| Joanna Newsom – Sawdust and Diamonds Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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I don't know if Joanna Newsom is very religious or not, but I find plenty of religious imagery in her songs, especially this one. I'll point out one of those religious images. The dove is a common Christian symbol for the Holy Spirit. The dove is 'made with love." The Holy Spirit came into being from the love between the Father and the Son. However, in this case, he is put together "with glue, and a glove, and some pliers." The pliers are used to put together "the wires, the wires, the wires." Also, it is clear that some of the action in this song is taking place on a stage complete with "ropes and pulleys" and an audience. The stage is representative of the hypocrisy that takes place in our live and how we say one thing and "act" oppositely, like the Pharisees in the Bible. In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus speaks of the sin against the Holy Spirit as unforgivable. Some theologians have reached the conclusion that this unforgivable sin is the sin of hypocrisy (i am not sure exactly how they reached that conclusion, but it makes sense in this song). That sin of hypocrisy that is taking place constantly on this figurative stage which we all live in causes the dove to have "a long face." The dove (the Holy Spirit) is obviously distressed by this sin. The dove also can't be happy about being stuffed with sawdust and diamonds. The sawdust is symbolic of people's misconstruing of the concepts of God and eternity to fit their means. An obvious theme of this song is desire, symbolized by the pastoral fire (pastoral in this context meaning "coming from the farm"). That desire is not for worldly things, but for something much greater: eternal union with God. The dove desires her as it coos "hold me close" just as God desires union with us. She says, "though it may be madness, I will take to the grave your precious longface." The things of the world are just "a sandcastle that the gibbering wave takes." She recognizes that the time in this world is nothing compared to that eternity that she desires so greatly. There is great deal to be said about this song. It is filled with more symbols, images, metaphors and outright beauty than any poem I have ever read. |
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