How funny that while I was reading down this thread I was thinking almost exactly this same thought.
I do like some of the other tunes on Joy a lot, but this one does it for me in a whole different way. This one has more depth and substance. Mike’s voice is just perfect for it too. That dreamy quality it has fits perfectly with the lyrics and gives the right feel to the song.
Did Mike just say “And then I started hearing the elves”?
Also, is “I grab myself and spin me around” an MJ reference?
It’s interesting to hear Mike’s take on the break up.
This song, just something about it, makes me crave the summery vibes…
Mike ripped off some of my lyrics!
“Pale dark woods.”
“Spin me around.”
That fucker…
I like how the breakdown is kind of Caribbean/Calypso.
Someone on here compared it to carnival music, which I thought was somewhat apt.
Great to listen to outside in the winter.
I really enjoyed listening to Mike’s band’s version of this tune. Both times I’ve heard them play this one were a fuller and more interesting version than for Phish. The one at New Haven in particular had a great extended intro, and totally opened my eyes to the awesome potential of this tune.
^
The New Haven Sugar Shack was great. I hope they play it like that a few times this summer.
This is one of those songs that has taken a while to grow on me. I like Mike tunes as much as the next guy but I don’t immediately fall in love with any song he writes… sometimes they are a bit too quirky for my tastes. Nevertheless I’ll take a Mike tune over 95% of the music out there… in anycase I have really taken to this song as a bit of masterful song writing… not that I know anything about song writing. 
Its multi-textural groove, shifts in tempo, structure, color, flavor… stream of undertones and pleasing melody keeps drawing me back in like a moth to a flame. I used to skip this tune when listening to Joy but lately have found it the song I care to listen to more than others. The lyrics are as textured and undertoned as the music and for some reason living in an area that has it’s fair share of sugar shacks lends to the overall appreciation of the song. I’ve visited a few and watched the syrup being made and it is a bit of a retreat for the sugar makers and its usefulness only comes round but once a year… there is something so rustic about the whole affair that Mike puts into song very well. In the end I find the song a rich, colorful tapestry of sound and thought… makes me want to eat some maple syrup.
I honestly almost barfed the first time I heard this song on Joy, right at the point where Page comes in really big with a sound/effect I didn’t like, and still don’t really like, and I’m glad he doesn’t use it live.
But I do really like the song in general.
Mike Band plays this so much better than any Phish version I’ve heard. (Which I think is all of them.) The version off The Egg is really top-notch.
Did I write this? I must have it says the author of this post is “goldphish”. What a dorky fucking post. This is my 2013 self calling my 2010 self a fraking dork for brains. Look at how many dorky quotes are in that paragraph… “Its multi-textural groove, shifts in tempo, structure, color, flavor… stream of undertones and pleasing melody keeps drawing me back in like a moth to a flame.” That might be the gheyest thing ever written by any human ever. “there is something so rustic about the whole affair that Mike puts into song very well” STFU! “in the end I find the song a rich, colorful tapestry of sound and thought.” 
Thats it I quit everything.
NERD!
Love this tune! When I heard it on “Joy” I remember thinking “now THIS is a Phish tune.” It doesn’t even really sound inherently “Mike” to me. The 9/8 time signature makes it a little “off” and the music shifts between a minor key in the verses and a major key in the chorus.
I wish they’d play it more.