Be a Friend

Nine years after we borrowed a farmhouse in Vermont and wrote "Farmhouse", we borrowed our friend's, the Cooks, cabin...and immediately wrote "Cook Cabin" under similar circumstances:  we used lyrics from the first written thing we found in the house.  In the Farmhouse case, it was a note from the caretaker.  In the Cook's case, it was embroidered artwork welcoming all to the premises.  Thank you Jack and Liz for those wonderful premises!  more songs from this session will follow.  None made it into the Phish canon apart from Let Me Lie...but since we've all heard too many versions of that already, I'll spare you this (cooler) version.

Cook Cabin

Another from the "Cook Cabin" session on 2/24/2006.  A "you're your worst enemy" kind of song I guess...although not something I'd ordinarily preach to anyone.  At the time Brad Sands really liked it and said it should be a Phish song.  I felt the same way.  That never really happened since Phish then took a lengthy break. Although it was played 3 times by the Trey Anastasio Band in 2010...possibly because I was in the audience...but then never again.  So here's the first original version.

Obstacle Of Course

Now I'm Travelling

This song was written by Trey and myself, and eventually released by Phish on Undermind.  But long before that, I released it featuring singing by a great band called The Saras.  Check it out -- it also features a COMPLETE set of lyrics (AHEM Trey!...somehow a verse was overlooked by Phish!)

Nothing

From my band's Amfibian album with the same name, here's Skip the Goodbyes featuring Trey on guitar!

Skip the Goodbyes

Mike and Trey in the studio create an awesome version of a song that Trey and I wrote a long time ago...this came out on an unofficial leaked project called "Flotsam Five" -- this wasn't a Phish release or anything, and no one knows anything about it -- but it had a compilation of interesting songs.

Backwards Food For Backwards Folks

The ORIGINAL "I am Hydrogen". Me on keys, Marc Daubert on acoustic and Trey on his Ibanez...and a Fender amp I think.Recorded on a stereo recording Walkman (cassette). In this configuration we called the band Bivouac.I think in 1984


I Am Hydrogen

This song, "Silent in the Morning" was eventually released on Rift, and split into two songs: Horse and Silent in the Morning, for some reason I never was made aware of.Anyway -- this is the very first version, and it was recorded in late 1991 in my house in Princeton NJ on a Fostex 4-Track cassette machine in my "studio" -- a room that would be eventually occupied by my (then nonexistent) daughter.  Trey's on acoustic.  Singing along with Trey and myself are Marc Daubert, and our late good friend Amanda Lake.


Silent in the Morning

This one was the one that reunited Trey and me again after a long silence in September 2007.Trey was in Saratoga Springs, NY, working very hard in his Drug Court program -- helping himself, helping others...but not communicating with anyone...on purpose.His dad was key to breaking the silence and said I could email Trey a Happy Birthday and he "might answer".At first I thought he was joking, because until that moment, Trey NEVER used email!So I sent off a birthday poem...these lyrics.2 hours later I received an "Oh My God, Tom" email.Then soon after, a phone call where he played me this song.Our writing conquered the chasm...the rift.The thing we did best and did forever, songwriting, reignited our friendship.


Backwards Down the Numberline

This one holds a great deal of significance for Trey and myself.  It was a dark period in both our lives.  It was a dark period for the country.  I wrote this poem for my son...it read almost like an epitaph for my own grave.  It was depressing.  Trey and I also (due to my work situation which was dire) were holed up in a dark, miserable NJ hotel right near Newark airport.  But one thing we knew how to do was write and record songs.  Trey liked these lyrics, and with me essentially on the sidelines, he created this entire song...piece by piece.  The most impressive to me was his piano intro.  He's quite a good pianist, and he uses it as a compositional tool very effectively.  Those chords just kept building and building...heck, the song has FOUR intros if you count them like I do...until finally a bed for the lyrics appeared.  And he sang them...I didn't get involved, he was on a mission from god.  I just handed the lyrics to the song-machine and my job was done.  Later I found that people thought this was a tribute to the World Trade Center...WTC = Walls of The Cave=World Trade Center.  So is it?  Trey says yes.  I say probably...but unintentionally on purpose.  [this continues in COMMENTS below]

