March 15, 2010
3 days ago
The Waldorf-Astoria
Set 1: Watcher of the Skies[1], No Reply At All[1]
[1] Phish Debut
Want More? Check our setlists
Phish.net is a non-commercial project run by and for Phish fans under the auspices of the all-volunteer, non-profit Mockingbird Foundation. This project serves to compile, preserve, and protect encyclopedic information about Phish and their music. But we need your help!
This new beta site represents a huge advance over the circa-1994 site that www.phish.net has been for almost 16 years. The back-end is tremendous. But the UI needs mad skillz that we don't have. Please contact us if you can help!
Music: Payne/Barrere/Gradney
Lyrics: Payne/Barrere
Original Artist: Little Feat
Original Album: Time Loves a Hero (1977)
Vocals: Trey
Debut: 1988-10-29
Historian: Ellis Godard
Of all the rarities “busted out” during Phish shows over the years, perhaps the most poignant is “Time Loves a Hero.” Early performances of this Little Feat bop had an exuberance that suggested prophecy (though not the full sound of the original, which featured the Tower of Power horns). The Phish debut was particularly strong. The next two appearances came at the first Molly’s gig (11/3/88) and two days later at Hamilton College (11/5/88). And the song moved earlier in the setlist with each appearance, as if the lyrics were becoming stronger and stronger omens of the band’s coming success. But then it moved too early in the evening for an audience to hear, serving as the soundcheck on consecutive nights (4/14/89 and 4/15/89).
The lyrics deal with an uncle who left his wife and “blue collar hell” for “the beaches of Puerto Rico.” The chorus then ponders whether the uncle will someday be lauded for having ditched convention in search of beauty, or will instead continue to be seen as a hollow deviant. Though with the harshness of a good blues story, the song brings to mind a popular image of traveling musicians as carefree artists. But the realities of sleeping on YMCA floors and traveling cross-country in the back of a moving truck are harsher than Caribbean beaches. Phish endured not by ditching conventions, but by adopting those that work and doing what it took to fulfill their dream. And it paid off.
Time confirmed the prophecy, as Phish’s heroic status in art, performance, and business was made clear over the next ten years. Appropriately, then, they added a breakout “Time Loves a Hero” to the “summer of covers” roster on 8/11/98 (nearly ten years after its last performance), and celebrated their return from the hiatus with another breakout on 12/31/02 (151 shows later).
An all-volunteer project of the