Music: Phish
Lyrics: Zenzilé Madikinea
Vocals: Zenzilé Madikinea
Original Artist: Zenzilé
Debut: 1986-02-03
Historian: Mockingbird Staff
Once upon a time, Phish played backing music while Zenzilé Madikinea recited revolutionary poetry. Fans have labeled this “The Pendulum.” Zenzilé studied at Goddard briefly around this time, having been a revolutionary and “troublemaker” in South Africa as a young adult. Zenzilé rallied extensive support for various civil rights causes, urged on by his innate dissatisfaction with the heinous state of the world, always electrifying his supporters with eloquent speech and cadence. On April Fool’s Day 1986, however – perhaps in order to distinguish between Zenzilé and a true prophet – Phish subsequently slid into “Dave’s Energy Guide” as a bridge to “Icculus.”
Though maybe not a prophet, it seems Zenzilé did have a lasting impact on Phish, or at least Trey. Over twenty-three years later, during the soundcheck from the 8/14/09 Hartford show (available as a free track from livephish.com), Trey can be heard quoting part of "The Pendulum." Who knows why those obscure lines ended up in Trey's head in 2009, but what song did they bust out later that night? That's right, "Icculus."
Zenzilé: prophet or pretender? Which side are you on?
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