Well they’ve done it again, Phish has walked away victorious for the second time in Cover Wars. Phish has actually claimed a mandate in both its first (Boogie On) and more recent (Good Times Bad Times) victories. In honor of this, I’ve selected one of the larger Phish compositions as the focus of this week’s edition.

Also, some quick housekeeping, we’re calling the Cover Wars from 2 weeks ago (Space Oddity) for The Breakfast.

First off, the raw basics: Trey wrote You Enjoy Myself in Europe in 1986…you know what…if you’re reading this blog and you’re not familiar with the history of YEM, just ring your call button, and Tommy Scotty will come back there and hit you on the head with a tack hammer because you are a retard.

The dorky shit: YEM is the most played Phish song…by a lot. 472 times. 39% of all Phish shows featured it. Read on for this week’s contestants…

Some of them were smoother…

than others…[wait for it, this is a short little montage]

So let’s take a look at some bands that have had the balls to tackle YEM. And before you lineup something sarcastic to say about covering Phish, Brownie’s got something he’d like to say to you:

I’m not afraid to say it. You can be too cool for school or you can be real. I like Phish, big fucking deal. The other day my friend Berkowitz and I took a road trip. He put on the Decemberists and then Wilco, after a while I was like “enough” and we put on Rift.

If you’re only getting 30-second clips of these songs, you must first register/log into Imeem. For those who follow such things: Imeem just acquired Snocap.

Benevento/Russo Duo w/Mike Gordon: By including a version of Angel From Montgomery that featured John Prine, we left the floodgates open for original artists to be included if they are playing with a different band. Lookout for some ‘Day In The Life’ teases. Check out the whole show on the Archive

Day By The River: These guys are now retired and last played reunion gigs in 2004. They lay down a very well executed performance and they just end it after the composition without your typical I - IV jam. Check out the whole show on the Archive.

Everyone Orchestra w/Jon Fishman: The majority of this is done w/o Fish and it’s just Asher Fulero of Surrounded by Ninjas on keyboards, and it is quite impressive work. People slowly start joining them onstage, and there’s two more parts to this. If you’re interested to see where it goes, once this clip finishes you can navigate to Parts II and/or III right from the same window. YouTube will pull up the next parts as “suggestions” for other videos to view.

Glass: I love the things you can hear on an audience tape: “This is Phish.” From what I gather they are incorporating one of their originals, which is titled “Bruce Springsteen,” into the end of their YEM jam. At least I think that’s what’s going on. They throw some great improv together, but I cannot find any current info on these guys. Check out the whole show on the Archive

Phix: I chose this version because it’s a YEM > Piper > YEM, and Phish rarely put another song in the middle (less than a dozen times). According to the timer they are: 3/14/89, 3/14/93, 4/14/93, 7/16/93, 8/6/93, 8/28/93, 6/30/94, 10/15/94, 11/10/95, 11/14/95, 6/25/04 Nothing much to say here. They’re Phix: They did a great job with it. I won’t think less of you if you skip the vocal jam.

Sprout: I’ve been trying to include a few bands I’ve never heard of in Cover Wars, but often times the bands I find on Archive no longer play live. These guys from Michigan do though, check out their MySpace for a list of dates. Check out the whole show on Archive

Tim Palmieri: So technically this is YEM > Blackbird > Linus & Lucy > YEM, and it’s all Tim, his guitar and a little help from his looper. Watch out! Check out this compilation video that includes some YEM footage

So, I’ve been trying to use less artists in my Cover Wars, but ended up using seven this time. Which, in this case involves almost 2 hours of music. So feel free to cast your vote based on any criteria you choose: first one you listen to, favorite band name, etc. I won’t be upset if you don’t sit here and listen to all 7 versions, ’cause I tell you once you’re done writing on of these…you are ready to never hear the song again.

Well at least for a little while…

A few more videos before we go…

12-3-94:

Rotation Jam - Sixteen Candles:

Island Tour:

Cypress:

They did redeem themselves after botching the beginning in ‘03:

The trampolines are given away: