Black-Eyed Katy

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Originally Performed By	Phish
Appears On
Music	Phish
Vocals	Instrumental
Phish Debut	1997-11-13
Last Played	1997-12-30
Current Gap	901
Recommended Versions	1997-11-13, 1997-11-22, 1997-11-28, 1997-12-05, 1997-12-30
Historian	Martin Acaster (Doctor_Smarty)

History

She came strutting onto the stage at the opening show of the 1997 fall tour and has not looked back – other than to watch her own rump shaking, that is. The new queen of the Phish funk scene, she who would spawn the dance craze of the next millennium (no, not the “Meatstick” dance), the lovely “Black-Eyed Katy” was born in the Thomas & Mack Center on 11/13/97. 

Sadly the life of this funky momma appears to have been cut short. During her time with Phish she showed her never-ending stamina, her sizzling raunch, her breathtaking peaks, and put the fun back in funk. Typically she consisted of two runs through a tight yet gelatinous funk groove followed by a jam (usually similar to the original theme), which at its longest duration approached ten minutes. The jam was followed by a short reprise of the original theme as an outro. “Katy” made appearances in both first and second sets and an encore during the 1997 fall tour and looked like a mainstay.

However, by the time the summer 1998 tour began in Europe she had undergone a makeover. With the addition of lyrics during the recording of Story of the Ghost, “Black-Eyed Katy” was transformed into "The Moma Dance.” In the dance her spirit lives on. To know “Katy” is to love her, to know all her moods listen to the following versions: 11/13/97 Las Vegas (her birth), 11/22/97 Hampton (in a delightful “Tweezer,”  “Piper” sandwich), 11/28/97 Worcester (dark and sloppy), 12/5/97 Cleveland (tight and playful), and 12/30/97 MSG (short and strange with a lumpy head). 

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