Touched

Most of you have this about right. This sequence of songs was written after we'd broken up (I wrote about the song "Pretty When You Cry" as well). There was regret. There was an attempt to reconcile a 3-year relationship, although I was in another one by then. It's a complicated emotion that the video captures pretty well. Wanting someone and finding they're gone, perhaps wondering if you ever really knew them or how close you were.

Someone said it was about a schizophrenic girl. I see that floating around a lot. I'm definitely not schizophrenic, nor do I suffer any mental disorders. I'm about as buckled down as they come, sorry.

It haunts me to listen to as well.

I think Jon might have meant "touched" as in "touched in the head" but I also suspect he meant it with some sense of admiration, or as a double-entendre. It certainly refers to the way we connected, which was one of those complicated, cerebral, emotional, can't-get-close-enough-to-you ways. Like "I want to be in your crazy world."

Constructing crazy and personal worlds is underrated. I have always felt like that is what the essence of VAST was: creating a world outside of the quotidian bullshit that passes for "life." I think we aimed for something more philosophical, more emotional, and deeper. Still do. VAST was more of a lifestyle than a band, and as such reflected those who were living it.