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12/4/09 by G.Lucas

Latest Show

March 15, 2010
3 days ago
The Waldorf-Astoria

Set 1: Watcher of the Skies^[1], No Reply At All^[1]

[1] Phish Debut

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Almost as old as the band itself, “Mike’s Song” has evolved from a simple song that Mike wrote into a groove of transcendentally elephantine proportions. At the time when Mike wrote it for the band, he did not have any other songs. He also did not have a name for it. Though the band called it “Microdot” for a while (Trey refers to the song as either “Mike Wrote That,” or “Microdot,” in the 10/17/85 Finbar’s version), soon they began calling it simply “Mike’s Song.”

In the first few years of its existence, “Mike’s Song” was played on its own and sometimes as a lead-in to other improvisational Phish tunes (see, for example, 5/3/85, 11/23/85, 12/6/86, 8/21/87). These early versions were very melodic and their improvisational style shared an affinity with Grateful Dead jams (check out the very beautiful 10/15/86 Hunt’s version). The jam segment of “Mike’s Song” began to get dark and twisted in 1987, but dissonance was not a common characteristic of the song until 1989.

From 1989 through 1994, “Mike’s Song” often contained a dark, sinister and semi-dissonant jam (for example, check out 12/30/89, 11/30/90, 11/8/91, 4/16/92, 3/3/93, or 12/28/94). In the early to mid 1990s, Mike and Trey often performed this chaotic jam while bouncing on trampolines, hence why some people refer to it as the “tramps segment” of “Mike’s Song.” Fog sometimes made (and continues to make) an appearance during this sometimes psychotic, terrifying jam. The intense “Mike’s jam” was usually, though not always, topped off with a few measures of composed chords, which transitioned and bridged the groove into a new jam segment (compare 2/7/89 with 3/24/89 and 5/28/89). Although the composed, closing chords to “Mike’s Song” have rarely made an appearance since 1994 (compare 10/29/96 with earlier “Mike’s” from 1995 and 1996), they reappeared for several versions in summer 2003 (see 8/3/03 IT).

From summer 1988 through spring 1993, “Mike’s Song” was routinely followed by the popular instrumental “I Am Hydrogen.” Since 1993, however, it has been anyone’s guess as to what song will follow “Mike’s.” Although many versions of Mike’s Song since fall 1994 have been followed by “Simple” (compare the rough 5/27/94 San Francisco and 6/22/94 Columbus versions with the polished 12/6/96 Vegas “Simple”), some rather unusual songs have been performed out of “Mike’s Song” over the years (for example, “TMWSIY,” 2/4/93; “Great Gig in the Sky,” 4/10/93; “Ya Mar,” 4/18/93; the Hebrew prayer, “Jerusalem City of Gold,” 7/24/93; a Puccini aria, “O Mio Babbino Caro,” 5/27/94; The Beatles’ “Why Don’t We Do It In the Road,” 6/25/95; David Bowie’s “Life On Mars,” 11/15/95; “Sleeping Monkey,” 11/15/96; “Lawn Boy,” 3/1/97; “Chalk Dust Torture,” 12/9/97; “Esther,” 8/1/98; “Frankie Says,” 10/31/98).

Most versions of “Mike’s Song” contain something unusual, of course. Nevertheless, here are some popular, unusual versions: 7/23/88 (vocal jam and percussion in opening); 12/1/89 (Trey teases Jimi Hendrix’s “Third Stone from the Sun”); 5/10/91 (Bucket of Lard); 5/12/91 (last show at the Front; Dude of Life on vocals and David Grippo on sax); 7/23/91 (excellent version with the Giant Country Horns); 8/17/92 (Trey sustains a note for three minutes); 11/28/92 (Aerosmith’s “Walk This Way”); 12/29/92 (“On Broadway”); 12/31/92 ("Auld Lang Syne"); 3/27/93 (trippy and unpredictable); 4/10/93 (Rolling Stones’s “Girl”); 4/18/93 (“Low Rider” jam and segue into “Ya Mar”); 5/6/93 (The Beatles “Ob La Di, Ob La Da” with Dick Solberg on violin); 8/7/93 (“New York New York,” Irish folk theme, “Kung”); 8/16/93 (Hendrix’s “Who Knows”); 4/29/94 (exploratory); 5/2/94 (Stacey Starkweather joins Mike on bass); 6/9/94 (powerfully weird); 6/17/94 (Run, OJ, Run!); 7/10/94 (“Midnight Rider” and “Low Rider”); 10/8/94 (features a girls soccer team’s cheer); 11/25/94 (ferocious jam); 6/25/95 (exploratory, spacey jam); 10/11/95 (Page teases Star Trek theme); 10/25/95 (incredibly psychedelic, with teasing of Pink Floyd’s “Breathe”); 11/15/95 (thrilling, spacey jam); 11/25/95 (instrument switching); 7/12/96 (aimless and sad); 10/29/96 (Karl Perazzo on percussion!); 11/15/96 (an adventure); 11/23/96 (all over the map); 3/1/97 (The Doors “The End” and Pink Floyd’s “Careful With That Axe, Eugene” quoting); 7/22/97 (mysterious); 11/22/97 (funky and soulful); 12/13/97 (Bring In The Dude); 7/17/98 (mellifluous hose); 11/27/98 (beautiful segue into “Hydrogen”); 9/22/99 (dizzying, kaleidoscopic energy); 9/29/99 (Hendrix’s “Who Knows”).

Incredible versions of “Mike’s Song” are too numerous to detail here, but you should definitely hear these awe-inspiring versions, which feature soulful, collective and exciting improvisation: 8/13/93, 6/22/94, 10/25/95, 11/11/95, 11/21/95, 12/1/95, 12/7/95, 12/16/95, 12/31/95, 8/13/96, 11/6/96, 12/4/96, 11/13/97, 12/2/97, 12/31/97, 12/31/98, and 12/30/99.