"Birds of a Feather" is a 1998 song by the American band Phish. It is the second track from their 1998 album ''

The Story of the Ghost ''The Story of the Ghost'' is the seventh studio album by American rock band Phish, released by Elektra Records on October 27, 1998. The album features an emphasis on the jazz-funk influenced "cow-funk" style, which the group had been experimen ...

'' and was released as their twelfth

promotional single A promotional recording, or promo, or plug copy, is an audio or video recording distributed free, usually in order to promote a recording that is or soon will be commercially available. Promos are normally sent directly to broadcasters, such as ...

by Elektra Records. The song is a

funk rock Funk rock is a fusion genre that mixes elements of funk and rock. James Brown and others declared that Little Richard and his mid-1950s road band, The Upsetters, were the first to put the funk in the rock and roll beat, with a biographer stat ...

song written by the entire band and

lyricist A lyricist is a songwriter who writes lyrics (the spoken words), as opposed to a composer, who writes the song's music which may include but not limited to the melody, harmony, arrangement and accompaniment. Royalties A lyricist's incom ...

Tom Marshall, and was influenced by

Talking Heads Talking Heads were an American rock band formed in 1975 in New York City and active until 1991.Talki ...

.Birds of a Feather History
Online. Accessed: May 18, 2014. The song premiered on April 2, 1998 at the Nassau Coliseum in

Uniondale, New York Uniondale is a census-designated place (CDP), as well as a suburb in Nassau County, New York, on Long Island, in the Town of Hempstead. The population was 32,473 at the 2020 United States Census. Uniondale is home to Hofstra University's nort ...

, the first of the four shows in the "Island Tour". This show is available as '' Live Phish 04.02.98''. Musically, it was one of the more upbeat tracks from the predominantly slow and funky ''The Story of the Ghost'' album. "Birds of a Feather" is one of the few Phish songs to be performed three times on U.S. national television. The song was first performed at the 1998

Farm Aid Farm Aid is an annual benefit concert held for American farmers. History On July 13, 1985, while performing at the Live Aid benefit concert for the 1983–1985 Ethiopian famine, Bob Dylan made comments about family farmers within the United St ...

concert, on October 3, 1998, and shown live on CMT. It was also played at

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

Sessions at West 54th ''Sessions at West 54th'' is an American television program that featured music performances, and was in some ways a pop music variation on the theme set by the long-lived ''Austin City Limits'', though the featured musicians represented a number ...

on October 20, 1998 which was broadcast on PBS affiliates starting on January 9, 1999. The third performance was on the October 27, 1998 episode of

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

's Late Show with David Letterman. The song also was featured on the October 7, 1998 episode of the WB

teen drama In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

Dawson's Creek ''Dawson's Creek'' is an American teen drama television series about the lives of a close-knit group of friends in the fictional town of Capeside, Massachusetts, beginning in high school and continuing into college that ran from 1998 to 2003. T ...

'', entitled "The Kiss". "Birds of a Feather" was a Top 20 hit on ''Billboards

Adult Alternative Songs Adult Alternative Airplay (also known as Triple A or Triple A Airplay, and formerly Adult Alternative Songs and Triple A Songs) is a record chart currently published by ''Billboard'' that ranks the most popular songs on adult album alternative rad ...

chart, reaching a peak of #14 in December 1998.

Track listing

#"Birds of a Feather" (

Trey Anastasio Ernest Joseph "Trey" Anastasio III (born September 30, 1964) is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter, best known as the lead guitarist of the rock band Phish, which he co-founded in 1983. He is credited by name as composer of 152 Phish o ...

Jon Fishman Jon Fishman (born February 19, 1965) is an American drummer known for his work with the band Phish, which he co-founded in 1983, and which was, in part, named after him. He is credited with co-writing nineteen Phish songs, eight with a solo cre ...

Mike Gordon Michael Eliot Gordon (born June 3, 1965) is an American bass guitarist and vocalist most recognized as a founding member of the band Phish. In addition to bass, Gordon is an accomplished banjo player, and is proficient at piano and guitar. He ...

, Tom Marshall,

Page McConnell Page Samuel McConnell (born May 17, 1963 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is an American multi-instrumentalist most noted for his work as the keyboardist and a songwriter for the band Phish. In addition to having been a member of Phish since 1985, ...

) - 4:14

Personnel

Musicians :

– guitars, vocals :

– keyboards, vocals :

– bass guitar, vocals :

– drums, vocals

Also appears on

*''

Live Phish Volume 6 ''Live Phish Vol. 6'' was recorded live on the first night of a three night stand at the Worcester Centrum in Worcester, Massachusetts, on November 27, 1998. The show is best known for its repeated relapses into the classic Surfaris favorite " ...

'' (2001) *'' Live Phish Volume 8'' (2002) *'' Live Phish Volume 16'' (2002) *''

Live Phish Volume 17 ''Live Phish Vol. 17'' was recorded live at Portland Meadows in Portland, Oregon, on July 15, 1998. It was the first of a series of four concerts picked by Mike Gordon to release. Except for Live Phish Volume 20, the releases include his journal ...

'' (2003) *'' Live Phish 04.02.98'' (2005) *'' Live Phish 04.04.98'' (2005) *'' Live In Brooklyn (CD/DVD) (2006) *'' Live in Utica (DVD)'' (2011) *'' Ventura'' (2013)

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Birds Of A Feather (Song) 1998 singles 1998 songs Phish songs Elektra Records singles Songs written by Trey Anastasio Songs written by Tom Marshall (singer)