Train Round the Bend

• Performances
• History
• Lyrics
• Artist
  • Phish
  • Fish
  • Mike
  • Page
  • Trey
  • All

Originally Performed By	The Velvet Underground
Original Album	Loaded (1970)
Appears On
Music/Lyrics	Lou Reed
Vocals	Mike (lead), Fish (backing)
Historian	Mark Toscano

History

This chug-chuggin' track was the penultimate tune in Phish’s Loaded set on 10/31/98. Mike handled the vocals on this chicken-fried rock song, the learning of which likely influenced Trey’s composition “Back On the Train” the following year. Phish offered a heavily energized reading of this tune. Trey’s extended solo raises the ante – each time the song seems about to end, the band takes the train around the track one more time, until Mike’s vocals slide back in to bring the number to an emphatic close. Many of the harder-core Velvets fans consider this one of the highlights of the set. Though some fans felt this would be a perfect addition to Mike’s repertoire, the song has only made this one appearance to date.

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