Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. CCXLI--Phish: Character Zero

From the You've Come A Long Way, Baby Files:  When this week's tune was first released, we had quite the time at the music store where I worked figuring out the word in the chorus that came after "I've seen the man..." (the album did not have a lyric sheet).  Our best guess was actually correct (it was "Mulcahy"), which I found out a few years later when that newfangled Internet thingie had become quite the rage.  Nowadays, we could have googled the song and known the answer in about thirty seconds or so....

Phish began in 1983 at that hotbed for rock and roll acts, the University of Vermont in Burlington, Vermont.  Other than a hiatus from 2000-2002 and a disbandment from 2004-2008, the band has been together since then, and four of the original five members have been together since 1986.  While they have had a decent amount of commercial success, much like the Grateful Dead (who they are often compared to and at one time resisted such a comparison) they have made their mark as a live band, with devoted followers the world over.  Through the course of their career, Phish has released 16 studio albums (six of which have reached the top twenty on the Billboard 200), and, not surprisingly as a band well known for its live performances, have officially released 15 live albums (two of which hit the top twenty).  In all, Phish has sold over 8 million albums and DVDs in the U.S.--which ain't half bad for four guys from the University of Vermont.

Fun Fact:  During their 1995 tour, Phish challenged their fans to two games of chess.  At each concert, Phish would make a move sometime before or during their first set, and the audience was invited to make a move during the band's set break.  Phish won the first, and their fans the second.  There's never a dull moment in the world of rock and roll...

"Character Zero" was not released as a single (though Phish has released a couple of singles, none have ever charted on the Billboard Hot 100).  It was the second song on their album Billy Breathes, which is notable not only for being the highest charting album Phish has ever had (#7), but for its disturbing cover, which would probably end up in the pantheon of disturbing albums covers despite the fact that its image contains nothing that is either pornographic or violent.

"Character Zero" explores the conundrum between opposing statements--in this case between "life is short so stop and smell the roses" and "life is short so seize the day" (my favorite is "absence makes the heart grow fonder" and "out of sight, out of mind" both of which I have found to be true over the course of my life).  While there are no grand answers, there is a nice rock and roll song--which features only one stanza and the simple chorus of "I've seen the man Mulcahy" (Mulcahy has been said to refer to a D.J. that songwriters Trey Anastasio and Tom Marshall liked, God, or, in a reference to God, Father Mulcahy from the old M*A*S*H TV show).  The first time the stanza is played quietly with a funky guitar as its background, and the second is full on rock and roll.  There's a great instrumental jam--surprise!--about halfway through that will thrill any fans of old fashioned electric guitar, and a nice vocal performance throughout, especially considering the range it follows.  I've never been a big fan of jam bands (though many have had some delightful moments), but this one is a hell of a pop song from a group of very musically talented young men.  And another in a long line of surprising songs that seem to come from out of nowhere (or the rock and roll ether, your choice).

Lyric Sheet:  "Well I'm convinced the whole day long/That all I learn is always wrong/And things are true that I forget/But no one taught that to me yet..."

Enjoy:

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emaycee