Parts of this FAQ have been superceded by the song history, which has been edited (and vetted) recently, though is focusedon the song and thus perhaps not as comprehensive as this page.
The FAQ  is currently in the process of being updated in the new system. We apologize for any inconvenience, and will be updating this page as soon as possible.

The Title: Some claim that Reba means fish in Russian. (John Ayto's Dictionary of Word Origins says (p.229) that "ryba" is fish in Russian, Polish, and Czech.) But, from Alex Grabinski, a longtime phishnet vet: "Loosely speaking, true. But the Russian pronunciation of the word has the short "i" (as in "Phish"), not the long one ("Fee"). IMHO, the choice of "Reba" as a title and name for main character seems to have more grounding in "down-home backwoods" moonshining - which the song seems to imply. But, note such cliches as "drink [alcohol] like a fish", which ties together Reba (the song and the Russian word and the rural name), fish, Phish, drinking to excess, et al."

Jam/Jam: "Reba (in the way they pronounce it) means jam in hebrew. Not a musical jam, not a traffic jam, not a Pearl Jam, but the type you smear all over bread. I think its a pretty cool interpretation." (Itay on rmp 10/10/94)

The Whistling: The whistling heard during the song in early years and heard on Lawnboy is not always performed live. It was dropped for a period from __ to __.

Lost Segment: Early versions (until early 1990) had an instrumental segment in the middle which was removed and became (with lyrics added by Blue Traveler's John Popper) "Don't Get Me Wrong", performed only thrice, though all three times with Popper.

"Cum Dignitate Otium.
(Leisure with dignity.)"
-- Cicero, 50 B.C.