@[Diderik:33655] "Your a holiday!" Was a popular term used in the 50s/60s to compliment someone on their all around. For example, not only are they beautiful, but they are fun and kind too ... just an all around "holiday".
I think your first comment is closer to being accurate. The singer/song writers state "Millions of eyes can see, yet why am i so blind!? When the someone else is me, its unkind its unkind". I believe hes referring to the girl toying with him and using him. He wants something deeper with her, thats why he allows himself to be as a puppet (even though for her fun and games) as long as it makes her happy. But he knows deep down that she doesnt really want to be serious with him and thats what makes him.
Happy happy oh my friend
Blow out candles once again
Leave the presents all inside
Take my hand and let's take a ride
Backwards down the number line
You were eight and I was nine
Do you know what happened then
Do you know why we're still friends
Laughing all these many years
We've pushed through hardships tasted tears
We made a promise one to keep
I can still recite it in my sleep
Every time a birthday comes
Call your friend and sing a song
Or whisper it in to his ears
Or write it down just don't miss a year
You decide what it contains
How long it goes
But this remains
The only rule is it begins
Happy happy oh my friend
You decide what it contains
How long it goes
But this remains
The only rule is it begins
And all my friends come
Backwards down the number line
All my friends come
Backwards down the number line
All my friends come
Backwards down the number line
All my friends
You decide what it contains
How long it goes
But this remains
The only rule is it begins
Happy happy oh my friend
You decide what it contains
How long it goes
But this remains
The only rule is it begins
And all my friends come
Backwards down the number line
Blow out candles once again
Leave the presents all inside
Take my hand and let's take a ride
Backwards down the number line
You were eight and I was nine
Do you know what happened then
Do you know why we're still friends
Laughing all these many years
We've pushed through hardships tasted tears
We made a promise one to keep
I can still recite it in my sleep
Every time a birthday comes
Call your friend and sing a song
Or whisper it in to his ears
Or write it down just don't miss a year
You decide what it contains
How long it goes
But this remains
The only rule is it begins
Happy happy oh my friend
You decide what it contains
How long it goes
But this remains
The only rule is it begins
And all my friends come
Backwards down the number line
All my friends come
Backwards down the number line
All my friends come
Backwards down the number line
All my friends
You decide what it contains
How long it goes
But this remains
The only rule is it begins
Happy happy oh my friend
You decide what it contains
How long it goes
But this remains
The only rule is it begins
And all my friends come
Backwards down the number line
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Actually, the song is written for Tom Marshall, childhood friend of Trey's and longtime phish lyricist. It is a description of the tradition that the two of them have had since they were 8 and 9. On the other guy's birthday, they either call, write down, or sing in person a new birthday song each year. The only rule is that the SONG begins, "Happy, happy, oh my friend". Hence the lyrics, the writer/singer decides what it contains, how long, etc. Song was written because the two had a small falling out following the apparent demise of phish in 2004
Actually, Tom Marshall sent the lyrics to Trey while he was serving his sentence on the 2005 drug possession charges (and also in rehab).<br /> <br /> From the Rolling Stone article on the band's return from retirement in Hampton back in April:<br /> <br /> ****<br /> <br /> rollingstone.com/news/story/26841624/phish_reunite_hippie_nation/2<br /> <br /> Phish also played a new song on March 6th. "Backwards Down the Number Line" is a crisp, bright gallop that started as an e—mail Phish lyricist Tom Marshall sent Anastasio on the guitarist's birthday while he was under house arrest, living alone for more than a year in a small apartment in upstate New York, apart from his wife and two daughters in Manhattan. "As soon as I read it, I put it to music," Anastasio says. "It summed up how I feel not only about Tom but the band and our audience. It's about getting younger: Let's take a step back together – and simultaneously a step forward.<br /> <br /> "That's what these shows feel like. I had to play that song."<br /> <br /> ***<br /> <br /> I also think it's a song about why friends stay together for years, through good and bad. Tom is celebrating Trey getting another year ("Happy, happy, oh my friend") which is something I've been doing for some years now. I always tell friends and family that I'm happy God gave them another year (instead of the usual "and many more" sentiment which is about the future....though that's in there too). <br /> <br /> But in the end it's Tom fulfilling the deal they made when they were kids (and they have been friends that long) to write a song for each other at every birthday. It even starts with the lyric it's supposed to (so joejeffrey is right about it having a "mathematical aspect") and is a great slice of Phish pop-rock (not unlike "The Connection" off their previous release Undermind).
