Phish.net

Dark Side of the Moon’s most elegant and ethereal tune was possibly Phish’s biggest challenge at the 11/2/98 ‘E’ Centre show, even more than the elusive structure of “On the Run” or the languid slither of “Breathe.” The original track is alternately impassioned and lilting, and was a harsh test of Phish’s ability to imbue their performance with the proper degree of earnest emotion. 

Well, they played it fine, but it lacked a certain oomph. Also, their arrangement cut the song short by a few minutes by excising a full measure each verse and truncating the piano/sax solos found on the original, the longest track on DSOTM. Page’s verse vocals were appropriately small, and they even cleverly mimicked the echo effect of each verse’s first word by having Page, Mike, and Trey repeat the word a few times each in succession. 

(Waters/Wright)
© Hampshire House Publishing Corp (ASCAP)

Us, and them
And after all were only ordinary men
Me, and you
God only knows it's not what we would choose to do

Forward he cried from the rear
And the front rank died
And the Generals sat, and the lines on the map
Moved from side to side

Black and blue
And who knows which is which and who is who?
Up and down
But in the end it's only round and round and round

Haven't you heard it's a battle of words
The poster bearer cried
Listen son, said the man with the gun
There's room for you inside

Down and out
It can't be helped but there's a lot of it about
With, without
And who'll deny it's what the fightings all about?

Out of the way, it's a busy day
And I've got things on my mind
For the want of the price of tea and a slice
The old man died