Phish sings Avenu Malkenu

Cafe Society
1

Today is Rosh Hashanah. It’s also the Sabbath. And our rabbi said that we don’t sing avenu malkenu on the Sabbath (for reasons). First I’ve heard that, we certainly have in the past. I mean, I’m sure there’s a tradition of not singing it, too, but that’s new to my synagogue. Or… Maybe I really associate it with Yom Kippur and just didn’t notice when they skipped it on Rosh Hashanah?

Anyway, what intrigued is that he then went on to say, sure, you can listen to the Barbara Streisand version, or to Phish, but nothing beats hearing the cantor singing it live, so come to tomorrow’s service.

But i thought, Phish? Are they Jewish?

Anyway, I looked it up:

Honestly, i prefer the version we usually sing, which feels more energetic and heartfelt. But this was pretty good. But…

Can anyone tell my why Phish sings Avenu Malkenu?

(It’s a traditional Jewish prayer. The title means, “our father, our king”, and it’s directed towards God. It says, “we’re not great, but please be merciful to us anyway”, and is traditional during the high holy days, when metaphorically God is writing in the book of life what will happen next year. You can hear the last verse here

Or read a poem inspired by the full prayer, lightly updated, here
Avinu Malkeinu - Jewish Poetry )

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Two of the band members are Jewish, the drummer and the bassist.

I recommend this Reddit thread, which recommends a book on the topic:

3

The traditional melody for “Avinu Malkeinu” already has something of an “exotic surf rock” feel, à la Dick Dale’s “Miserlou” (which was itself based on a Middle Eastern folk song that uses a similar scale).

4

It’s been part of their regular repertoire for decades and, as mentioned, two of the four members are Jewish.

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So, one of the Jewish members said, “hey, there’s this nice melody i hear at Temple every fall, i think we could do that, too”?

Do they tell their fans what the words mean?

6

Recycling a maqam/scale/mode/melody is a time-honored tradition in music. However, if they are covering religious songs then that is what they are doing. You can imagine marginal cases like hypothetically referencing Beethoven’s Ode to Joy. I have a couple of Phish albums with stuff on them like “The Okipa Ceremony” so it is not limited to Judaism. (Though, there are not really any lyrics per se for that one).

7

I’ve seen the band a lot of times. They’re just weird. They are the biggest second generation jam band (Grateful Dead are the patriarchs, Goose is in the third generation spot). They are around 60 years old and have been a band since the late 80s. They probably just started doing it.

It’s not easy to explain unless you understand jam band culture. There’s no need for an explanation. Extreme jam band fans are nerds and know all of the lore. In addition, Jewish people are hugely over represented in music world fandom in general and more so in the jam band world in particular.

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I didn’t realize that. Thanks.