All LawnMemo in No Man’s Land, My Brain Exploding for 10 Minutes
How long, have we fallen?
How far can we go?
How far will we fall, if there’s nothing below?
We stand on a rock, suspended in air, and blazing with sunlight, keenly aware…
That we’ve, broken free, something has changed, a tear in the fabric, sometimes we arrange…
We are the no men, in no man’s land
We are the no men, in no man’s land
Darkness the one thing we all understand…
We are the no men, in no man’s land
We are the no men, in no man’s land
And the truth will rise above, and fiction fall beneath
Though the lies will bite, the truth has all the teeth
You see us as a window, Your happy that were here
Exposed to the elements, while inside all is clear
But if you hold a mirror, and you turn it to one side
The depth you see, within at first, will find a place to hide.
We are the no men, in no man’s land
We are the no men, in no man’s land
We are the no men, in no man’s land
We are the no men, in no man’s land
The loss of all emotion, the absence of sound
When there is no sun, to circle around
We are the no men, the no men…
No men….
(Edit I missed a bunch of lyrics of course, official lyrics here http://phish.net/song/no-men-in-no-mans-land/lyrics)
Well that was fun for me to transcribe that! Blast in the past for me. I had a notebook, where I would use my boombox to fast forward and rewind my cassette and write down what (I though) the lyrics were. This was back before the internet, and it would take me forever. Having a digital copy of “No Men in No Man’s Land” to seek forward and back just cut that time in half. I can promise you when I saw the official lyrics for “Cavern” and compared them to my notes, I butchered the hell out of it.
So let’s talk about this song, that I tweeted about about 50 times, and listened to about twice as much.
“No Men in No Man’s Land” seems like it rolled right off the Halloween assembly line. I mean that in the most complimentary way possible. Ooozing with funk and that incredible rhythmic groove that this current version of Phish is so good at.
That opening lick by Trey is infectious and the immediate clav hammer by Page had me…
What the heck is this??? This is the Phish I love, no messing around, high energy and with full band power. The balance between all four members in “NMINML” is incredible. Its a damn powerhouse of hot sauce.
Even the transition into the chorus is full speed ahead. They lyrics roll off Trey’s tongue and have a cool sing-a-long ability to them that doesn’t seem cheesy.
Phish are the No Men, and in No Men’s Land.
They are 30+ years into their musical career, and just played 3 new songs on their tour opener. Their jams are creative, and they just threw down one of the best Halloween’s of all time. This is no swan song, Phish is pushing forward creatively.
This is No Men’s Land. Bands that stick around this long play their greatest hits, and everyone goes crazy. You know the drill, same setlists, played over and over from tour stop to tour stop. Phish is in uncharted territory, or No Men’s Land.
How long, have we fallen?
How far can we go?
How far will we fall, if there’s nothing below?
You see us as a window, Your happy that were here
Exposed to the elements, while inside all is clear
Phish is taking chances, out there exposed. It’s could be so easy to play everyone’s favorite songs, (the inside) and ride into the sunset. Instead every new song lends itself to an insane amount of criticism (exposed to the elements).
Then there is the danceability to this song. This is hotter then a Hannah Davis commercial (she is replacing Kate Upton on TDG Blog, Derek Jeter I salute you). When this dropped last night, I immediately lost it. I cleared enough dancing space that even Kate Upton’s breasts would have had room to move (ok she still has a place).
This is what my soul felt like…
Oh…and then it kept going…..
And I kept dancing…and smiling….and tweeting….and falling in love.
The jam interplay between the band members is top notch. It sounds like “NMINML” is in mid-tour form! Trey’s tone and soloing is perfect. He doesn’t miss a note, and attacks right from the start.
Strictly Type 1, but Type 1 jamming with fire. Like a good “Walls from the Cave” I could sit in this jam space and dance/air guitar for hours.
Phish hit one out of the park last night, and like Giancarlo Stanton it landed in No Man’s Land