If You Need a Fool
| Originally Performed By | The Del McCoury Band |
| Original Album | Blue Side of Town (1992) |
| Music/Lyrics | Steve Earle |
| Vocals | Phish; Del McCoury and Phish (7/18/99) |
| Phish Debut | 1998-07-29 |
| Last Played | 1999-07-18 |
| Current Gap | 849 |
| Historian | Christian McKee |
History
There is confusion with the title on this one, and Mr. McCoury has been no help, announcing it onstage as “If You Need a Fool,” “Call Me If You Need A Fool” and “If You Need a Fool, Call Me.” Even if he seems to have Phish’s knack for mis-information, he and his band write and play the best bluegrass music out there today. Phish has played this tune on three occasions, the best being the version from Oswego in the summer of 1999 (7/18/99) featuring the Del McCoury Band. Trey’s glee is apparent throughout all the selections the two ensembles performed together, which included other McCoury originals (“Beauty of My Dreams,”) bluegrass standards (“I’m Blue, I’m Lonesome,”) and Phish originals (“Back On the Train.”) The song is also an occasional feature of soundchecks (see for example 8/8/98).
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