This remnant will be replaced soon. The FAQ is back, with a new design! What is Dave's Energyguide? Obfuscation: Daniel Ritchey received a postcard response (to a question about the jam in 12-31-95) from Phish (via Betty) saying, "The Energyguide is not to be discussed. (And no, it was not played.)" A source close to the band has disclosed that what Betty meant was, "The inner chi-guy, 'tis not you; bead his ghost." Explanation: "Dave's Energyguide" is a Robert-Fripp-esque instrumental co-written by Trey and "Looks Too Much Like Dave" Abrahams (not Szuter) as part of a music class (National Guitar Summer Workshop, 7/5/93 at the Canterbury School in New Milford, Connecticut. "Landlady" was written there as well). DEG is often mislabelled as (or confused with) the King Crimson song "Discipline", "Mind Left Body Jam". According to Luann Abrahams (Dave's wife, and the wife in "My Friend, My Friend", who posted this 2/11/97), "Dave originally wrote the 'Frippiest' fragment. He played it for Trey when they were at guitar camp together, and the two of them composed a song around it. Years later, Trey heard Fishman playing an interesting diamond-patterned riff on the guitar. Trey added it to the existing composition, and it became 'Dave's Energyguide.' (The 'energy guide' in the title comes from the small, yellow, diamond-shaped, like a road sign, placard bearing the words ENERGY GUIDE which Trey used to hang on his mike stand.) Fishman's contribution shouldn't be overlooked, since his guitar work is pretty rare!" Luann earlier (7/8/96) posted "Don't forget the Fishman Factor. DEG would not be what it is without his eventual but important guitar contribution!" (Though note Fishman's more recent guitar work, on "Acoustic Army" and instrument-switch jams.) Recognition: Some dispute that "Dave's Energyguide" is even a song, in the strict sense. Some insist that it's merely a variation on "Mind Left Body Jam" (see below), parts of King Crimson's album Discipline, or "I Zimbra" from the Talking Heads' album Fear of Music, the same album featuring "Cities". Dave (not Trey) was, reportedly, influenced by Robert Fripp's guitar playing (on both Discipline and, by the way, "I Zimbra"). And Yoda <JHDAVIS@VM.SC.EDU> posted (2/11/98) that "Dave's Energy Guide doesn't have a hugely distinctive sound... [and] sounds much like an excerpt of a spacey jam, a Type II. The only particularly distinctive part of the song is the repetitive guitar riff consisting of only a few notes. .. a tease of DEG is probably going to go unnoticed because of its minimal substance. I wouldn't be surprised if some of the 'teases' of DEG were not really intentional, but merely product of the ever-shifting hose spouting from Trey's fingers. [Many] are just that one guitar riff set on top of the beat and jam of some other song, like the Cities>DEG>Cities of 9/8/88 and 8/6/88. So I say that Dave's Energy Guide was never a song at all, merely a feeble jam to support one guitar riff consisting of only a few notes repeated in a jumpy rhythm. Is N20 a song? Is Montana a song? Who knows?" "Mind Left Body Jam": I need to update this soon, but here are the two parts I need to integrate: Old Answer: (aka Mind Left Body, aka Mud Love Buddy (Dozin at the Knick), aka Heaven Help the Fool Jam) is an instrumental performed sporadically by the Grateful Dead over their years, with a classic performance being 6/28/74, Boston Gardens, and a later performance (3-24-90) out of Terrapin. Daniel Ritchey <DRITCHE1@UA1VM.UA.EDU> posted (9/5/97), "This is derived from a song called 'Your Mind Has Left Your Body', which appears [as track five, written by Kanter, 5:45] on the Paul Kantner/Grace Slick album called Baron Von Tollbooth and the Chrome Nun. This album was kind of a bridge between the old Jefferson Airplane and the soon-to-be-formed Jefferson Starship. David Freiberg, formerly of