Theme From The Bottom

 Now this is, admittedly, a very silly explanation for 
the song, but it is fun anyway.  After reading all these song meanings 
talking about phish songs being about cocaine addictions and other such 
depressing topics, I thought I'd do something a little more 
lighthearted, well here it is.

Theme from the Bottom is a metaphor for pooing.  Theme indicates poo, 
and the bottom is, of course, one's bottom.
"I feed, from the bottom, you feed from the top.  I live upon morsels 
you happen to drop"
   -The song starts out from the perspective of a toilet talking to a 
person.  People feed their mouth, while toilets are fed from our bottoms 
and live on the morsels we drop to them.
"and coffee that somehow leaks out of your cup."
   -This line is about dirarrhea.
The rest of the first verse is the toilet going on about poo falling 
into it. (If you try hard enough you can make a case for it)

On to the second verse which is descriptions of poo...
"Pantomime mixtures of heaven and earth, jumbled events that have less 
than no worth."
   -These lines decribe how poo is just a bunch of crap jumbled together 
that our bodies deem worthless.
"Time in the forest to dig under rocks."
   -This is the type of poo that falls down into the drain in the 
toilet.
"Or sleep in the ocean afloat in a box"
   -This is the type of poo that floats at the top of the toilet water.
"Or sink just below all the churning and froth"
   -This is the type of poo that sort of floats in the middle of the 
water.
"Or swim to the light source or fly like a moth."
   -This is the type of poo that sticks out of the toilet water- trying 
desperately to avoid being sucked into the oblivian of the toilet drain.
Here's the clincher:
"So toss away stuff you don't need in the end, but keep what's important 
and know who's your friend."
   -One ought to get rid of unwanted or unneeded parts of food that one 
has ingested, but ought to keep those important vitamins and minerals.

Well, that's all I have- hope you enjoyed it and it made you laugh... 
and I hope I didn't offend anyone too much!
Peace,
Ryan Vandenbroeck
rvandenbroeck@hotmail.com



I think that if we look at the words in the simplest context, we see
that they are simply talking about the life of a FISH- with an F- from
the point of view of a Fish. 
->"I feed from the bottom, you feed from the top, I live upon morsels
you happen to drop"- seems like a typical fish point of view. All the
swimming references, the description of the ocean-
->"On the way upwards, the coloures come back, But all along the bottom
is blue, grey, and black"
->"Jumbled events that have less than no worth"- how the hell does
anything that goes on above water affect the everyday life of a fish?
-"Time in the forest to dig under rocks, or sleep in the ocean afloat in
a box"-> fishes have way too much time on their hands
"We'll sink just below all the churning and froth"-> the ocean churns
and froths, i think
"Or swim to the light source (sun) or fly like a moth (needed a rhyme)."
  Anyways, I think you could apply these lyrics rather accurately, along
with the rest, to a Fish. Phish is really a simple band- thinking to
hard about what their saying usually wont take you the right direction.
I actually think that they enjoy making no sense and causeing fans to
send too much time analyzing them and their music.



  I was driving home from the Alpine Valley Show while listening to the Dayton
show, when my friend and i started to talk about the meaning of "Theme From
The Bottom."  I think that it is talking about the life and style of life of a
phish head.  Think about it.  "I feed from the bottom, you feed from the top."
No offence to me, my friends, or any other phish head but we are not at the
top of the pile so to speak.  "If nothing comes down i am forced to come up."
This part means if we have nothing to tour for we have to come to the real
world.  "As i am swiming by, don't you see any thing that you like to try."
This part is like when you are walking into the show.  You know how it is, so
much to try, any thing you want.  I do not know, but it made sence to us.
Well tell me what you think.

Peace, and keep ramblen on
John Lee Blumenshine IV

I would like, if I may, to elaborate on the comments concerning the
"Theme from the Bottom"'s meaning.  I agree with John Blumenshine (isn't
Blumenshine a car wax?) there is more that can be pointed out.  If you
will observe the Billy Breathes CD notes (where the full version of
verse 2 can be found) you can find many supports to the lowley
phish-head theory.

First:  "Jumbled events that have less than no worth" is a reference to
how phish is constantly using their own strange life experiances in
songs, references to people that we don't know, places we've never been,
etc. etc.  In fact, on a whole, the basis of all phish songs is inside
jokes or stories that aren't supposed to make sense to us, rather to
amuse them (the band) and their friends.

