Sparkle

I know that I read somewhere (perhaps in the Phish Book) that Sparkle
(written by Tom Marshall) refers to a bad period in his relationship with
his wife... or something like that.  When Trey wrote the music he thought it
would be funny to make such a sadly lyriced song have a happy upbeat tune. 
Thus, Sparkle! Hoorah!

--aaron.



The song Sparkle refers to an acid trip.  Replace the word "gift" with "hit!"  "The pressure builds, you buy a hit;"  The feeling right before dropping
acid is pressure and excitement.  
The next part describes the regular actions of a tripping billy.  "Apologize, to Luc and Lil, Converse with Ed, a drive with Jill."  This would be the
tripping group, and they "can find you in their worlds, one-by-one, a string of pearls."  
This entire song refers to a happy trip.  "Confused you say, this isn't me; you hover in their unity.  Ashamed you slowly loose your grasp, release
the links, undo the clasp."  This verse is describing a climax in the trip.  The trip is becoming stronger, which means everyone is tripping face.  
The next verse decribes the visuals that occur during a trip.  "The skin that drips done off the trees, or peels back slowly from your knees."  Now this
sort of visual impairment does not affect most people, only those under the influence of LSD.
The song begins to strengthen and it bursts into an erratic chant of "Laughing, Laughing, Fall Apart!"  Now, if you know anything about anything,
than you know that tripping happily consists of laughing, laughing until you fall apart.  
Thanks for reading,
Kelly