Quicksilver Messenger Service, was also credited on the album. There are some absolutely incredible pieces of music on this album, as well as the album Sunfighter, which was also done by Kantner/Slick during the lull at the end of the Airplane's existence. The reason the Dead used to do this is because Jerry played several songs on both the Baron Von Tollbooth and Sunfighter albums, which are some of my favorite non-Dead Jerry items of all time. Both these albums were formerly only available on LP, but they were both remastered and released on CD on July 29th! After years of listening to scratchy records, I couldn't be more delighted. These albums contain some if the best music to come out of the community of artists in the Bay Area in the early 70's, and I recommend that everyone go out and get the CD's as soon as they can. They will be listed under Kantner/Slick [correction: under Paul Kantner, Grace Slick, and David Frieberg] if you need to order them." New Submission: Tyler Hart <Tyler.Hart@dynamix.com> emailed (10/22/98): "Daniel Ritchie's post presents the Orthodox Dead Trader's Version (ODTV) of this jam, which is only one of many. "Phil Lesh has stated repeatedly and with great emphasis that the "jam that has been called Mind Left Body" is no such thing, and bears no conscious influence whatsoever from the BvTB song which Deadheads have named it after. The "Mud Love Buddy" title on Dozin' at the Knick is specifically a humorous jab at tape traders who affixed a formal title to a loose musical structure which the band themselves never, apparently, named even obliquely or even referred to verbally. They would simply end up landing on those chords every now and again and would fool with them for awhile. That is the Official Phil Lesh Version (OPLV): it's just a loose coupla chords, don't take it so serious, people. "Many people think the Subconscious Subtle Influence Version (SSIV), which falls between the two extremes, is the most likely. They didn't *mean* to play anything like YMHLYB, but they were playing all these gentle two- to four-chord jams and at some point Jerry fell into an open structure similar to the one he had played with the Planet Earth loonies. They all liked it, and fell into the habit of playing it now and again, and it took on a life of its own, but was never intentionally based on or linked to YMHLYB. "There are various schisms, heresies, and sects within these 3 major versions of reality. I myself am entirely agnostic; I think it's a lovely little jam, and after that who cares really? It has now come to be called the MLBJ in tape trading circles, and I use that name for reference puposes without any interest or investment in the "real truth." "One other thing: neither Your Mind Has Left Your Body nor the Grateful Dead Type I jam structure deadheads call the Mind Left Body Jam have anything whatsoever to do with "Heaven Help the Fool" or a "Heaven Help Jam." That comes from one total mislabelling of a tape that circulated widely. The two (or three) musical structures, whatever linguistic terms one uses to describe them, bear no resemblance to each other at all to even a moderately discerning ear. Phish would rock like bastards on a HH Jam; it's extraordinarily crescendo-iffic." (As an aside, the same album that birthed "Mind Left Body" also has a tune called "Fishman", as Daniel later posted: "Truthfully, I can't understand all the lyrics but they include 'He's the son of Caliban / He rules the ocean land.' One line is something about him holding the ocean in his hand. In another the singer expresses the desire to make love to him over and over again on the sand. Grace Slick sings it. This song appears on the May 1973 release Baron Von Tollbooth & The Chrome Nun. Of course our Fishman would have been a child at the time [and it's his last name, not a nickname] but it is still neat. ... The