Drift While You're Sleeping

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Originally Performed By	Ghosts of the Forest
Original Album	Ghosts of the Forest (2019)
Appears On
Music	Anastasio
Lyrics By	Anastasio
Vocals	Trey (lead), Jennifer, Celisse (backing)
Phish Debut	2019-06-11
Last Played	2025-09-16
Current Gap	4
Historian	David Spencer
Last Update	2025-10-13

History

Holding down the second spot on Trey’s 2019 solo project Ghosts of the Forest, dedicated to his close friend Chris Cotrell, who passed away in 2018, “Drift While You’re Sleeping” is a reflection on life and death, the difference between, and transfiguration both musically and lyrically from the perspective of a soon-to-be surviving companion. 

Ghosts of the Forest - 04/12/2019 - "Drift While You're Sleeping." Video by Trey Anastasio

The A-section (“Earthbound we drag on…”) is the narrator contemplating how humans are tied to this world until death comes for us in one form or another. Musically plodding and unsettled (note the intervals in the guitar riff and the ghost-notes on the snare drum), it paints a picture of a life barely hanging on. The chorus gives respite, a deep breath in the form of sustained chords behind “You can drift…” and a more solid rhythmic foundation in the following stanza (“…down the stream we ride…”).

The B-section (the “reggae” groove and “We are wind…”) is that moment when life slips away; the narrator witnesses the death of the companion and muses on the ritual of shepherding our loved ones out of this life (“I’ll take my friend on this ferry ride…”). Musically, the guitar effects and reverb create a spacey atmosphere of discorporated spiritual energy. Floating and detached, this evokes the feeling of a spirit untethered from the crude flesh that once dragged on, earthbound. In witnessing and meditating upon this transition, the narrator has an epiphany about the nature of human connection and concludes that we are all bound by love (“it’s love, it’s love, it always was…”)

Finally, the C-section is the ecstatic eucatastrophe of spiritual ascension after death (“We move through stormy weather…”) and the revelation of the communion of souls across the gulf of mortality (“And love will carry us through.”) Musically represented by a gospel-inspired choral selection and lead vocal line, this final section displays the glory of transcending mortal bonds.

While generally static in its performance, sticking to its original design, the song has consistently found its way into Phish setlists in a variety of ways but most often as a set closer, generally of the first set, beginning soon after its premiere in 2019. 

Last significant update: 4/14/25

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