Esther

Well, you know somebody would get to it sooner or later.  I must say that 
a page on the meaning of Phish lyrics is a little bit silly in theory, 
since a good portion of their reportoire are songs with scant lyrics, if 
any.  Recent output has changed this, but I would would be bemused to 
find a post about the "deep significance" of David Bowie or Tweezer.  At 
any rate...
JUNTA was my first taste of Phish, in a dorm room after midnight.  Zach 
was his name; a journalism major who also played guitar and "dangled his 
stash".  We would stay up after quiet hours and listen to those two discs 
and discuss.  Although the music was pleasing, it was Esther that caught 
my ear.  I loved how the words fit; the story wasn't just told by voices 
but by all of the sounds together, creating a story that provoked one's 
imagination more than any film or TV show.
Zach and I became good friends, but then he disappeared for a month.  
When I found that he had been busted I become rather freaked out about 
marijuana and vowed never to smoke again.  The next time I saw Zach at a 
house party, he was very far gone.  He put me down for not smoking and 
really hurt my feelings.  I forgive him, but when I listen to Esther now 
I can hear a fable, warning against using marijuana.
The opening is the deal going down, but on a circus lot rather than a 
street corner.  Trey likes the imagery of a circus, I guess: listen to 
Roggae, or When The Circus Comes.  Lots of grotesque for the Armenian man 
to contrast the innocent esther, and having the doll represent the joint 
is a subversive gesture; "all knowledge seeming innocent and pure"?
Esther, not knowing any better, takes the doll/joint to church, where the 
congregation reacts like reactionaries and tries to confiscate and 
destroy Esther's acquisition. The coming storm is the weather of 
adolescence, one that causes all of us to grow up.  A rite of passage 
cannot be passed by, nonetheless Esther escapes the storm as she escaped 
the churchgoers: by toking up and flying away.
When Esther comes down, as she inevitibly will, she finds that her world 
has not resolved itself.  She is now in a bad trip in unfamilier places, 
full of childfears and percieved danger.  She retreats again, then faces 
health fanatics, who close in on her, leaving her still only one method 
of escape, this time swimming rather than flying.  But alas, she has 
taken too many hits, and they drag her down towards her doom.
OK, I know Esther could really be about the dangers of any hazardous 
substance, maybe even Nyquil, but that's what I say it is.  Next:  
"Campaign Finance Reform and Scent Of A Mule"