Walls of the Cave

Sometime in late 1992 I handed Trey these lyrics inspired by the rhythm of the song Pocahontas by Neil Young.  Trey wrote this one completely by himself soon thereafter in his home studio in Vermont, and the first time I heard it was over the phone and we both flipped out over how cool it was.  Trey's interesting overdubbed solo carried through to the studio version as well to my delight.  Phish started playing it in early 1993 when it came out on Rift.  One of my live favorites, I always think back to this first version when I hear it...

The Wedge

okay -- here's the first one from "The Dungeon" -- a recording that never became a Phish or TAB song, and wouldn't otherwise ever see the light of day.  I'm releasing it to you now...fly away little starling...fly fly fly... Sorry, that was my inner Hannibal talking.  So "Lever Boy" was recorded on 12/10/2008 in a sweet New York hotel that Trey got for us, and had it loaded with recording equipment and instruments.  2 Tascam 8-track machines and a Mackie mixer are the core of Trey's awesome mobile studio...but there are also some gorgeous preamps and AtoD's and beautiful mics as well.  There was a Kurzweil keyboard there, a Languedoc bass and a Languedoc electric, and a Martin acoustic.  Roland V-drums too.  The reason we were there was to write songs for a new Phish album...the one that eventually became "Joy".  During this session we also wrote Kill Devil Falls and Ocelot, but before we got really into it, we played around with our studio-away-from-studio and came up with this unusual song.  Trey and I both love it, but feel it might never transcend its current version.  For those of you playing along at home, this one (possibly) completes the "-Boy" series of songs...Lawn, Life and Dog Faced being the first three.

Lever Boy

A very old song from the Dungeon, this was done in 1984 on a cassette deck meant for dictation and not music -- which explains the horrible quality.  Pretty silly, you can see why it didn't get very far (alongside the SERIOUS music we were intending to create), but you can hear the fun we're having.  Trey on acoustic -- he, I and Marc Daubert sing when we're not laughing too hard.

Mathilda

And Back, my first real band with David Abrahams and Marc Daubert -- later added Peter Cottone and Roger Holloway.  This song was written and performed just by me and Dave...in 1982? Don't know.

Swimming Blue

Jesus 13

By the band Bivouac!  ...which is Trey Anastasio, Tom Marshall and Marc Daubert in this instance. This is the very first recording with all three members...from 1984

Trampled By Lambs And Pecked By The Dove II

October 2003.  Trey and I had a very productive 2003 with two great writing sessions.  This was post-hiatus, and post Round Room, but pre-break up.  4 of these 8 songs we wrote at this session (back in a Stowe, Vermont farmhouse) would wind up on Undermind.  Some Undermind tracks also came from an earlier writing session in Nantucket which Trey and I plan to release as well -- in fact we mixed and created an album called Men From Nantucket which may have leaked, but no matter -- we're going to release it when we agree upon the best way to do so.  Anyway -- the party was ON...these songs are raw tequila-fueled energy...mixed with a hint of the looming breakup later in 2004...which although neither of us specifically knew about yet, seemed to pervade the mood of Undermind...and thus this session.  Stay tuned -- I want to release most of the songs from this session -- while we're on the topic.  I am changing mediums though...moving to a different way of presenting the music...soon...

A Song I Heard the Ocean Sing

The Dude of Life and Tom Marshall writing together.  This is their first song in a series of new songs.  Just a demo in Tom's living room, it will eventually be fleshed out for an album someday.

One Seventy

Better Place

A rough demo written by The Dude of Life and me.  A snapshot of our collaboration recorded in Princeton NJ in 2010.

Too Far Gone

This song is a highlight of the Dude & Tom's collaboration. A poem called "Night" transforms into a cool song with the help of the Dude of Life on vocals and Anthony Krizan on guitars.  Charlie de St Phall plays bass.

