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Phish's music has evolved in a number of ways over their history, including changes in titles, in lyrics, in the ways they're peformed, in song structures, and jams becoming songs.

• Title changes:
  • Several tunes introduced Fall 1997 were renamed in summer 1998, but how far is unclear -- is "Ghost" now "Story of a Ghost"? is "Oblivious Fool" now "Olivia's Pool" or even "Shafty"? (See 5th answer for 6/22/00) is "Roget" now "Roggae" or even "Rowjay"? is "Relax" now "Frankie Says"? The next album may provide an answer, but that doesn't mean it'll be the answer, never to change, since...
  • Picture of Nectar lists a song as "Chalk Dust Torture" that A Live One lists as "Chalkdust Torture" thanks to Chris Wicklein
  • "Tweezer" was first introduced (by Trey) as "Tweezer so Cold" (according to Brent Gentzel).
  • "PYITE" was "PMITE".
  • Rift was introduced on 2-25-90 as "Rift, Part I" by Fishman.
  • "Paul and Silas" (a cover) was (incorrectly) called "Hall in Solace" for awhile.
  • "NICU" has been "In an ICU" and "And I See You".
  • "Strange Design" was "Companions", Page reportedly has said.
  • "Glide" was introduced by Trey (on 5-22-94) as "Whoomp! There it is!"
  • "Fikus" was introduced as "Fikus, but we're toying with calling it 'I, Fikus'"
  • Tom Marshall took to joking (?) during 1998 that "Oblivious Fool" was really "Olivia's Pool". It's called "Shafty" on Ghost, but listed as "Olivia's Pool" on the official web site of Amfibian, Tom's band (early 1999).
  • Blow Wind Blow is now called At The Barbeque
  • "Mozambique" was originally "Free Thought" (Ross DeVore, 3/5/03)
• Lyrical changes:
  • Early versions of "Esther" didn't end so sinisterly/abruptly - Esther escaped from the water and the mob (and the puppet?); these lyrics return rarely, such as 11-26-97. The chorus to "Run Like An Antelope" changes occasionally, and lines in "Makisupa Policeman" may change nightly. And lines in "Wilson" have been altered. "Cavern" is notable for the having lost the "turn the blade back on the bitch" and "penile erector" lyrics (last heard 4/5/98 and ___, respectively).
  • In "Tela", "from the multibeast on which she rides" was changed to "at the river by which she rides" sometime between 6/26/94 and 12/14/95.
  • Entire verses have been dropped from early versions of songs "Runaway Jim" and "Alumni Blues".
  • "Black-Eyed Katy" was renamed "Moma Dance" in summer 1998, when lyrics were added.
  • And lyrics have been mixed between songs: "BBFCFM" with "Scent of a Mule" 7-13-94; "Catapult" sung to the tune of "Simple" at 12-8-94; "Catapult" and "David Bowie" 4-17-92; "Wilson" and "Antelope" a few times (and don't forget the "Roll Like a Cantaloupes" from 7-12-88, 3-11-90, and 11-4-91; or the Roll Like a Creaturelope from __).
• Performance changes:
  • Speed: "Sanity" was initially much slower. "Poor Heart" has been performed both as a slow shuffle and as a speedy whirl.
  • Style: "My Sweet One" was performed acoustic 5-22-94.
  • Parts:
    • "Reba" doesn't always have the whistling.
    • The ending of Harry Hood was bagged on 10/7/95, 7/26/97 Austin, and on 7-09-98 when they ditched Hood for Isabella.
    • "Horse" used to be acoustic and always preceded "Silent in the Morning", but most Horses since Spring 1993 have been electric and the 5/30/93, 5-30-94, and 6/23/94 "Silent" had no "Horses"s. (Adam Shiffman pointed out 12/2/97 that the 6/23/94 Silent "finished" the Horse which ended the 6-21-94 first set, cut off by a fire alarm.)
    • Character Zero used to (10-21-96, 10-23-96 and 10-29-96 end that way, maybe 10-31-96) end with a vocal jam as it does on the album. (Todd Justus)
  • Rotation: Performances have also varied by rotating who's playing what instrument. For an early example, listen to "Lively up yourself" 4/21/92, with Jon on bass and Mike on guitar and Trey on drums. A full-band "instrument switch jam" (or "Rotation Jam") occurred on 11/25/95 Hampton, VA, with each member playing several other instruments; this happened again on 12/15/95 12/29/96, both in Philladelphia. (Daniel Pennington) Rocka William and Walfredo are designed for rotated playing, and rotation also happens during most HYHU's
