Song by Phish, 5th track on the first CD of their first studio album, Junta. Officially released live versions appear as track 3 of Disc 5 of Hampton Comes Alive, track 4 of Disc 1 of Live Phish 01: 12/14/95, and track 10 of Disc 2 of Live Phish 10: 8/26/89. Music and lyrics written by Trey Anastasio.
There is an anecdote that a phan, talking to Trey backstage, mentioned that he was in a band that covered Phish songs. "Oh yeah?" Trey replied, with a shit-eating grin. "Play Foam!" The joke, of course, being that it practically takes a virtuoso to play this difficult work.
For the majority of the song the band members stick to what is composed. The middle contains a short improvisatory jam section, and at the end they use slight variations on an established chord structure to bring the song to a frenetic close, as with Taste or Maze. This song, like many other tightly worked out early Phish tunes, became extremely rare in setlists in toward the end of Phish's tours. It was not played at all in 1999, and only twice in 2000. After the hiatus, it returned, at the Hampton Coliseum on January 3, 2003. Page's solo was a high point of the first set, driving the crowd to a roar before he was even finished, and NothingLasts4Ever and I were there to see it. Aw yeah.