46 Days

This song is about heroin. Coal is slang for heroin and from the looks of things said person (Trey) was doing heroin for 45 days when it then ran out on Day 46. "looking for clues but the couldn't be found" would mean no one in the town had any Until Day 47 when Leigh found some. The last line is probably a reference to the fear of going through withdrawal.

Blake you make a great point. Trey was blown out on H, and this song seems to represent what u stated clearly. Also this song can be looked at now (09) to be a means to an end for him to stop using. It's basically play time for the boys, they get to do what they love doing...PLAYING MUSIC. The lyrics really just set up the crazy improv/jam that ensues differently everytime they decide to play it. Great tune, I got to see it twice so far, once at COBO hall in detroit (11-18-09) and on NYE in Miami.

Ok, so let me get this straight:

You're the only person to post a comment, nay, two comments, about how much you hate Phish. Yet, this site is clearly called "Song Meanings" whereby the purpose here is to discuss the meaning behind songs and their purpose relvant to the bands. Is this all correct? Just tell me if I'm wrong, because I'm really trying to follow your train of thought here.

No one here cares what you think of Phish. That's not the point of this site. I'm sure if you really cared enough (and by virtue of your past efforts it seems you do), you can go find a "We hate Phish" site and talk all you want about how Trey can't write. I'm not going to waste my time and defend Phish, despite how much I love them, because its obvious that you're a close minded imbecile and nothing will change your mind. Maybe if you actually tried to play some of their material on an instrument you could see what talent they "don't" have.

I'm truly sorry you and your clothes don't like "dingbat hippies" and drugs, but seriously, why vent here? No one is listening. All you're doing is making yourself seem like a low-class ass hole. I guess I shouldn't expect much from some two-bit 15 year old idiot who attempts to "fart riffs".

Im a peaceful man, so I dont want to start a fight, but i would just like to say, onein6billion, I suggest you pick up any instrument used by Phish and try to play some of their music. I can understand (sort of) if you dislike their sound, but you cant doubt Phish intense and moving musicianship. You can't deny someone's talent, when they obviously have alot.

That said, this song is cool, the time changes and syncopated rythem just flow so well. Groovy, man. Does this song remind anyone of Mountain's "Mississippi Queen", or is that just me?

This song means to me that this band is the most overrated piece of crap. Their guitar player can't riff to save his ass, the drumer is stoned half the time, the bass player has a thing for underage girls, and the piano player looks like he's physically dead. And what's with the teeth mother fuckers? Ever heard of a fucking toothbrush? The only reason dingbat hippies like this band is because they're stoned out of their low IQ minds.

soo anyhow... whats the getup about 46 days?? is it about lent somehow or is it just a passing thought from the acid drenched cheese seas in treys brain.

hm...6 comments and not one with any hint towards the meaning of this song? lazy bastards

I'm a huge phish fan and really loved the live studio recording of Round Room. Unfortunately, this song is lacking in terms of lyrical content, and not much to interpret. Perhaps the voice of the song was a coal miner or coal mine supervisor and Leigh Fordham sold him out to big business and they had 46 days to gather all they could. Leigh, having connections to this big business went down into the mines when the big business came to see if there was anything left. OR Leigh, being a cowardly sellout, went into temporary hiding because he/she (it's an ambiguous name) was neither a real friend of The Singer, who is now looking for Leigh to "repay" (him/her) for selling them out, and big business is just ravaging everything. But then, this sold out land has been discovered to be worthless. Leigh sees an opportunity to flee, and takes it. Meanwhile, the townspeople have hoarded the coal and gone into hiding. On the 47th day, big business leaves having found no spoils and the community comes out of hiding and shares with everyone. The coal came home. I apoloogize for the meandering meanings of this song, I was just trying to think of what it meant off the top of my head...never gave it much thought before-hand because lots of Phish's songs are pretty superficial and just talk about things for the sake of making lyrics to throw on top of some kick ass music.

This song is probably not "about" anything in particular. Leigh Fordham is/was one of the lighting technicians on the Phish crew. This sounds like it a situation in which Leigh's home may have been heated by coal and he invited some people over and ran out of coal. Pretty simple.

Two things. 1. This song included, lyrics were written by Tom Marshall, not Trey.

2. Think it's kind of about all those old coal towns that just vanished when the mine closed. Was time to move on, and on the 47th day new town, new start, new coal.