Mike's Song

Mike's Song is a song by the jam band Phish. Originally written in 1985, and debuting that year on October 17, bass player Mike Gordon's song has been played a total of 378 times (appearing in 31% of all of Phish live shows), the second most played song in Phish history (after You Enjoy Myself).^[1].

"Mike's Groove"

Mike's Song is the first song in a series of three songs known to Phish fans as "Mike's Groove", which traditionally consists of Mike's Song>I Am Hydrogen>Weekapaug Groove.

This musical trinity of segues resembles the Grateful Dead's Help on the Way>Slipknot!>Franklin's Tower jam. Mike's Groove is either altered or extended - I Am Hydrogen may be replaced by or sandwiched between other songs, usually the song "Simple" (Which is also sometimes included in the standard Mike's Song>I Am Hydrogen>Weekapaug Groove and placed somewhere before or after the "I Am Hydrogen.") However, other songs are also often used, including but not limited to "Contact", "Free", "Harry Hood", "Frankie Says", or "Tela", the latter adding considerable playing time to that particular Groove.

The entire "Mike's Groove" may sometimes take up an entire set, or sometimes only 10 minutes. This is because of the many ever-changing jams; 2 in Mike's Song (sometimes the second, more experimental one is cut off), jams in whatever song(s) they segue into from Mike's, and usually one at the end of Weekapaug Groove. Sometimes (i.e. Raleigh 22/07/97), they segue into Mike's from somewhere else, extending the groove ever further.

There are also several notable versions of Mike's Song that segue directly into Weekapaug Groove, with those two songs lasting nearly (or more than) 30 minutes (i.e. 12/1/95 Hershey and 12/7/95 Niagara). Click here to hear the 12/7/95 Mike's -> Weekapaug http://vimeo.com/26038430

Twice in 2003 Weekapaug Groove was played with out Mike's Song at all. They were the only 2 times Weekapaug has been played without Mikes. I Am Hydrogen was also played by itself for the first time since 1987 on 10/7/99.

References

1. ^ Raw Phish Statistics http://www.ihoz.com/every.html