Question 1

Phish's rollicking cover of "Loving Cup" comes from which band's catalog?

Accepted Answer

The Rolling Stones. It's a Jagger/Richards tune from the Stones' 1972 double LP Exile on Main St., and Phish first opened a show with it in Portland, Maine, in February 1993.

Question 2

Phish has famously performed a fully a cappella version of which Southern rock anthem, vocal guitar solo and all?

Accepted Answer

"Free Bird" (Lynyrd Skynyrd). The band first went fully voice-only on Lynyrd Skynyrd's epic in July 1993 in Weedsport, NY, recreating the guitar heroics with nothing but their mouths.

Question 3

"Good Times Bad Times," a long-running Phish cover, was originally recorded by which band?

Accepted Answer

Led Zeppelin. It's the opening track of Led Zeppelin's 1969 debut, and Phish has used it as a high-octane rocker for decades.

Question 4

The heavy instrumental "Frankenstein," a Phish encore favorite, was originally a hit for which act?

Accepted Answer

The Edgar Winter Group. Edgar Winter's synth-and-guitar instrumental from the early '70s has become one of Phish's go-to rave-up encores.

Question 5

"Golden Age," a 3.0-era jam vehicle that debuted in November 2009, is a cover of which band?

Accepted Answer

TV on the Radio. It comes from TV on the Radio's 2008 album Dear Science, and Phish's debut in Albany is credited with giving a sleepy fall tour a jolt.

Question 6

Phish's big-rock cover "Rock and Roll" was originally recorded by which band?

Accepted Answer

The Velvet Underground. It's a Lou Reed-penned Velvet Underground tune from Loaded, the album Phish played in full for Halloween 1998 in Las Vegas.

Question 7

Phish's "2001" is Richard Strauss's "Also Sprach Zarathustra" as interpreted by which Brazilian artist's funky 1970s arrangement?

Accepted Answer

Eumir Deodato. Phish's disco-funk strut on the piece follows Deodato's jazz-funk reworking rather than the orchestral original made famous by the film 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Question 8

Which of these songs is a Phish original rather than a cover?

Accepted Answer

Gumbo. "Gumbo" is a Phish song (and a horn-section showcase on A Live One), while the others come from Talking Heads, Cyril Ferguson and the Allman Brothers.

Question 9

Phish fans long credited "Ya Mar" to the Mustangs, but who actually wrote and first recorded the calypso tune?

Accepted Answer

Cyril Ferguson. The real story came out just before the fall 2000 hiatus. Page's "Leo" nickname comes from the Mustangs' version, where the singers call out to their piano player.

Question 10

Who wrote "Sneakin' Sally Through the Alley," first recorded by Lee Dorsey with The Meters?

Accepted Answer

Allen Toussaint. New Orleans great Allen Toussaint wrote and produced it, though Phish's arrangement owes more to Robert Palmer's 1974 version. Early Phish versions featured the band's first vocal jams.

Question 11

"Timber (Jerry the Mule)," a.k.a. "Timber Ho!," was written in the 1930s by Sam Gary and which folk-blues artist, who first recorded it in 1940?

Accepted Answer

Josh White. Josh White and his Carolinians cut it first; Phish debuted it at Nectar's in 1987, and Harry Belafonte and Odetta also recorded versions.

Question 12

"Halley's Comet" was written by whom?

Accepted Answer

Richard "Nancy" Wright. Nancy was a devoted friend of the band whose tape reached them through a roommate. For about three years Phish only played it when he was there to sing.

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