Second Sight

Hi everyone,
I know Tom is writing these blurbs, but I wanted to write one. Tom and I have been writing and four-tracking together for over thirty years now, and I have so many incredible memories of our adventures: I could probably fill a book writing about them. One of my favorites is about the songs Farmhouse and Bug.
In the nineties Tom and I began renting houses in the Stowe area of Vermont and disappearing for long weekends to hang out together and write. To be perfectly honest, the hanging out part was even more important to me than the writing. With Phish's exponential growth in the mid nineties came a whirlwind of confusion and frantic energy that I don't think any of us in the band were completely prepared for. Our quiet little scene in Burlington and on the road exploded. Suddenly the idea of hiding out alone for three days and nights on a farm with one of my oldest friends became a precious idea that I anxiously looked forward to for weeks in advance of our trips. At that time I had neither a cell phone nor a computer, so when we disappeared, we really disappeared.
Farmhouse was written and recorded in the first five minutes of one of those trips. I picked up Tom at the airport in this cool old 1970's RV that I had bought that had an eight track player in it, and we drove to the farmhouse we had rented. It was kind of late since Tom had left from work, and we pulled over for a second and jumped out next to a field. When we looked up at the sky, it was exploding with these deep greenish colors that we soon realized were the northern lights. We stood there and just stared in awe. We continued on, and found our house down a long secluded dirt road. We walked in and I ran over to the gear and picked up a guitar while Tom plugged in a Mic. there were some sliding glass doors that we opened, and though it wasn't as intense as it had been when we pulled over, we could still see traces of the northern lights thru the door. Mostly, we were both buzzing from that magical feeling of being completely alone, and knowing that we didn't have to talk to or see a single soul for three whole days and nights, which to both of us was heaven.
I started strumming and Tom started singing, and since he didn't have any lyrics, he reached over and grabbed the note that the owner of the house had left for us and began reading it, verbatim.
"Welcome! This is a farmhouse, we have cluster flies, alas, and this time of year is bad..."
And on it went from there. I love the chorus,  "I never ever saw the northern lights, I never really heard of cluster flies!"
After that I quickly constructed all the instruments. I will always to this day believe that this version of Farmhouse is the perennial version, mostly because of the genuine joy in Tom's inspired and spontaneous vocal. Also, for the record, of course we immediately recognized that it sounded similar to "No woman no cry", and sort of threw that "be all right" thing in specifically for that reason, amidst the frenzy of laughing and singing. It felt like the perfect sentiment for our escape. "in the farmhouse things will be alright".
I don't think Tom and I have ever written a single song for any reason other than to entertain ourselves. We don't really think about the fact that anyone will ever hear this stuff. It's in the moment. If we took the time to think about it more, we would probably edit ourselves into submission, and take a lot of the joy and spontaneity out of the songs. I know for a fact that if Tom had his way, "Yanked on my tunic and dangled my stash" would not be in the public consciousness. Personally, I happen to love that line.  -Trey.
[TOM'S note:  I added the "alas", that wasn't on the note.  No one has written "alas" -- and meant it -- since the 19th century. Some of the songs I'm posting, this one included, were released in 2000 on a CD of 25 demos that Trey and I recorded in 1997 called "Trampled by Lambs and Pecked by the Dove" which is available on LivePhish.com.  Also...Trey didn't write much about Bug, so I'll release that if/when he writes another "blurb"...or I'll write one...soon!]

Farmhouse

Here's one from our 4/2003 songwriting session in Nantucket.  Trey played this on Sirius Radio once -- but apart from that, it's never been heard before.  This is another one (see below) which is on "Men From Nantucket" -- an album Trey and I put together, but never released.  It will come out someday...we hope.  "Alabaster salmon and a long-lost friend."

Adam and Eve

Recorded in March 2002.  Never released or played live.  Trey was with his family in the Caribbean...thumbing through some of my lyrics when he found this one.  Trey of course figured out what it meant even though I didn't really know...he suggested I wrote it to suppress a traumatic experience.  This in turn triggered years of therapy for me...but that's off-topic (and untrue).  This is a self-made demo, Trey plays everything and sings all parts.  My favorite verse:  
"A fleeting smile a sudden frown
a jeweled ring a thorny crown
a crucifix not far from town
set up just for me
but nothing matched the gift that you once tried to give to me"  
Enjoy!  

