Hello Phish Phans!
We left off last week with the near-conclusion of our journey through Gamehendge. If you lost the story line over the weeks, here is a recap:
The story concerns the aging Colonel Forbin, in a suburban town in Long Island, who one day finds a door to another land while walking his faithful dog McGrupp. Stepping through this door, he finds himself in Gamehendge, a land of vast green forests and a huge mountain. Gamhendge is inhabited by the Lizards, who were a simple people who lived in harmony with nature and each other, as taught by the Helping Friendly Book, the book containing all knowledge and “the ancient secrets of eternal joy and never-ending splendor.” A man named Wilson arrived in Gamehendge and lived among the Lizards, learning all about them. Since they were trusting people, they welcomed him as one of themselves. He took advantage of this, however, and eventually took the Helping Friendly Book, used it to enslave the Lizards, and hid the book away in a tower. At the time that Colonel Forbin enters Gamehendge (when the story as told begins) the lizards are living in bondage to the evil Wilson, and are plotting a revolution. We learn about various figures in the revolution (Tela, Rutherford the Brave, Errand Wolfe, Roger; Mr. Palmer, the accountant, who is killed by the AC/DC Bag, a robot). Eventually, after hanging out with the revolutionaries (particularly Rutherford and Tela) and learning their good and bad points, Forbin decides to get the Helping Friendly Book back and free the Lizards from Wilson’s tyranny. He climbs the mountain to meet the great and knowledgeable Icculus, the prophet who wrote the Book (or at least whom the Lizards prophesize wrote the book, since no one has/had actually seen him). At the top of the mountain, Forbin speaks to Icculus, who sends his friend the Famous Mockingbird to retrieve the Helping Friendly Book from the tower where Wilson has locked it away. He then presents the book to Errand Wolfe, who immediately uses it to take over Gamehendge, captures the Famous Mockingbird, and has the Sloth kill Wilson. As Icculus had warned Forbin, with the help of the Book “a tree of knowledge in your soul will grow/And the Helping Friendly Book will plant the seed/ But I warn you that all knowledge seeming innocent and pure/Becomes a deadly weapon in the hands of avarice and greed.” The revolution is thus destined to fail by its own successes.
The last song in the thesis is Possum, which are Icculus’ thoughts on the events that transpired, offering the moral “ain’t no truth in action, unless you believe it anyway.” Possum is a typical 12-bar blues and as such serves as good vehicle for some intense jamming. There are a lot of good versions of this song, so it’s hard to pick one, but this version from 1992 is pretty cool:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YR4KqDaIIOQ
There are teases of several songs: “Rocky Mountain Way,” “L.A. Woman,” “China Grove,” “It’s Ice,” and “Divided Sky.” Those of you who have been following the newsletter for the past couple of months will remember The Divided Sky from the week of November 26.
Unfortunately, it sounds like part of the 1992 recording got chopped halfway through the jam. As a consolation, I offer this other version from 1994: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rILsLTxqw5U
Before we complete our discussion of Gamehendge, I would like to make note of other Phish songs that have some relation to Gamehendge (but were not a part of the thesis): The Divided Sky, Llama, McGrupp and the Watchful Hosemasters, Punch You in the Eye, Icculus, Harpua, Axilla, Axilla Part 2, and Kung. The lyrics of those songs contain references to Gamehendge.
Enjoy the Phish. See you all next week!
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