898-5875 - Reba's phone number?

 
"Here's an interesting little notion. Did you realize that most people's lives are governed by telephone numbers?"

(from Douglas Adams' "The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy")


For 21 years, I have been enjoying the song "Reba". It was the second Phish song I had ever heard.

And for 21 years, I kept getting thrown off by the staccato hits and pauses that come at the end of the composed fugue section just before the jam.
 
I finally decided to count the beats between the seven sets of staccato hits and I found that the section is comprised, in eighth notes, of a measure of 8, followed by a measure of 9, then a measure of 8, then of 5, of 8, 7, and 5.

8-9-8-5-8-7-5

Sounds like a phone number, right? So that got me wondering if Reba was a real person and if, in a crazy yet subtle way, Trey Anastasio decided to expose her phone number to the most attuned ears in Phish's tiny audience in 1989.

Or maybe Dougals Adams was right and, even without our knowing it, the things we do in life are governed by telephone numbers. And because of that, it was so incredibly easy to commit it to memory that I have not missed the beat all year.