Gift

This was recorded in a house overlooking the Hudson River in April 2010.  An alternate title is "I See a Boat"...and THAT is a long story.  I'll attempt to shorten it considerably:  in Europe somewhere, in June 1997, after a Phish show and subsequent partying, Trey mentioned to me that I should be inspired to write beautiful music by the beautiful cities we were visiting...London, Vienna, Prague, etc...  I agreed with him.  But he actually pressed me to write one right away!  All I could come up with at the time -- since I was sinking deeply into my bed -- was "I See a Boat" -- it was all I could say...inspired by a horrible oil painting near my bed of a boat on the ocean.  It was a very short song with no melody.  He kind of let me off the hook, seeing that I was not suddenly going to bound out of bed and compose a masterpiece.  Of course I knew that wouldn't be the last I'd hear about it...it became the subject of some jokes at my expense...comparing my writing with that of say...Robert Hunter...who apparently composed Brokedown Palace, Ripple and To Lay me Down in one afternoon while visiting London.  When Trey held up my composition next to those, I had to admit..my European writing submission came up a bit short.  Fast forward to 2010:  a boat cruised by on the river capturing our attention.  I said "I See a Boat" to remind Trey of our running joke.  He grabbed a guitar -- I suppose to finally finish the song we started in 1997 -- and we came up with this.  He was able to play it with his band shortly thereafter at a benefit for the big oil spill in the Gulf.  Apart from that, this would be a true "From the Dungeon" release.

Sailboat Man

The first version of Heavy Things...darker than Phish's...heavier really.

My band Amfibian:  Tom Marshall, Scott Metzger, Matt Kohut, Andrew Southern, Peter Cottone, JP Wasicko 1999

http://phish.net/song/heavy-things/history


Amfibian1999-02-03.heavy-things

Sheep from Amfibian's 2007 release "Skip the Goodbyes"

Sheep

Anna and I always sang this one together over the years, finally got a great pianist -- my pal David Fenster -- to come to the studio with us. Anthony Krizan played all the other instruments. Recorded at Sonic Boom in Raritan NJ.

Song by Sheryl Crow -- sung originally by Sheryl and Sting.

ALWAYS ON YOUR SIDE

This is a song that Anthony Krizan and I wrote with/for the McLovins.  I wrote the words with Jake in mind -- after a conversation we had -- knowing that singing them, he can feel the weird isolation from stage that happens up there...when people expect one thing based on your stage persona...and then are puzzled to find someone different.  This version includes some very tasty guitar by Anthony that never made it into the McLovins "Who Knows?" album version. 

Hesitate MIX

My band Amfibian's take on The Wedge.  This version was released on a 2001 CD created for charity by the Mockingbird Foundation called "Sharing in the Groove"  I was honored to be included among some awesome acts performing Phish covers on this CD including Little Feat, Dave Matthews, Jimmy Buffett, John Scofield, etc...  This was a version of my band that featured Scott Metzger and Chris Harford on guitars.

A tip of the hat to Vegas or Atlantic City?  I don't know.  We wrote this in 2011 when we were writing songs for Trey's album "Traveler".  This one fell by the wayside...and probably should have stayed there...but it has a beat that won't quit and it became the unofficial theme for me and my friends during the Atlantic City shows at Bader Field in June 2012.

HotBox

This was recorded in 1993 sometime.  Trey did it all by himself on a cassette multitrack.  I only supplied him the words on a piece of paper.  This version rocks and clearly displays how Trey's vision for the song was the blueprint for the Hoist version which followed in 1994.  The image of Aquitana is courtesy of my friend H. Spencer Young in NYC. @hspenceryoung
(This song is one of many demos of Phish songs recorded by Trey and myself and released in 2000 as "Trampled by Lambs and Pecked by the Dove" which is available at livephish.com)

ThunderBurn

Pinned to spotlight

Popular tracks