs that I really loved .... Like, I really loved Row Jimmy. That was one of my favorite songs of ones I have written. I loved it. Nobody else really liked it very much - we always did it - but nobody liked it very much, at least in the same way I did. 

Row Jimmy was first performed by the Grateful Dead in February 1973 and was then performed over 60 times that year. The song was then performed every year except 1975 though only a few times in some years. The last performance of over 270 performances of the song was in June 1995.