Album: Junta (1988)

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Songfacts®:

• "Golgi Apparatus" is what happens when musically inclined eighth graders find some time on their hands during biology lab. It happened at Princeton Day School in New Jersey, where Trey Anastasio, the phuture leader of Phish, was with his friends Tom Marshall, Brian Szuter and Aaron Woolf. After learning in class about the Golgi apparatus - an organelle found inside animal cells - they wrote a song with that title just for fun, rhyming "status" with "apparatus."
  
  When Anastasio formed Phish, he refined the song and it became one of their live favorites, first appearing in their setlists in 1986. They recorded a studio version for their 1988 debut album, Junta.
  
  Tom Marshall, one of the song's co-writers, didn't join the band but kept writing songs with Anastasio, including "Guyute" and "Bouncing Around the Room." The other guys who wrote "Golgi," Brian Szuter, Aaron Woolf, are credited as writers on the song and earn royalties from it.
• The song isn't really about cellular biology. It's about fans, a celebration of everyone who comes to a Phish show and supports the band. This is clear in the line, "I saw you with a ticket stub in your hand." In the '80s and '90s when the song was a regular part of their sets, physical tickets provided entry to the shows, and you got to keep the stub as a receipt.
• There's another biology reference in the line, "They call him lysosome 'cause he runs so fast." A lysosome is a part of the cell that breaks down worn-out parts.
• Like many Phish songs, "Golgi Apparatus" is a showcase for their musical talents, honed in live performance long before they recorded it. They would sometimes turn it into an extended jam at concerts that could last 20 minutes.

Comments: 9

• Allison from LondonLOL, a ticket stub? I could swear they were singing "I saw you with a dictyosome in your hand!". I know weird, but that's a synonym for the Golgi! it made sense to me!
• Allison from LondonGolgi Apparatus are found in ALL eucaryotic cells, which include plants, animals, fungi, etc... It functions to package up proteins and make sure they get to the right place in or out of the cell-- kinda of like the British Mail Service does!!
• Barry from New York, NyI've heard a story about "GOLGI APPARATUS:" One of the authors of this song, Szuter was at a party and someone put on the JUNTA album but he didn't realize that Phish had recorded it. To his surprise, he heard the song and announced to his friends that he cowrote that song. At first they did not believe him but when he showed them his credit on the album sleeve everyone was shocked (including Szuter who wasn't aware that the song was recorded and released by his old friend Trey Anastasio).
• Jon from Pittsburgh, Pathis is on phish live 13 and is really good
• Cosmo from Hudson, Ohlysosomes are also in cells, there in the cytoplasm (thank you dictionary)
  
  Phish rocks your face off
• Brett from Philadelphia, PaThis is certainly one of Phish's better songs. I usually try to think real deep and find out what each song means in reality, but as most Phish fans know, it is quite difficult with these guys. I just want to know what the hell is this song about!?
• Andrew from Miami, FlTrue Ed. The Golgi apparatus is a structure within the membrane of BOTH animal and PLANT cells. It has a single membrane itself. It is a stack of vesicles that are bascially little packages. In this case they package molecules to be transported elsewhere within the cell. The are other smaller vesciles the surround the larger ones. They contain enzymes and hormones from other cellular structures.
• Nick from Shelton, CtThat is correct, you rule ed ,, i think were in here allone phish rocks yeahhhhhhhhhhhhh
• Eddie from Lachine, MiThe Golgi Apparatus is something inside animal cells, if I remember correctly.

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