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Lesson 3 - Punch You In The Eye
Lesson 3 - Punch You In The Eye
I can not leave you with the studio version of Punch You in the Eye (PYITE) because this gem was never recorded in studio. This is one of Trey's many compositions dealing with the magical, mystical, wonderful land of Gamehendge, the setting of his senior project at Goddard College, The Man Who Stepped Into Yesterday (TMWSIY). Many of Phish's songs are tied together through the Gamehendge saga, and some lucky 1.0 fans had the privilege of seeing them play Gamehendge in its entirety. TMWSIY tells the story of Colonel Forbin, a retired army colonel who finds himself transported to Gamehendge, where the Lizard people have been overtaken by the evil autocrat, King Wilson. Wilson has stolen their sacred tome, the Helping Friendly Book, and has forbidden anyone of possessing a copy. Forbin joins the resistance and climbs the mountain to reach the great and knowledgeable Icculus, who calls upon the Famous Mockingbird to fly down and steal the book from Wilson and return it to the Lizards to maintain their peace and tranquility. However.....I digress. PYITE was not in the original Gamehendge thesis. Rather, Trey wrote it later, but it does deal with the inherent conflict brought on by Wilson ("Whoa, Wilson, someday I'll kill you till you die. Whoa, Wilson.....punch you in the eye!"). I'm including this one for a number of reasons:
Sooner or later any Phish listener needs to learn about Gamehendge
It's a rocker, high energy, often a show-starter. Gets the crowd fist-pumping with tension and shouting "HEY!" in unison
There's a lovely break in the song, where they bust out The Landlady, an original jazz composition. They drop this on a dime, with pinpoint precision. While Page brings the bliss with a plinky solo, Trey and Mike do a fancyfeet choreographed dance to the audience's delight. They do this a lot - they bounce on trampolines during You Enjoy Myself, they used to slide back and forth on gliders during Glide, and have choreographed dances during I Am Hydrogen, Turtle in the Clouds, and other songs. The visual aspect of a Phish show is so compelling, fans call their lighting engineer, Chris Kuroda, "CK5" - as in, Chris Kuroda the 5th member of the band. New Years and Halloween shows often have very visually stimulating and creative backdrops as well. But I digress....again. We'll hit those up another time.
The transition back into PYITE and ending the song is a masterpiece in seemingly asynchronous playing that resolves in a tight coda.
And on that, I give you Punch You in the Eye, from 12/31/95 – the same critically acclaimed show as the Reba from Lesson #1. This was the show opener. They played Reba in the 3 slot. Enjoy the jazz, the nonsense, the Gamehendge. Next we'll go big and explore their HUGE early compositions that showcase their musicianship and minimize the lyrics – the jam vehicles that set them apart from other acts.
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