backwards down the numberline=
leaving the present(s) behind and taking a trip down memory lane.
with a friend
on the telephone.
Lots of your friends might call you on your birthday, coming backwards down the number line.
The only rule (about life) is that it begins. You decide what [your life] contains and how long it lasts.
I like the mathematical aspect of the song. A number line begins (at the origin) and extends to infinity. If you break down the song, it is really making the claim that somehow life is as infinite as the number line itself. If the "only rule" is that "it begins," then by extension, there is no rule about anything else, but death in particular.
I think that the message is less "hey man there are no rules, party hearty!" but rather "congratulations, you got yourself born. What will you do with this gift? How can you make it infinite and pass on the positivity? How about through celebrating and tending to your connections with your friends?"
That's a good idea. I miss my buddy in Cali. I should give him a call.
Actually, the song is written for Tom Marshall, childhood friend of Trey's and longtime phish lyricist. It is a description of the tradition that the two of them have had since they were 8 and 9. On the other guy's birthday, they either call, write down, or sing in person a new birthday song each year. The only rule is that the SONG begins, <br /> "Happy, happy, oh my friend". Hence the lyrics, the writer/singer decides what it contains, how long, etc. Song was written because the two had a small falling out following the apparent demise of phish in 2004
It's great hearing about the true origins of the song and the sentiments behind it. I really like joejeffery's take on it as well, my initial reaction to it being kind of similar. <br /> <br /> You decide what it contains<br /> How long it goes<br /> But this remains<br /> The only rule is it begins<br /> Happy happy oh my friend<br /> <br /> The chorus (alone) is so flexible, it can easily speak for living as well. <br /> <br /> It ccould also refer to letting the people in your life know you care about them, somehow. Celebrating their life intertwined with yours. You alone best decide how, just that you do it. <br /> <br />
An additional thought - <br /> <br /> The only rule is it begins<br /> Happy happy oh my friend<br /> <br /> Happy happy "Oh" my friend - Happy Oh, happy O, happy zero? Each birthday as a rebirth, a clean slate, a chance to start over ...
I like the concept that "the only rule is, it begins" can apply to friendships. Friends carry all sorts of roles, and these roles strengthen and weaken, materialize and vanish, through the years. You could fall out with a friend for years, but there is no rule that "it's over". The only rule is that it began, and where it goes from there is the story.
@evalente I agree. Before I learned the real meaning (thx @taylor720), I imagined the song was about friendships/relationships. They begin and then it's up to the two individuals in them to maintain it (i.e. the friendship/relationship) and determine "how long it goes" and "what they contain." <br /> I don't think the same parallel can be drawn with life, as you can't really control "how long it goes." <br /> I honestly never really cared for this song, but then I heard Trey play it solo acoustic a few times and the lyrics grew on me.
well this might have to be my favorite phish song and its really helping me out right now cuz im in a real rough spot with the gf so its like cheering me up lol
but yea i think this song is about always remembering the real strong friendships that you have made and not forgetting who your true friends are
all my friends came backwords down the number line early in march!
also, with the birthday context (which i love the "happy, happy"), are we really getting "older" with each passing year? lastly, the ending song off this album joy, "twenty years later" is a perfect closing to this opening song on the album. i find that it was no mistake or coincidence that this was the beginning and "twenty years later" is the end, because, just like birth, we all "start out small."