More:  "You live upon morsels I happen to drop, the coffee that somehow
leaks out of my cup, if nothing comes down, then I'm forced to swim up"
        this refers to how phisheads (or maybe those who like the image of
being a phishead) hang on every word that any of the four guys says in
public, interview, etc.  They practicaly worship their actions, which
can usualy be described as bizarre and confusing.  don't get me wrong, I
love phish, but come on people, it's music not a lifestyle. 

 The last few lines, which are curiously ommited from the recorded
version and all the live versions that I've heard:  "and I carved out
things that came from your ass and other guys carv things that came from
my ass"
  I see this as a view of how we soak up every second of a show like it
were our last moment on earth and Trey (or whomever wrote the lyrics)
feel that they could pretty much shit on stage and there would be
phisheads who would cheer and clap and enjoy every minute of their
symbolic revery.  Perhaps, given Phish's overwhelming (?) popularity
that has arisen in the recent years, they are begining to feel as if
people aren't really listening to the music, they're just there because
it is PHISH.  Perhaps this is why they seem to enjoy touring in Europe,
because they aren't as well known and they can really concentrate on the
music rather than the entertainment.  

Of course, my opinions are subject to criticism, but all in all, I
believe that I have drawn some rather rational conclusions about their
music in general and the concert experiance (of which I am a skilled
veteran).  Any debate is open, I assume, on this forum that Andy Gadiel
has created.  Thank you.

At the Went last year the friend I went with stumbled upon another possible meaning for 
the lyrics in this song.  We were tripping pretty hard, harder than she ever had before
 and although she was having fun, it got to be a little too much.  So I'm dancing 
away and suddenly I notice that she's gone.  I panicked for a moment, but then I saw her. 
 She had sat down and was resting.  I bent down to see if she was okay and she smiled 
at me through swirling eyes.  Once I saw she was alright I continued dancing, through 
the end of what I think was Theme from the Bottom.  As the next song started up I sat 
down next to her to rest myself and to see what was up, or should I say, down, with 
her.  She started talking about the "floor people" and how there were lots of them 
and how much fun she was having and that she just needed to rest for a bit.  I started 
looking around and I saw that these "floor people" she was talking about were not 
some miniature tripfriends, but rather other folk sitting down amid the leg trees 
of standing people.  Once my eyes adjusted to the darkness I could see a whole
bunch of people sitting down all over the grass, in this purply-blue darkness.  
In that moment I "saw" Theme From the Bottom.  It reveals the whole song perfectly.  Look:

she fed from the bottom, I fed from the top
she live upon morsels I happen to drop 
(like when I would hand the bowl down to her)
And coffee that somehow leaks out of your cup
If nothing comes down then I'm forced to swim up.
(at times she would stand up to see what was going on or ask for a puff.)
On the way upwards, the colours come back
But all along the bottom is blue, grey, and black
(that is exactly what the colors look like sitting down,
and standing back up the colors do return!)
the darkness is cold and perception goes wrong
(it is both dark and cold sitting down, not dancing, 
and you do feel like you're in a different place.)
And the night seems to go on incredibly long
So I ask you why if I'm swimming by, 
Don't you see anything you'd like to try?
(both sitting and standing give you a full picture of what is going on.)
Pantomime mixtures of heaven and earth
(up above, with full lights and sound is like heaven, and then sitting, 
close to the earth, everything is much more subduded.)
Jumbled events that have less than no worth
Time in the forest to dig under rocks
(she was playing with the grass when I checked on her.)
Or sleep in the ocean afloat in a box.
(I saw people laying down, just vegging and it must have felt like 
floating in a sea of noise and light..)
We'll sink just below all the churning and froth
(again, sitting down)
Or swim to the light source or fly like a moth
(or standing and dancing your pants off, or making your way to the front!))
So toss away stuff you don't need in the end
(that always happens at Phish shows!)
But keep what's important and know who's your friend
(we were both in tune with what the other was doing and we each had the things we needed.)
So I ask you why if I'm swimming by,
Don't you see anything that you'd like to try?
(one of my favorite lines in Phish.  I love it indoors when they blast the 
whole place with white light and you get to see all the other souls you 
could touch, try out and know.)