Chalk Dust Torture

School can be very monotonous, but you think of the most imaginative, best ideas when you are in class. As the teacher speaks of things you don't take in you go off on variations of what they say. These opportunities are great, but if you let them go and shut down you can have your own original, deep thought from the base of what the teacher was talking about; this i how school is made interesting. Thats what is meant by following your visions lets the vasoconstrictor come undone (something that has been constricting your blood or nerves is let loose, thus giving your parts more blood for life and sesitivity for feeling).

Here's my take:

Coke is a strong vasoconstrictor. So yeah, this song is about drugs. But it might be about drugs that have a vasodilation effect. (thc is a mild vasodilator)

And yes, it's about being stuck in school.

A lot of this song has got to be some kind of scene from or related to the Gamehendge story, right? The story seems to be largely a soap opera of spying, intrigue, torture, double crossing, etc. Two characters seem to be facing off in this song, one of whom seems to have some kind of special sense that allows them to see through the other's poker face and recognize them as an enemy full of wrath.

Of course, the whole Gamehenge story has to owe some of its creation to various altered states experienced by it's writer.

What I get is that there is this Jezmund, a mercenary warrior who is easily bought is facing someone who is possibly begging for their life to be spared and willing to "talk" and give something away about Locust the Lurker (yet another spy).

But after the "who can unlearn" chorus, Jezmund seems to be in a different state. After plugging the distress tube up tight (shooting up?), Jezmund watches words flutter away and experiences the sense that all emotions are harmless and kept at bay.

Just about everything I've read about opiates like Heroin describes this kind of sensation.

Just my take, but I'm probably confusing what I can of the ending for all I know.

Joe

school is no fun. the chorus always comes to mind when im trapped in a geometry classroom with a horrible teacher

Word. At the beginning of this year I wrote all the lyrics to Torture on every desk I sat at. Some teachers asked the classes for information on the "Chalkdust Vandalist"...If I'm not mistaken, this is a variation of a poem that Tom Marshall wrote, the music was added to the words, rather than the other way around. That's pretty hard to do and have the music and lyrics fit each other, but I think they were able to blend the two nicely.

I heard this song is about Taft, the boarding school Trey graduated from, and where I currently go. but that could just be taftie folklore, and it could actually be written by Tom. But whoever wrote it about whatever school, it hits a real cord man.

He prpbably went to one of those uptight Christian schools. UGH!!! They suck.

Out of boredom I've written the lyrics out in class and left them lying in the desk for someone else to find. There are tons of copies of this circulating around my school now, and everybody likes to scrawl comments on the back. Sadly I don't know of any other Phishheads. :-p

Haha

this is a great song. Tom marshall wrote it and then the music was added to it later. Tom Marshall is a good friend of trey's who has either written or co-written the lyrics for most of phish's songs.

Vasoconstrictors can also "come undone" through certain drugs. Maybe ol' tommy was talking about going to this boring school high or cutting loose afterwards.