9 Meanings
Add Yours
Follow
Share
Q&A

Split Open And Melt Lyrics

In the morning I pack up my gear and toss it in my carryall

Run the wide load to the lip and watch the big core crack and glow

In the evening I undo my belt, split open and melt


I wake up on my stomach with my face between my hands

And crawl along the floor toward the doorway

Jumping to my feet I try to put myself together

But I feel it in my knees, and the room begins to spin

And I slip and bump my head and raise a welt

Split open and melt


We breathe deep in a steam dream

And plunge below the water line

down, down, down

Between beams to the gloom room

Among the seaweed and the slime

down, down, down

Melt
9 Meanings

Add your song meanings, interpretations, facts, memories & more to the community.

Add your thoughts...
Cover art for Split Open And Melt lyrics by Phish

We all know that the jam to this song is insane. anyone who has ever been to a phish show and watched them perform this song whilest blazed, knows exactly why this song is called split open and melt. Because at the apex of the jam, you feel like that's what your head is about to do.

My Interpretation
Cover art for Split Open And Melt lyrics by Phish

amazing song. probably one of my favorite phish songs.

Cover art for Split Open And Melt lyrics by Phish

this song remindes me of feeling like i want to burst and then i fall asleep instead.

Cover art for Split Open And Melt lyrics by Phish

Does anyone else take this as a song about being so messed up that you have to hug the porcelain God. Maybe it's just that obvious.

Cover art for Split Open And Melt lyrics by Phish

This song is about taking bong hits.

@twatts

In the morning I pack up my gear [before work, get my junk ready] and toss it in my carryall [load it into my bong] Run the wide load to the lip [put the end of the tube to my mouth] and watch the big core crack and glow [and watch the bowl and lighter burn the junk]

In the evening I undo my belt [and after work, I do the same] Split open and melt [get your swerve on!]

I wake up on my stomach with my face between my hands and crawl along the floor toward the doorway Jumping to...

Cover art for Split Open And Melt lyrics by Phish

The first verse gives me images of the narrator being a worker in some kind of nuclear facility (lifts, carryalls, and especially the "big core" cracking and glowing). Secondly the song title sort of implies this as well (Splitting atoms is part of the nuclear process, reactors are said to "melt"down).

The second verse seems to be the aftermath of the meltdown, with the narrator waking up after being knocked unconscious, but being too dizzy from the incident to get pulled together.

The slow part could be some kind of radiation induced hallucination...? Haha.

Anyway, and of course all of that nuclear imagery could be a metaphor for anything anyone else has mentioned, drugs, etc. Regardless, this song certainly does split you open and melt your mind with its amazing jams. The Split jam in "Demand" on Hoist, ending in the car crash is really well done and always gets my heart racing even though I know what to expect

Song Meaning
Cover art for Split Open And Melt lyrics by Phish

I believe the first post by NickAVV is on the right track. I have always pictured someone working in a nuclear power plant as the character in this song. The following verses at first don't make sense or seem to be cohesive with the rest of the song, unless you can figure out what the overall theme is. Think of a character on a well known TV series who works in a nuclear power plant and usually gets drunk after work, who has probably slipped and bumped his head, raising a welt on more than one occasion.... D'oh!

Cover art for Split Open And Melt lyrics by Phish

The song is about taking heroine.

"In the morning I pack up my gear and toss it in my carryall Run the wide load to the lip and watch the big core crack and glow"

he has his kit and his junk and heats it up to inject

"In the evening I undo my belt Split open and melt"

he injects himself and unties the belt from around his arm allowing the drug to give him a melting sensation that is commonly associated with opium based drugs

the next verse and bridge are fairly self explanatory from here

Cover art for Split Open And Melt lyrics by Phish

I hate to be cliche but Red Rocks '94 they nailed it. Not only the time signature but the harmonies.

That's a complex song to play and fans can yell Fluffhead but the fact that they nailed this live shows me what they are capable of.

 
Questions and Answers

Ask specific questions and get answers to unlock more indepth meanings & facts.

Ask a question...