Songfacts®:

• "Joy" is the title track from Phish's 14th studio album, their first since their breakup in 2004. When the group re-formed and released the album in 2009, it was a very big deal for fans and for the band members, who entered a new era where they made every effort to keep from burning out and to keep lead singer Trey Anastasio sober - his addictions were a major factor in their split.
• The Joy album was recorded at Chung King Studios in New York City. It was helmed by Steve Lillywhite, the producer behind Phish's previous 1996 studio album, Billy Breathes. Guitarist Trey Anastasio told Billboard magazine: "Steve Lillywhite produced the first record we did, Billy Breathes, and when he did it he had never seen Phish live. After he finished it, he went to a Phish concert and came backstage, ran into the band room and said 'I want to do it again. I had no idea you guys could play like that.' So when we did this one, the one thing he did was make us always play together, all four of us. There's not one single overdub guitar solo on this record; there's all the original interplay between the band. The drums and the piano are clearly interacting, for real. I thought that was such a great production decision on his part."
• Trey Anastasio wrote this song with his friend Tom Marshall, who writes a lot of lyrics for Phish. Speaking with jambands.com, Marshall explained that there are two layers of meaning in the song. It was triggered by his friend whose name is Joy. He started thinking about the meaning of that word and what it means when assigned as a girl's name. "When you see a little baby girl, naming her Joy is so obvious — nothing but happiness," he said. "And then, how it changes for girls, some more than others. In particular, I was also thinking about my daughter."
  
  The second layer is Anastasio's sister Kristy, who was battling neuroendocrine cancer. "We almost couldn't write because of Kristy's condition, but Trey had just had a wonderful visit with her," he said. "Kristy was good at telling people she was better than she was, but I think Trey had come to a realization of what was about to happen. It was pretty heavy."
  
  She died on April 29, 2009, not long after the song was written and before it was released. Some lines that are specifically about her are:
  
  When we were young we thought life was a game
  But then somebody leaves you and your never the same
  All of the places and people belong to the puzzle
  But one of the pieces is gone