Poppyhead

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

History

On 5/9/24, the Trey Anastasio Band debuted “Poppyhead” at The Salt Shed, in Chicago, along with “What’s Going Through Your Mind?” and “Demons.” The song can be heard on the live recording of the show available from LivePhish+.

The happy, reggae-infused song includes a call and response chorus of “poppyhead” between Trey and the band with mostly nonsensical lyrics. According to a JamBase article reviewing the Chicago TAB show, Trey said to the crowd at the conclusion of the song, “That song’s called ‘Poppyhead.’ And if you have to ask, you don’t know.”

Generally, poppyhead refers to a carving, most commonly of a fleur-de-lis, at the end of church choir stalls or benches, derived from the Latin word puppis for the stern of a ship, also known as the poop deck. The earliest examples of the poppyhead originate from East Anglia, an independent kingdom organized by the Anglo-Saxons around the 5th century. The ends of wooden benches consist of curved shoulders topped with a trefoiled poppyhead, resembling a three-leaf clover. The Victorians copied the shape. Subsequently, medieval craftsmen transformed the fleur-de-lis into individual pieces of art to serve as reminders of the ships at sea. An example of an East Anglian bench containing a poppyhead can be seen here. 

Also, "Delaware Malone" most often refers to the influential legal opinion in Malone v. Brincat, a landmark Delaware corporate law case establishing directors' fiduciary duty to provide accurate disclosures, while a girder rail is a grooved rail used on a modern train line, and a button hook is a tool used to assist sewing a button on. Although there is no information to support this theory, “poppyhead” may be Trey’s reference to “dopehead,” a commonly-used term to describe a heroin addict, given that heroin is derived from the poppy flower. 

The song contains random words and terms (jupiter pick, maggot jurisdiction, candle glass) whose significance together seem known only to Trey and perhaps a handful of others. These words and terms do not make understanding the meaning of this song any easier. But, we know better than to ask. 

Last significant update: 1/3/26

Submit notes/corrections