Stash

no, deadcow has it in mind :)

This song is definatly my fave phish song. It has amazing guitar and wows me everytime I hear. Its so fresh and funky, I simply love it. I havent really decided what its about yet. I have an idea, but its impossible to verbalize.

Verse 1 Imagine a young man running from the
"authorithies", and meeting up with a friend, who's leaning against a wall. He reaches in his pocket, pulls out a pipe, and knocks the ashes on to the ground. Then, in the other pocket bulls out his stash that he has gotten away with. Verse 2 A young man chasing another "authority figure" and finally catches up with him. As soon as he does, the captured one calls his parteners on his radio, who decend on the scene with swiftness. Verse 3 and 4 This verses has alternation lines on gibberish and insight. Laugh when they shoot you, say 'please dont do that', and Was it for this my life I sought....

I love that line "Was it for this my life I sought? - Maybe so or maybe not."

When I first heard it, I thought it was about male genetalia, but now I think it's about marijuana.

i think verse 1 is the fugitive running away from the cop and verse 2 is the cop catching the fugitive

Levitator, I think it's unlikely that the viewpoint of the song changes for just that one verso to be from the view of the cop. Both verse 1 and verse 3 are obviously from the 'crooks' view, verse two likely is as well... On top of that, right after they sing "calls to his Cohorts, asleep in the trees" they start singing 'Whoh-oh-oh-oh-oh..." which rises and falls in tune like a siren, like the sound of backup on the way.

title in mind, it seems to be the wondrous tail of a pothead and a bag of grass.

phlyme2themoon is dead on. as for verses 3 and 4, i think the guy got caught. the solar garlic is the weed. and he gets shot at the end of verse 3 so perhaps he thinks he's dying or going to jail and is regretting that he spent his life this way. "was it for this my life i sought?"

"control for smilers can't be bought" im really not sure about. smilers are perhaps pot heads. it might be saying, that they can't pay off the cops to leave them alone.

I'm pulling the pavement from under my nails

I brush past a garden, dependent on whales

The sloping companion I cast down the ash

Yanked on my tunic and dangled my stash

The premise of the song is that the protagonist and his buddies are on hallucinogenic drugs, hence "the stash." The first lines are told from the perspective of a hallucinating protagonist. He's pulling dirt that appears to be pavement out from under his nails. Whether real or imagined, someone of relative authority is in pursuit of them. They run through some green scenery, and see whales. Then they ash a joint or a cigarette and the protagonist dangles his stash.

Zipping through the forest with the curdling fleas

To grow with them spindles, the mutant I seize

I capture the dread beast who falls to his knees

And cries to his cohorts, asleep in the trees

When youre hallucinating, anything green looks like a "forest" and i can assure you that a bag of shrooms looks like a bag of "curdling fleas." The next lines represent the protagonist calming himself down and having a good time. We all know what its like to feel that bad trip creeping up and having to "capture that dread beast" who, tells his "cohorts" not to bother because youre having a good time, no matter what crazy shit is going on around you.

Smegma, dogmatagram, fishmarket stew

Police in a corner, gunnin' for you

Appletoast, bedheated, furblanket rat

Laugh when they shoot you, say "Please don't do that"

Lines 1 and 3 of this verse are words you would repeatedly say when you were high to laugh and enjoy yourself with your buddies. The "police in the corner gunnin for you" dont actually shoot you but its symbolic that despite the fact that youre getting arrested or pursued or whatever, you are still having a good time. You laugh because its funny that they are on such a lower level of consciousness that they believe they really have any authority over you.

Control for smilers can't be bought

The solar garlic starts to rot

Was it for this my life I sought?

Maybe so and maybe not (Maybe so and maybe not) [4x]

In reference to "Control for smilers can't be bought," no matter how hard they try, the authorities cannot make someone full of love have a bad time. The solar garlic starting to rot represent the sun going down. The last two lines represent the high person being asked some obnoxious question by the authority figure who catches him and his smartass response is "maybe so maybe not"

My other take on the last line is that perhaps the trip finally does go bad, and once that happens youre on a slippery slope and your your smiles cant be brought back fro anything. The solar garlic starts to rot represent the source of the higher consciousness is turning into something ugly and "was it for this my life i sought" is a feeling of "I just wanted to get high and find my inner self and now THIS?!" The answer to this question is "maybe so, maybe not" because while this can be interpreted as something going wrong, perhaps it was neccessary fro the spiritual journey of the individual.