Fix what’s wrong, but don’t rewrite what the artist wrote. Stick to the official released version — album booklet, label site, verified lyric video, etc. If you’re guessing, pause and double-check.
Respect the structure
Songs have rhythm. Pages do too. Leave line breaks where they belong. Don’t smash things together or add extra empty space just for looks.
Punctuation counts (but vibe-editing doesn’t)
Correct typos? Yes. Re-punctuating a whole verse because it ‘looks better’? Probably not. Keep capitalization and punctuation close to the official source.
Don’t mix versions
If you’re editing the explicit version, keep it explicit. If it’s the clean version, keep it clean. No mashups.
Let the lyrics be lyrics
This isn’t the place for interpretations, memories, stories, or trivia — that’s what comments are for. Keep metadata, translations, and bracketed stage directions out unless they’re officially part of the song.
Edit lightly
If two lines are wrong… fix the two lines. No need to bulldoze the whole page. Think ‘surgical,’ not ‘remix.’
When in doubt, ask the crowd
Not sure what they’re singing in that fuzzy bridge? Drop a question in the comments and let the music nerds swarm. Someone always knows.
There is a theme of STD's and using protection in the album, especially in the song "Cavern." Manteca is Spanish for cooking lard, I would guess with a reference to a curvy woman, too.
In "Cavern," we're reminded to take care of our shoe after a list of synonyms for condoms. Here, the singer laments a "Crab" in our "Shoemouth."
Elsewhere in the album, the singer can no longer carry on his relationship with his lover due to being in the hospital with a "tube" in his "ween."
Not the most mature way to address the AIDS epidemic that was raging at the time this album came out, but as a teenager when this came out, I got the message. It's a regular PSA!
From my Guelah Papyrus comment:
I think this song is about expecting to catch a cheating girlfriend in the act, with undertones of fears of venereal disease as a running theme? Why? Well, when you listen to the other lyrics on the album, STD's are something of a running theme-- it's a public health announcement to jam band types everywhere. "Whatever you do, take care of your shoe" (Cavern) lest you get a "Crab" in your "Shoemouth" (Manteca)
"In summing up, the moral seems
A little bit obscure...
Give the director a serpent deflector
A mudrat detector, a ribbon reflector
A cushion convector, a pitcher of nectar *
A viral dissector,a hormone collector"
(Cavern) - this entire list is a collection of synonyms for condoms. With the exception of a "picture of Nectar." Nectar's was a club that Phish played in and while I haven't seen the proprietor myself, it would presumably be enough of a turn off to prevent any activity that might result in catching anything!!! And I think bacteria can come in the shape of little serpents, ribbons, rods, or tiny spheres. Yuck.
This album came out during the AIDS epidemic when I was a teenager-- I think the message was pretty clear at the time. The remainder of "Cavern's" lyrics contain a lot of disease imagery, and other earlier tunes like Golgi Apparatus suggest that microbiology tends to come up in Phish lyrics.
So the singer imagines himself paralyzed by a spider, a "fly on the wall" to witness the tryst of his lover, and then imagines walking in, causing frowns all around-- and noticing that his photo frame on the nightstand has been turned flat on the table.
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It's an old jazz tune by Dizzy Gillespie...lyrics are phish though (go figure haha)
There is a theme of STD's and using protection in the album, especially in the song "Cavern." Manteca is Spanish for cooking lard, I would guess with a reference to a curvy woman, too.
In "Cavern," we're reminded to take care of our shoe after a list of synonyms for condoms. Here, the singer laments a "Crab" in our "Shoemouth."
Elsewhere in the album, the singer can no longer carry on his relationship with his lover due to being in the hospital with a "tube" in his "ween."
Not the most mature way to address the AIDS epidemic that was raging at the time this album came out, but as a teenager when this came out, I got the message. It's a regular PSA!
From my Guelah Papyrus comment:
I think this song is about expecting to catch a cheating girlfriend in the act, with undertones of fears of venereal disease as a running theme? Why? Well, when you listen to the other lyrics on the album, STD's are something of a running theme-- it's a public health announcement to jam band types everywhere. "Whatever you do, take care of your shoe" (Cavern) lest you get a "Crab" in your "Shoemouth" (Manteca)
"In summing up, the moral seems A little bit obscure...
Give the director a serpent deflector A mudrat detector, a ribbon reflector A cushion convector, a pitcher of nectar * A viral dissector,a hormone collector"
(Cavern) - this entire list is a collection of synonyms for condoms. With the exception of a "picture of Nectar." Nectar's was a club that Phish played in and while I haven't seen the proprietor myself, it would presumably be enough of a turn off to prevent any activity that might result in catching anything!!! And I think bacteria can come in the shape of little serpents, ribbons, rods, or tiny spheres. Yuck.
This album came out during the AIDS epidemic when I was a teenager-- I think the message was pretty clear at the time. The remainder of "Cavern's" lyrics contain a lot of disease imagery, and other earlier tunes like Golgi Apparatus suggest that microbiology tends to come up in Phish lyrics.
So the singer imagines himself paralyzed by a spider, a "fly on the wall" to witness the tryst of his lover, and then imagines walking in, causing frowns all around-- and noticing that his photo frame on the nightstand has been turned flat on the table.