^hey man. welcome
I’m kind of neutral on phish at the moment. I guess I’ve been listening to them fairly often, but I haven’t been especially energized by it. I’m really excited to arrive at fest8, but I haven’t been thinking about what is going to go down too much. I will probably explode with excitement the moment I touch down in Vegas 13 days from now.
^^Hi pyjama karl.
I love teh Phish, but I’ve got to try to not think about Phish as I can’t afford to go see them for a long while. Hopefully I’ll be able to get to the New Years run, but that’s gonna be the soonest I get to see my favorite band. I can’t wait to see them/ you all again, but for now I’m just going to pretend like their not about to tour and play their first festival in over 5 years.
I had lunch with a long time Phish friend the other day, and he tried selling me on the idea that Backwards Down the Number Line was about a ghey experience. I’ve read and re-read the lyrics, and I guess you could infer that Trey was indirectly writing about a ghey experience when he was younger, but I don’t necessarily see it as such. Anyone else interpret this song even slightly like this?
Backwards Down The Number Line :
Happy happy oh my friend
Blow out candles once again
Leave the presents all inside
Take my hand and let’s take a ride
Backwards down the number line
You were eight and I was nine
Do you know what happened then
Do you know why we’re still friends
Laughing all these many years
We’ve pushed through hardships tasted tears
We made a promise one to keep
I can still recite it in my sleep
Every time a birthday comes
Call your friend and sing a song
Or whisper it in to his ears
Or write it down just don’t miss a year
You decide what it contains
How long it goes
But this remains
The only rule is it begins
Happy happy oh my friend
You decide what it contains
How long it goes
But this remains
The only rule is it begins
And all my friends come
Backwards down the number line
All my friends come
Backwards down the number line
All my friends come
Backwards down the number line
All my friends
You decide what it contains
How long it goes
But this remains
The only rule is it begins
Happy happy oh my friend
You decide what it contains
How long it goes
But this remains
The only rule is it begins
And all my friends come
Backwards down the number line
I’m not seeing it as such…however, with a lot of Phish’s quirky, ambiguous(ly ghey?) lyrics, you can infer a lot of things.
Nope.
Maybe your friend has a song of his own to write. 
Nugs + Stealing Time = badass
Just found a new appreciation for 1994 and 2003. I go in and out of phases with Phish. At points I will listen to them a lot, but at other times I get into a funk. One thing that I do know is that Phish will always remain my favorite.
^ I’ve seen that before. Guy tears it up. Awesome.
No. It’s about a birthday experience, right? Whatever happened when Trey and Tom were 8 & 9 obviously bonded a beautiful friendship and partnership that has benefitted us all to no end, that’s all I know.
And this friend told me that when he talked to Tom about his theory, Tom said he didn’t agree with that, but that he didn’t really know what the song was about. My friend of course took this as an implausible denial since the song is certainly about a long lasting friendship on the surface, and celebrating that friendship on the birthdays. Since these are Trey’s lyrics without Tom, I’m less inclined to believe some arcane sexual meaning, than I would be to see it as a straightforward homage to a friendship promise.
btw, in case you wanted to know, according to this friend, according to Tom, Marshall gets 4 comps per show. The new band management, in agreement with the band, has curtailed backstage activity quite a bit. Don’t know about the summer tour, but this was evident at Hampton in March. The band’s busses were leaving the venue before most fans got back to their cars.
Frankly, I thought the song was just about two friend reminscing about their long friendship since they were kids. I suppose the line about a “secret” is a bit suspicious but I kind of thought it was one kid whispering a secret into the other’s ear…kind of like young girls do. And how it was a vivid memory and that even though the secret was likely something very trivial, he still remembered it. Either that or it’s about Trey nailing Mike.
I was always under the impression that the lyrics were basically Tom’s. I remember reading that Tom had written a poem for Trey for his birthday and then Trey made it into a song shortly thereafter? I just assumed that the lyrics were essentially the poem with some addition/reworking by Trey.
^That is what I had always thought.
I was eating lunch at McCallister’s deli today in Starkville, MS after checking out Miss. State and I they were playing BDTNL…first time I’ve knowingly heard Phish in public…made me like Starkville even more
The crowd moaned, as they tend to do, when the deep organ intro notes to Cars, Trucks, Buses followed a pretty rocking Stash, at Keyspan Park on 6/18/04. And I have to admit that I lose my musical focus every time this song starts out, because I just don’t connect to the basic rhythms and melody. I did that night in Brooklyn, and practically every time I’ve heard this show since then.
It actually wasn’t until this morning that I believe this version from Keyspan might be my favorite. I’m still a little cool on the basic riffs, but damn did they really play together on this version. They had some genuine CTB heat going just before the break, that wasn’t actually broken because Fishman kept his rhythm going. Definitely a nice job on this one.
And although this should really be in the song discussion thread, it wasn’t talking about the song that was really important to me but the thought that I can’t understand why more people don’t appreciate how really incredible Phish improvisational performances are. These four guys, coming out of some of the most simplisic melodies around, take the music and dance in and around and in between one another like very few musicians ever have.
It astounds me that people can’t hear or appreciate this about them, even if you hated every song they’ve written. I don’t know whether most of the world is deficient, or we, the people who understand what I’me saying, aren’t totally insane. And if this be insanity, take me to my rubber room, but just keep the music playing.
someone told me phish sucks today. the same kid also offered me tickets to rob zombie on dec. 2
Bump for great thread idea!
You know the one song that was never played at a festy that has been played more times than any? Give up? Stash. Okay so they played at Coventry, but that’s pretty amazing that Stash wasn’t played at The Clifford Ball, The Great Went, Lemonwheel, Oswego,Cypress, Deer Creek 00 
, IT.
I have a pretty good hunch that Stash will be played at 8.
I can only imagine next week at this exact time… 
<img src="/uploads/default/original/1X/5d768425d485d1e190f7ce3b8a4de12872dcb000.gif" width="15" height="17" alt=":crazy:" title="Crazy"/> :astonished: :open_mouth: <img src="/uploads/default/original/1X/5d768425d485d1e190f7ce3b8a4de12872dcb000.gif" width="15" height="17" alt=":crazy:" title="Crazy"/>