  • Overlaps: Some songs have been combined, e.g. various teases appearing throughout 2-20-93; Antelope and BBFCFM being combined 3-13-92; Catapult in and out of David Bowie at the Warfield, and '94 sugarbush.
• Structural changes:
  • "Landlady" was originally the middle part of "Punch You in the Eye" (see also Asse)
  • The Intro and Bridge sections of "Lushington" were incorporated into Fluff's Travels, Part 2, "The Chase." (Joshlm75, 9/6/00)
  • "Rift" grew out of "The Curtain With", a second half of what's now known as "The Curtain". Trey wrote this second half, which is often referred to as "With" as though it were a separate song, in 1987 and sped it up for inclusion in "Rift". Phish broke out The Curtain Width on 7/12/00. It is also available for sale (as a bonus track to the White Album) for download in MP3 format from emusic.com.
  • "Split Open and Melt" reached a siminal point summer of 1994 when the jam section really took on new form. Trey's even mentioned this -- the maturing of the SOAM jam, particularly as leading up to the one 6/11/94 -- as an example in an interview (with Steve Silberman for Duprees's Diamond News) as an example of how their songs change and evolve on stage. Thanks also to .
  • "Taste" appeared in June 1995, became revised as "Fog That Surrounds" in September, and since the summer of 1996 Europe tour there has been a combined and revised "Taste" in October. (The latter was initially called "Tasty Fog".)
  • "Tube" became significantly funkier over the last shows of 1997, such that setlistings became more and more complicated: Tube->Jam->Tube->Jam Reprise, or Tube->Funky Instrumental->Tube, or often Tube->Jam->Tube. Scott Silton posted (1/7/98), "OK people, it is time to adjust what you think Tube is. Except for the 'jam reprise' at Dayton, these Tubes were all very similar. The central jam section is now PART OF TUBE as far as I'm concerned unless I hear that same jam on another show during another song. In any case, the 'new Tube' is just fantabulous and I am SO psyched that they brought this one back, new and improved, THE FUNKY VERSION."
  • "Limb by Limb", "Piper", "Water in the Sky" (much faster version now), and "Black-Eyed Katy" were revamped for summer 1998 (and "Black-Eyed Katy" was renamed). And "Limb by Limb" started with Trey and Tom lyrics in February 1993, but didn't debut until 1997; according to Luann Abrahms (who posted 8/28/97) "Trey said he'd always loved the lyrics but didn't find the right music for them until now."
• Songs emerging from improvisations:
  • "Tweezer" started in the 12-31-89 soundcheck, and debuted as a song 4-5-90.
  • "Simple" started in a jam at the Warfield, and debuted 6-17-94 (?).
  • "Birds of a Feather" (debuted with lyrics on the so-called "Island Tour") is noticeable from the 12-3-97 set II jam preceding "Prince Caspian" and the 12-13-97 jam afte "Piper".
  • Bill Shaw contended that "that little instrumental from the Gorge, whose title may be 'Blow Wind Blow' or something like that ... was played during that crazy Desenzano soundcheck on July 6th [1997}! Yep, exact same thing. The wind was definitely blowing hard that day/night in Italy... I wonder if it was written more or less on the spot there in Desenzano."
  • Listen for a "First Tube jam" in the 07-10-98 sequence Halley's Comet > Jam > Roggae
  • Other potential abounds, e.g. the riffs Trey repeats in the set 1 Mike's and the set 2 Tweezer on 11/22/97; or the "Wormtown" jam from 7/2/97. (Thanks to Michael W Connors .) And Jon McLennand noted a jam repeated in 2/26/97 YEM, 7/22/97 Down with Disease, 8/8/97 Gumbo, 8/9/97 Ghost, 8/10/97 Cities, 8/11/97 YEM
• Unchanged: Some things don't change, they just become understood.
  • Paul and Silas was originally introduced as "Hall in Solace".
  • "Timber (Jerry)" is almost invariably called and labelled "Timber (Ho)".
  • "Glide II" is not an extension or variation of "Glide" - the two songs bear no relation, and the former was played only once (5/16/95).

See also, Jamming Types (Type I and Type II; and Type III?).

Special thanks also to Jeremy David Goodwin, Michealcc2, Tara, Daniel Meilcarz, Andrew Cogan, and Adam Scheinberg.

"I can't stand to sing the same song the same way two nights in succession, let alone two years or ten years. If you can, then it ain't music, it's close-order drill or exercise or yodeling or something, not music.""
-- Billie Holliday"