Phish.net

5/16/95 was certainly not an ordinary Phish show. No less than ten tunes were debuted at this single set performance, a “Voters for Choice” benefit in Lowell, MA. Among the four new covers was Brian Eno’s “I’ll Come Running” from the influential Another Green World. 

“I’ll Come Running” shares many of the same qualities as “Contact”: it is smooth and flowing, bouncy with hints of pop influence, undeniably goofy, and a love song at heart, one that relies on thinly veiled metaphors.

This would be the first of several nods to the musical influence of Brian Eno on the members of Phish. Eno produced Talking Heads’ Remain in Light, which was performed as the 1996 Halloween musical costume. More directly, the song “Brian and Robert” from The Story of the Ghost is in reference and tribute to Brian Eno and Robert Fripp. Eno’s influence on Mike seems most pronounced, as the stylistic similarities between Another Green World and Mike’s Inside In are unmistakable.

“I’ll Come Running” has yet to be performed by Phish since its debut. Warmly received by many fans that viewed it as a perfect Phish cover – especially for Mike – it remains on many fans’ wish list for a return appearance. Apparently Another Green World was under serious consideration to be performed as a Halloween cover in the '90s, so hope springs eternal (although it was Eno's Before and After Science that made the "list of possibles" on the official Phish site for Halloween 2009 before eventually getting killed off).

(Eno)
© Universal Music Careers, Inc. (BMI)

I'll find a place somewhere in the corner
I'm gonna waste the rest of my days
Just watching patiently from the window
Just waiting seasons change, some day
Oh, oh, my dreams will pull you through that garden gate

I want to be the wandering sailor
We're silhouettes by the light of the moon
I sit playing solitaire by the window
Just waiting seasons change, ah, ah
You'll see, one day, these dreams will pull you through my door

And I'll come running to tie your shoe
I'll come running to tie your shoe

I'll come running to tie your shoe
I'll come running to tie your shoe