Free by Phish Piano - Digital Sheet Music

SKU: A0.1598213

"Free" was one of six Phish originals that debuted at the Lowell benefit concert on 5/16/95. Fans quickly took to the song, which tells of a man who contemplates throwing his wife from the boat on which they sail. In fact, a minor lyrical change from earlier versions was released on the Billy Breathes version of the song and all subsequent live performances; this change from “as we go sliding by” to “as the ship goes sliding by” cemented the song’s imagery.

“Free” has gone through several minor structural changes since its debut. The truncated album version was the most dramatic of all, as the band axed the swirling guitar-based intro. Some feared that the original intro was gone forever, but the band has usually left it in the song’s stage performances (see 7/10/03 for an example of this intro being omitted). As a whole, the music present in early versions conjured underwater images for many that perfectly matches the nautical theme of the lyrics. Post-1995 versions featured a stylistic change that effectively combined the coarse texture of good southern “rock” with the in-your-face sound of loud arena “roll.”.