Phish.net

Trey was eight years old when The Grateful Dead composed this daunting musical pairing. But with its time signature trickery and snaking melodies, “Help/Slip” may be the most Phishy sounding piece of music in the Dead’s repertoire, so it seems natural that the band chose to cover it in an early gig at Hunt’s.

With precious few exceptions, the Dead’s live renditions of “Help/Slip” dropped neatly into “Franklin’s Tower” (see the band’s One From The Vault release for the flawless and inspiring 1975 debut of the entire suite). Phish’s only known reading of “Help/Slip,”on the other hand, features some intensely creative jamming before plummeting into “AC/DC Bag.”

Though Phish hasn’t revisited “Help/Slip,” Page and Trey accompanied Phil Lesh & Friends on a wickedly melodic version at the Warfield on 4/16/99. To no one’s surprise, “Franklin’s Tower” (and not “AC/DC Bag”) followed. Trey has performed the "Help/Slip/Franklin's" trifecta with Lesh and his varying lineup no less than four times since.

Watch Help on the Way on YouTube Grateful Dead "Help on the Way" -> "Slipknot!" 3/24/90 Albany, NY

(Garcia/Hunter)
© Ice Nine Publishing Company, Inc.

Paradise waits
on the crest of a wave
her angels in flame
She has no pain
Like a child, she is pure
She is not to blame

Poised for flight
Wings spread bright
Spring from night
into the sun

Don't stop to run
She can fly like a lie
She cannot be outdone
Tell me the cost
I can pay
Let me go
Tell me love is not lost

Sell everything
Without love, day to day,
insanity is king
I will pay
day by day
anyway
Lock, bolt and key

Crippled but free
I was blind
all the time
I was learning to see

Help on the way
I know only this
I've got you today
Don't fly away
'cause I love what I love
and I want it that way

I will stay
one more day
Like I say
Honey, it's you
Making it too
Without love in the dream
It will never come true