If you can heal the symptoms
But not affect the cause
It's quite a bit like trying to heal
A gunshot wound with gauze
If you instead attempt to wrest
The pistol from the hand
Then I would not be able to
Equate my life with sand
Flowing through the hourglass
Pushing through the funnel
Turn once more while racing
All your siblings for the tunnel
Slide and let the silicone
Embrace you as you fall
Then bounce and land you let
Your brothers crush you to the wall
I would choose my own religion
And worship my own spirit
But if he ever preached to me
I wouldn't want to hear it
I'd drop him, a forgotten god,
Languishing in shame
And then if I hit stormy seas
I'd have myself to blame
But not affect the cause
It's quite a bit like trying to heal
A gunshot wound with gauze
The pistol from the hand
Then I would not be able to
Equate my life with sand
Pushing through the funnel
Turn once more while racing
All your siblings for the tunnel
Embrace you as you fall
Then bounce and land you let
Your brothers crush you to the wall
And worship my own spirit
But if he ever preached to me
I wouldn't want to hear it
Languishing in shame
And then if I hit stormy seas
I'd have myself to blame
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I believe this song is about sand :/..... good song though.
this song live is PHAT.....needs more love. and it's about more than literal sand IMO. it's saying you should get to the root of problems and make changes that will cause REAL change (instead of just rehabbing drug addicts, change something in the institution to prevent them from getting on it, for example). if you don't, you're not worthless but you're just like a million other little grains of sand that are just like you.
Sand refers (like "Bug") to a feeling of smallness and insignificance (and thus, freedom) but also could (like "Bug") have another meaning:
Sand (could be?) is actually a reference to the appearance and consistency of heroin, to which (we all must accept) trey anastasio was heavily addicted; the dark feel and lyrics of the song actually refer TO drug use directly, not to how society deals with them -Phish don't normally write songs with such overarching social-policy considerations, I'd love to see examples where they do, though if someone has some.
Maybe my mind is just in the gutter here, but I think the second verse is a sexual reference. It does not really fit in with the other two verses, except in form. However, too many things seem to refer to sex/contraception.
Not to take you back to 7th grade health class here, but a woman's uterus does slightly resemble an hourglass and sort of funnels at the bottom.
Thousands of little sperm (would-be siblings) race through the tunnel (vagina) to inseminate the woman's egg.
This next part transitions into what happens if contraception is used: "Slide and let the silicone Embrace you as you fall"
Some condoms are made with silicone-based lubricants. It will embrace the sperm as they "fall."
The condom stops the sperm from entering the vagina. Instead it is crushed by its "brothers" against the condom.
The sexual reference does not fit in with the rest of the song thematically. However, the form of Verse 1 is the same as the form in Verse 2. Verse 1 transitions from Scenario A (A gunshot victim) to Scenario B (The would-be victim "wrest[ing] the pistol from the hand" of the shooter). Verse 2 transitions from Scenario A (Contraception) to Scenario B (Use of contraception). Identical form.
I know it's a long shot, but this is just how I've always understood that verse. I think the overall meaning of the song is more similar to what DeathBear and PhisHeretic contributed, but I do see another meaning in verse 2. I acknowledge there is an obvious description of sand simply falling through an hourglass, but I am just suggesting there could be another meaning. Let me know if anyone agrees with my argument, or at least sees any merit in it.
Either way, this is a kick-ass, phunky-ass song...Especially live!
CORRECTIONVerse 2 transitions from Scenario A (Conception) to Scenario B (Use of contraception). Identical form.** :)
CORRECTIONVerse 2 transitions from Scenario A (Conception) to Scenario B (Use of contraception). Identical form.** :)
This is a heavy tune. First verse is about the threat of gun violence in our society. If you wrest the pistol from the hand, then I would not be able to equate my life with sand....
The second verse takes that analogy one step further, like we are all grains of sand in an hourglass. Pushing through the funnel and tumbling down into what’s below.
The third verse is a swipe at religion, and the narrator is opting for reliance on himself.
Honestly these lyrics aren’t that tough to understand but some of these interpretations are pretty interesting.