Phish.net

“Babylon Baby” is the fifth track of Mike’s 2010 release, Moss, and the third tune off that album (following “Idea” and “What Things Seem”) Phish has performed to date. The song was a regular in Mike’s touring ensemble during the spring 2011 tour, making its debut at the MacDonald Theater in Eugene, OR on 3/5/11. Featuring an extended bass intro and typically strong lead work by Scott Murawski, “Babylon Baby” was a strong addition to a band that in early 2011 was propelling into a different plane, from “we’ll see” into “must see!”

Watch Babylon Baby on YouTube Mike Gordon, “Babylon Baby” – 4/16/11, Live Oak, FL

“Babylon Baby” made a "Phish debut" in front of an “audience” of about 100, plus anyone milling about the front of Harvey’s casino a little after four in the afternoon on 8/9/11 in Stateline, NV, during the soundcheck. The official debut came just a few days later during the first set in Chicago on 8/15/11. The extended bass intro by Mike is trimmed up considerably in the Phish version, but the song otherwise maintains the same rollicking structure that hopefully lands this fun and potentially expansive jam vehicle some room to breathe in the Phish repertoire.

(Gordon)
© Who Is She? Music, Inc. (BMI) ?

She's been the same as the pillars and the stones
And I sit on the wall and ponder alone
She's like an institution on her own
You can open up the Gates of Babylon, I'm coming home

Babylon baby, take me, we'll try to save me
Babylon baby, take me home
And I can keep my God thinkin'
No one knows since I've been drinkin'
'Cause I don't want to spend this night alone

You done that assume, little rough around the edges
But you bet the night, I might just clean up nice
Well, I'm serving out the last piece of my pent up rebellion
Bring on all the material goods and family ties

Babylon baby, take me, we'll try to save me
Babylon baby, take me home
And I can keep my God thinkin'
No one knows since I've been drinkin'
'Cause I don't want to spend this night alone

I don't care about my big dumb bungalow
No, no, I don't
Make me a copy of the key to the city
And I'll try to make that my new home
No need to live the kind of life I've known

Here we are in a room full of suitors and players
And your hand is cold from pouring icy punch
I can fake some worldly-ness and standard sayings
If I know that I'm having you for lunch

Babylon baby, take me home, try to save me
Babylon baby, take me home
(Come on, baby, take me home)
Babylon baby, take me home, try to save me
Babylon baby, take me home
(Baby, baby, take me home)

Babylon baby, take me home
Babylon baby, take me