4. “You Enjoy Myself,” aka Bring out the Trampolines!

“You Enjoy Myself,” aka “YEM,” is perhaps the most quintessential Phish song. It’s the song they’ve played the most, more than 600 times, averaging once every three shows, according to Phish.net. It’s got it all: a delicate, composed section; solos for each band member; a glorious peak buildup; strange lyrics; trampolines; open jam; and then what can only be described as a vocal jam.

“YEM” is Phish, unabashed, shameless, and entirely of its own. The song, as recorded on Phish’s 1992 album Junta, is just short of 10 minutes, while most live versions land around the 20-minute mark.

If you were to dive into the catalogue of “YEM,” well, it’s difficult to pick a place to start. The song itself has changed over the decades. The first recorded version, on Phish’s The White Tape, is entirely a cappella, while more recent versions of the Phish classic include Trey Anastasio’s 2009 performance with the New York Philharmonic and his 2014 performance with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Highly regarded performances of the song include an early gig in Washington, D.C., (November 16, 1991) and a Vermont gig with Carlos Santana (July 25, 1992). See also any “YEM” from 1995 (for example, October 31, 1995, or Albany’s December 9, 1995).

To call the song epic is not to give it justice. “YEM” is a journey. “YEM” is a vision quest. “YEM” is sex, replete with an opening flirtation, dancing, the foreplay, the BOY!, leading up to an explosive orgasm, followed by a bizarre, post-coitus scat denouement.

Ultimately, YEM is a voyage into the unknown, exploring the relationship between man and the greater universe, unraveling the cosmic knot that is existence and, well…. Yes, okay, so the lyrics are a bit weird, even unintelligible.

“Boy, Man, what a jam! The tramps are transcendent!” (Andy Sinboy)

The main lyrical component is a series of single words shouted after what Phish.net’s Charlie Dirksen once described as the “Charge,” namely, Boy, Man, God, Shit. What follows is a mumbled, marbled amalgamation of what is historically considered to be the phrase “Wash uffitze, drive me to Firenze.”

Now, only the band truly knows what they’re saying or what it may mean. The question has been posed countless times and the handful of conflicting answers only furthers the debate. But here’s what we know. Trey Anastasio wrote the song during a busking adventure through Europe with Jon Fishman in the summer of 1985. A common consensus is that they had hailed a cab driver to take them to Florence, Italy, known as Firenze in Italian, and the cab driver, perhaps slighted by their on-the-road appearance or smell, told them to “wash your feet.” According to Phish.net, some 1995 performances include the band singing “washa you feetsie” in what could be considered an Italian accent.

Other translations of the intelligible lyrics include, as proposed perhaps comically by Mike Gordon in Phish’s 1990s newsletter, “Water you team, in a beehive I’m a sent you,” and “Yes, I’ll play, but no I won’t raise,” and “Washer/dryer/freezer/fencing,” and “Wash you face and drive me to Valencia,” and “Washington fences, please, says me.”

And that’s not the strangest part.

During one segment of the song, someone backstage (for many years it was Phish’s road manager, Brad Sands) brings out a pair of mini trampolines and, yes, Anastasio and Gordon then jump on mini trampolines onstage while Page McConnell jams. While jumping in sync, they also perform choreographed movements, turning from facing front to facing left, turning from facing left to facing right, then turning around the long way to face front again, for example. Some fans jump along with the guys as well. It’s a strange and unique aspect to live performances of this opus.

Once joined by Grateful Dead bassist Phil Lesh, the band employed three trampolines so he too could bounce along.

And after what was thought to be the final performance of “YEM” at what was planned to be Phish’s final festival, Coventry, in 2004, the band gifted the trampolines to the audience, who destroyed or dismantled the tramps so as to share in the relics among each other.

Still today, “YEM” is one of the most highly regarded songs in Phish’s repertoire. It really does encapsulate many of the attributes of this band, from composed instrumentalism to lengthy freeform jams, to weird lyrics and onstage theatrics. Boiled down to its essence, “YEM” is Phish and Phish is “YEM.”

When you hear it, be sure to enjoy yourself!

The Title Though?

The song title itself reportedly comes from that same summer in 1985 in Europe, where Anastasio had been hanging out with some Italians who spoke little English. When they parted ways, the Italians said, “You enjoy myself, yes?” And yet, another origin story states something similar yet different: it wasn’t an Italian couple but rather a German guy who reportedly said to Trey and Jon, “When I’m with you, you enjoy myself!” We may never know the truth.