Horn
Performances Song History Discussion

Horn

Music/Lyrics: Anastasio/Marshall

Vocals: Trey (lead), Mike, Page (backing)

Debut: 1990-05-24

Historian: Chris Bertolet

Yet another one of Rift’s bitter musings on romance and commitment, “Horn” is the sad confession of a human doormat. Its weary narrator addresses the woman who’s turned his life inside out, smearing his good name and strewing his earthly belongings to the winds. He knows she’s poison, but he can’t cut the strings. Such is love. He promises to pick her up at eight, as usual. “Listen for my horn.”

While Trey pointed to “Horn” after its debut as the kind of simple tune he’d been struggling to write, it’s hardly simplistic. His melancholy solo winds and curls through numerous, unusual harmonic changes before returning to the riff that begins the song, and in a wicked bit of musical legerdemain, the coda is actually a half step lower than the intro (E-flat vs. E). Some fans speculate that the two blaring chords in this book-ending phrase are meant to represent the car horn of title.

As “Horn” is devoid of improvisational space, it usually serves as a mood piece between first set jams.

Recommended Versions: 1991-11-21, 1992-04-16, 1993-02-21, 1994-05-07, 1995-12-14, 1997-07-01, 2000-05-22, 2003-02-16, 2009-06-16

Albums: Rift, At the Roxy, Live Phish 01, Live Phish 17, Live Phish 18

Lyrics:

(Anastasio/Marshall)
© Who Is She? Music, Inc. (BMI)

Now that you've deceived me, and played my name around
And hung those nasty flyers, on all the buildings in town
Dribbled my possessions in a ring around the earth
And bought and sold my self-control for less than it was worth

Now I know the reason that I'm feeling so forlorn
I'll pick you up at eight as usual, listen for my horn