players on the album include: Paul Kantner, Grace Slick, David Freiberg, Jerry Garcia, Mickey Hart, Jorma Kaukonen, David Crosby, Jack Cassady, Papa John Creech, and The Pointer Sisters. ... It was just released on CD for the first time back in July [1997].") Evolution? The shift in confusion of Phish's delay loop jams from DEG to MLBJ may be an instance of evolution of Phish's music, from Dave's Energyguide (DEG) to a different delay-loop jam to something that sounds more like Mind Left Body Jam (MLBJ). In an effort to distinguish, here's my attempt to summarize the debates and discussions. (Please send an email if and how I'm confused.) "Dave's Energyguide": For the Trey/Dave project, listen to 4-1-86 Hunt's, 3-23-87, 4-29-87 Nectar's, the 7-23-88 "Rift" jam coming out of "The Curtain", the 8/6/88 Telluride "YEM" > "Cities" > "DEG" > "Cities", and the 9-8-88 "Cities" > "DEG" > "Cities". (Note that actual instances of "Dave's Energyguide" are often labelled "King Crimson Jam" or simply "Jam".) "Delay Loop Jam": Between "Bouncin" and TMWSIY at 12-28-96 Philly, in the intro to 12-29-94 Providence's "David Bowie" (after "Guyute"), and at the end of 12-31-95 "Mike's Song", there were delay-loop jams that sounded like, but were not, DEG (nor were they MLBJ). (This is often labelled "Delay Jam" or "Delay Loop Jam" or "Digital Delay Jam". It's is called soundscaping, termed by Peter Fripp, according to <rbruning@richmond.edu>. Andrew Lutch <Lutch.James.JJ@bhp.com.au> suggested calling it "The Big Show Jam".). During the Tweezerfest at Dallas 5/7/94, the digital delay jam included teases of DEG. DEG and MLBJ? At the 6-18-94 UIC Pavillion show, between Peaches en Regalia and David Bowie, during the hi-hat intro to Bowie, Page and Mike were playing a MLBJam-ish something but Trey was playing DEG - this may be the closest Phish has come to MLBJ. The same chord progression appears in the Twist jam on 4-2-98. The jam in 10/29/96 Tallahasse's Mike's Song is similar. MLBJ-ish Jam: In the intro to 8-10-97 Deer Creek "David Bowie" and during the jam in Scent of a Mule at the Great Went 8-17-97, there was delay-loop jam that sounded like MLBJ, but which was neither DEG nor MLBJ (though Chad <chadfa@aol.com>, for instance, insists that the Went version was the closest they've come to DEG in 10 years.) Dave Abrahams (with Aaron Wolfe, Bob Szuter, and Marc Daubert) penned some early Phish songs. He is immortalized in the song "McGrupp and the Watchful Hosemasters" by the lines "I'd like to get his [Rutherford the Brave's] autograph, but he looks too much like Dave." Dave's mom Guelah is mentioned in "Guelah Papyrus", and his father Elihu is mentioned in "Sample in a Jar". Read an interview with Dave conducted for the Mockingbird Foundation. Also, the main lick of DEG is teased on the White Album after NO2 just before Fluff's Travels; as well as at 7:53 in the "Wolfman's Brother" on Slip Stitch and Pass. Thanks also to Charlie Dirksen <dirkch00@dons.ac.usfca.edu> (2/7/97 and 5/7/98), Luann Abrahams <abrahams@pop.fas.harvard.edu> (2/11/97 and 5/5/98), Matt Heller <pshead@mindspring.comLgt; (6/21/97), Paul <hsyoung@aol.com>, <jarch420@aol.com> (8/24/97), Daniel Ritchey <DRITCHE1@UA1VM.UA.EDUGgt;, Jesse Jarnow <wol@worldnet.att.net>, Robert Thorne <nifudonicu@hotmail.com> (9/13/97), Darren Fitzpatrick <bg19667@binghamton.edu> (9/12/97), IvanTroy <IvanTroy@aol.com> (1/7/98), Eric Burns <&ericbX@softaware.comXgt; (2/12/98), and Jay <jarch420@aol.com> (mid97). "Our whole focus in life is on improvisation and music as communication, and no one has really written an article that talks about that. A lot of times we get compared to bands and it's a bunch of crap. I mean, we're not doing the same thing."" -- Trey Anastasio, to Addicted to Noise, c. 6/95" This page last updated January 24, 2007. All contents © 1992-2007 Ellis Godard. All rights reserved.