This site is no longer maintained. Use phish.net or current.phish.net.

Go to phish.net
Current setlist
Use anyway

Phish.net Mobile Phish.net

Login

Born Under Punches (The Heat Goes On)

Born Under Punches (The Heat Goes On) has not been seen in 932 Phish shows.
It was last played: 1996-10-31.
It was played at 0.05% of live shows.
It has been performed live 1 time(s).

Music/Lyrics: Talking Heads, Brian Eno

Original Artist: Talking Heads

Original Album: Remain in Light (1980)

Vocals: Trey (lead), Fish, Mike, Page (backing)

Debut: 1996-10-31

Historian: Mark Toscano, Elayne Best


The multi-layered, energetic opener to the Talking HeadsRemain in Light album, this tune was mastered as the opener to the Halloween set on 10/31/96 by Phish with Karl Perazzo providing percussion and Dave Grippo and Gary Gazaway on horns. From Fishman’s count-in to its head-first collision with “Crosseyed and Painless,” the song remains ever steady and tight, quite a feat considering the tune’s manic arrangement and jagged rhythms.



Watch Born Under Punches (The Heat Goes On) on YouTube



“Born Under Punches” is a song driven by madness and paranoia, and combines unabashed energy and sonic density with a somber mood and instrumental restraint. The result is a track that embodies parallel aspects of Talking Heads’ 1980 sound – extroversion and introversion – in a single perpendicular moment. The raging, mathematical pressure gauge of their earlier art-punk sound collides with the rich rhythms, textures, and hues of African music that had begun to point them in a startlingly new direction. Although Remain in Light’s predecessor, 1979’s Fear of Music (host album to “Cities”) featured “I Zimbra,” a song with a similar influx of styles and ideas, “Born Under Punches” truly represents the band’s first brave steps into this new electric jungle setting.



Watch Born Under Punches (The Heat Goes On) on YouTube



Phish’s version was appropriately cataclysmic, setting the tone for the ensuing set, and Trey captured the feeling of the guitar solo on the album version quite nicely. The song never reappeared in Phish’s live show, although it was teased later that same Halloween night in the “Suzy.”


Albums: Live Phish 15

Stats for "Born Under Punches (The Heat Goes On)"Back to Songs

© 2024 The Mockingbird Foundation
Powered by Phish.net
Designed by Adam Scheinberg