On a personal level, it was the first album release that happened while I was touring with the band.  After the amazing time I’d had at The Clifford Ball, I knew I was hooked.  Phish played a mini-set of some of the acoustic Billy Breathes songs in Plattsburg that I was lucky enough to be very close to the stage for.  It was the first “pretty” stuff I’d seen them do, and I had a feeling they were on to something special.  I recall (fuzzily) my dad taking me to the mega book & music store in Hamburg to pick it up.  I listened so closely for days.  In particular Prince Caspian (a song I would later come to despise) caught my ear.  But I was also enthralled with Free and Theme From the Bottom.   Fall Tour ’96 started a few days later, and though I hadn’t planned on it, the Buffalo show was the first of 29 shows I’d see before the New Years run.  It was a fantastic run of shows, and I have very clear memories of standing Page Side High watching CK5′s bubbly green lights during Theme and the swirling frenzied strobes for Free.  I was so drawn to these songs, but I never really put my finger on it.  Free rocks, don’t get me wrong…but why did it feel so real to me?

It was years later during a conversation with my wife that I finally figured it out.  The majority of Tom Marshalls lyrics up until BB were about characters, feelings, abstract ideas.  Listen to just about anything on Junta and you’ll get my drift. No one really thought Trey wanted to take them out for Dinner and a Movie.  But Billy Breathes was loaded with personal songs.  Lots of “I” and “you”.  When I heard Trey singing “come waste your time with me…” it really felt like he was addressing me.  Lost, bored, confused 17 year old me.  And it felt nice. I belonged!

Now, at night, I put my daughter to sleep with these tunes.  It’s really special to me…she’ll always remember (in her primal brain, perhaps, but nonetheless…) these songs as comforting.  I’ll always remember them the same way, but with a new layer of love on top.  Watching her eyes flutter closed during Talk is the most beautiful thing in the world.

We’ve shared Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years Eve.  We’ve witnessed first roll-overs, first laughs, first babbles, first temper tantrums.  She came out of the swaddle (I was scared to death that she’d never sleep without it).  We’ve successfully mastered cloth diapers (a big post on this subject later, I promise), dream feeding and so much more.  I’m proud of us, and every damn day I’m proud of her.  We’ve been through some real rough times as a family in the past six months too…but through it all love prevails.

I put together this video the other day, and I’ve yet to watch it without getting a little misty.  It’s simply unbelievable how much shes grown, and how far we’ve come as a family.  I hope you enjoy it, and if you have any questions about what Piper’s been up to, please do ask in the comments.  I’ll try and post again real soon, but you know how it goes…

The song is “Home” by David Byrne and Brian Eno, from their album Everything That Happens Will Happen Today.  Lyrics below.

The dimming of the light makes the picture clearer
It’s just an old photograph, there’s nothing to hide
When the world was just beginning.
I memorized her face so it’s not forgotten
I hear the wind whistling “come back anytime”
And we’ll mix our lives together
Heaven knows, what keeps mankind alive
Every hand goes searching for its partner in crime
Under chairs and behind tables
Connecting to places we have known

I’m looking for a home, where the wheels are turning
Home, why I keep returning
Home, where my world is breaking in two
Home, with the neighbors fighting
Home, always so exciting
Home, were my parents telling the truth?
Home, such a funny feeling
Home, no one ever speaking
Home, with our bodies touching
Home, and the cameras watching
Home, will infect whatever you do
Where home, comes to life from out of the blue

Tiny little boats on a beach at sunset
I took a drink from a jar and into my head
Familiar smells and flavours
Vehicles are stuck on the plains of heaven
I’ve seen their wheels spinnin’ round
And everywhere I can hear those people saying
That the eye is the measure of the man
You can fly from the stuff that still surrounds you
Where home and the band keeps marching on
Connecting to every living soul
Compassion for things I’ll never know.

But you’re not on facebook?  Or you dispise me, but adore my child?  Well, have I got some links for you…

2009.09.12 uploads

2009.09.11 uploads

iPhone uploads

2009.09.05 uploads