A couple of days ago I was milling around my apartment, marveling in the amount of space I have since the Intrepid Traveler left. I had one of my Phish concert DVDs on and was listening happily to the feel-good jams. I went to change some laundry and as I was coming up the stairs, with only the bass frequencies piercing the walls, I heard something very familiar.
Bum Bum Bam Bam Bam Dum! Just like that except imagine I'm playing it on my bass and it's G, G, D, D, D, A! I couldn't believe it. Phish was covering Neil Young's Down By The River off his '69 Crazy Horse album Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere. Now, this song kicks serious ass. I used to be in a band called Gods of Rock, an outfit dedicated to playing rock with divine presence, and we covered the shit out of that song. Ten, fifteen minute long versions of Down By The River. Also, for about a week, I was in this other band that covered it as well. We were supposed to be a party-rock cover band, but the guitar player wanted us to play his original compositions, so I quit the day before a gig. Luckily they found a more ambitious tall guy who can play four strings. But here it was again! That killer riff!
"DOWN BY THE RIVER!" I was singing as I came into the room. But something was amiss. My voice was harmonizing even less pleasantly that usual. It wasn't Down By The River at all, but an original Phish song off their 2000 release Farmhouse. The song, which I'd never listening to all that closely before, is called Bug and if Phish doesn't think they're riffing off Neil, then they're lying to themselves.
So there's a lesson for all you wanna-be rockers out there. You figure it out for yourselves.
If I was dead I would be rolling in my grave to have Phish playing in my old room.
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