Corinna

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• History
• Lyrics
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  • Phish
  • Fish
  • Mike
  • Page
  • Trey
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Originally Performed By	Taj Mahal
Original Album	The Natch'l Blues (1968)
Appears On
Music/Lyrics	Mahal/Davis
Vocals	Trey (lead) Mike, Page (backing)
Historian	Jeremy Welsh
Last Update	2023-11-27

History

"Corinna" was written by blues man and musicologist Taj Mahal and released on his 1968 album Natch’l Blues, which also featured Phish cover staple “She Caught the Katy.” While often confused with "Corrine, Corrina," this song is decidedly not the 1930's blues song by Bo Chatmon and the Mississippi Sheiks – they share similar titles but are in no manner the same. Phish first performed this slow, bluesy number on 2/21/87, and subsequently performed it seventeen more times between 1987 and 1989. The song often featured an extended solo by Page, blending well with Trey’s heartfelt vocals. 

Taj Mahal, “Corinna”

Ten years and over a thousand shows later, Phish broke-out “Corinna” at their New Year’s celebration at Big Cypress on 12/30/99. Early in the opening set of the festival – only two songs after a treat of Traffic’s “Light Up or Leave Me Alone” – Phish surprised the crowd with an enjoyable rendition of “Corinna,” a fitting song in the warm, December sun in southern Florida. 

Since the Cypress bust-out, other notable Phish performances include: 2/24/03 (a night when the blues as blues legend B.B. King sat in for three songs); 12/30/09 Miami (part of of a bust-out bonanza seemingly to break Phish's own record for most unique songs played in one year); and 10/29/10 in Atlantic City, emerging out of a second-set “Prince Caspian.” And in 2012 – for the first time since 1988 – “Corinna” appeared more than twice in one year, with three first-set performances over the span of just twelve shows. 

Phish, “Corinna” –7/6/12, Saratoga Springs, NY. Video by notmkdevo

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