Faith & Spirit Quote by Trey Anastasio

"Set the gearshift for the high gear of your soul" is Trey Anastasio doing what he does best: turning a jam-band surge into a philosophy you can shout while sprinting toward the unknown. The line mashes machinery and mysticism, a hot-wired metaphor that treats the self like a vehicle with hidden settings. You can coast in default mode, or you can slam the lever into something louder, riskier, more alive. It’s not subtle, and that’s the point. Phish lyrics often function less like diary entries and more like ignition switches.

Then comes the brilliant swerve: "run like an antelope out of control". The image is pure kinetic comedy and pure panic at once. Antelopes are grace, speed, instinct; "out of control" suggests the moment adrenaline outruns planning. Anastasio isn’t romanticizing chaos so much as glamorizing surrender to momentum-the kind that happens in a live set when the band stops steering and starts chasing the music.

Context matters: "Run Like an Antelope" is a concert engine, built for lift-off. These words don’t just describe a feeling; they instruct a crowd how to enter it together. The subtext is a quiet rejection of managed living: your "soul" has a high gear, but you won’t find it by optimizing your calendar. You find it by committing to motion before you’re fully ready, letting intensity be its own proof.