T.V. Theme

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History

This song constitutes one of the more unexplored conundrums of Phish’s early song mysteries. Labeled for years as “Star Trek jam” on recordings, this short instrumental sounds really nothing like any Star Trek music. There are only two known performances – 9/27/85 Slade Hall, and 10/17/85 Finbar’s – though as with anything from the early years, many others many have been lost to a history. There is no doubt as to the “original or cover” question: Trey clearly states that it’s a new one they just wrote in the past few days before the Finbar’s performance.

Even band archivist Kevin Shapiro was somewhat perplexed when it came to the identification of this song. He was able to offer a piece of information that at least shed a little more light: the band’s original master tape calls the song “T.V. Theme.” Whether it’s an actual T.V. theme, or a fictional ditty the band wrote for their own wacky and wild program, who knows?

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