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This groovy Traffic song was a cover in Phish’s early repertoire for a little cover two years. After its first performance on 12/6/86, it continued to delight fans until its seemingly final performance on 3/1/89. Many thought it was gone for good, and with the funk renaissance of ‘97 and ‘98, it’s a wonder that the band didn’t revisit this song. Yet after an 1090-show absence Phish lit up Big Cypress on 12/30/99 with an especially fiery version of the groove-rock classic. 

Watch Light Up Or Leave Me Alone on YouTube Traffic, "Light Up or Leave Me Alone" – 1972, Santa Barbara, CA

“Light Up” then found a temporary home in Vida Blue’s repertoire, including a prominent performance on 12/31/01 with Trey and Mike both sitting in on Languedoc guitars. Mike also sat in with Vida Blue for this tune on 7/13/02 in Hollywood, CA, and again on guitar. Page also performed the classic on 1/26/08 in Denver at the "Big Easy Blowout," a Mardi Gras celebration to benefit the New Orleans Musicians' Clinic and the Tipitina's Foundation that also included Russell Batiste, Papa Mali, Reed Mathis and Big Chief Monk Boudreaux.

Watch Light Up Or Leave Me Alone on YouTube Phish, "Light Up or Leave Me Alone" – 10/29/10, Atlantic City, NJ

Jumping ahead a full decade from Big Cypress – including a "hiatus," a "break-up" and 181 shows – "Light Up" made a triumphant (though unfinished) return on 7/1/10 in Raleigh, the last in a series of bust-outs that day that also included "Time Loves a Hero" and "Have Mercy." Instead of going back to mothballs for another decade, "Light Up" has stuck around in light rotation with subsequent appearances on 8/9/10 in Telluride, 10/29/10 in Atlantic City, and an especially fierce, unique (also unfinished) version on 6/14/11 in Alpharetta, GA.

(Capaldi)
© Universal/Island Music Limited (ASCAP)

Sometimes I feel
like I'm fading away
You're looking at me
I've got nothing to say
Don't make me angry
with the games that you play
Just light up, or leave me alone

You walk in my room
you lie in my bed
You open your mouth
shoot someone dead
All of a sudden
you're inside my head
Just light up, or leave me alone

Spending my bread
like it grew on a tree
You're trying to tell me
'bout the birds and the bees
The skirt that you're wearing
is way past your knees
Just light up or leave me alone

You're up all night
preaching your mind
Come home in the morning
with your latest find
I'm gonna have to lay it
to you straight on the line
Just light up, or leave me alone