History
Some speculate that the title came from an Italian who said "You enjoy myself, yes?" to Anastasio and Jon Fishman when they toured Europe in 1985, playing in the streets. Supposedly, this was a too-literal translation from Italian into English for "best wishes."
The song's roots were influenced by an LSD experience with a German man named Jurgen while they were in Florence. The LSD was apparently very potent, and Trey & Fishman had a particularly memorable time.
Halfway through the song are the only clearly comprehensible lyrics in the song: "Boy! … Man! … God! … Shit!," followed by a line whose meaning has perpetually been subject to discussion until it was settled by an issue of Guitar World. After many interpretations including, "Wash your feet then drive me into a frenzy", it was revealed to be "wash Uffizi drive me to Firenze" in a Guitar World issue that included the tablature for the song.
One possible explanation for this line is that "Uffizi" is a pun on an Italian-accented pronunciation of the words "your feet." The Uffizi is a museum the pair visited in Firenze, or Florence, Italy. At a spring near the Uffizi, it is reported that they washed their feet. One theory is that the quoted Italian hailed from this area — in which case the meaning of the song as a whole becomes clearer.
Others believe that Fishman and Anastasio picked up a hitchhiker while in Italy, and the man kept saying "Wash uffitzi, drive me to Firenze." meaning "Would you please drive me to Florence?"
A rumor has it that the song was influenced by an experience Anastasio and Fishman had while swimming in the Mediterranean, and Fishman got a bit too far out to sea. Anastasio was a bit alarmed, and the main introduction to the song was composed as a consequence.
In an issue of Rolling Stone, Trey stated the intro was inspired by Robert Fripp.
Read more about this topic: You Enjoy Myself
Famous quotes containing the word history:
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—Harold Rosenberg (1906–1978)
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—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900)
“Yet poetry, though the last and finest result, is a natural fruit. As naturally as the oak bears an acorn, and the vine a gourd, man bears a poem, either spoken or done. It is the chief and most memorable success, for history is but a prose narrative of poetic deeds.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)