3 Meanings
Add Yours
Follow
Share
Q&A
Dust 2... Lyrics
If dust could only talk
What would we hear it say?
Before it's brushed aside
Just as it's swept away
It's just evidence
It's of no consequence
It's only flesh and bone
Why don't you leave it alone?
If dust could only speak
Caught in a falling beam
It dust could only cry
If dust could only scream
For it's the single witness that might testify
Could I spit out the truth?
Or would you rather just swallow a lie?
But dust is always caught behind a coat of paint
Beneath the marble fingernails of kings and saints
And in the theatre curtain where they hang a drape
Or in the ticket pocket where your hands escape
Before they start to wander
Or they start to shrink
You rub your eye a little and appear to blink
And then she caught you staring
She knows what you're thinking
What got into you is not a ghost as such
It was just dust
Here comes the juggernaut
Here come The Poisoners
They choke the life and land
And rob the joy from us
Why do they taste of sugar?
Oh, when they're made of money
Here come the Lamb of God
And the butcher's boy, Sonny
Well, I believe we just
Become a speck of dust
What would we hear it say?
Before it's brushed aside
Just as it's swept away
It's of no consequence
It's only flesh and bone
Why don't you leave it alone?
Caught in a falling beam
It dust could only cry
If dust could only scream
For it's the single witness that might testify
Could I spit out the truth?
Or would you rather just swallow a lie?
Beneath the marble fingernails of kings and saints
And in the theatre curtain where they hang a drape
Or in the ticket pocket where your hands escape
Or they start to shrink
You rub your eye a little and appear to blink
And then she caught you staring
She knows what you're thinking
What got into you is not a ghost as such
It was just dust
Here come The Poisoners
They choke the life and land
And rob the joy from us
Why do they taste of sugar?
Oh, when they're made of money
Here come the Lamb of God
And the butcher's boy, Sonny
Become a speck of dust
Add your song meanings, interpretations, facts, memories & more to the community.
i cant believe no one posted anything here yet, this song is so good, elvis costello comes up with the greastest lyrics and his songs are amazing
Anybody else notice how many times he talks about taste in WIWC? It's kinda funny. Anyway. The lyrics are absolutely amazing here. "marble fingernails of kings and saints", "she caught you staring, she knows what you're thinking." Guh.
Yeeah! This is poetic genius I think. Dust is a reference to all the little guilts, hidden truths and mysteries in history, and how they haunt us. "What got into you is not a ghost as such It was just dust"
Also, a very stong last verse:
Here comes the juggernaut Here come The Poisoners They choke the life and land And rob the joy from us Why do they taste of sugar? Oh, when they're made of money Here come the Lamb of God And the butcher's boy, Sonny
Can anyone interpret this?
@LukeB Well, 12 years later, but . . . the inexorable forces of destruction come, unstoppable (lıke the juggernaut) and insidious (poisoners). The environmental themes make it fairly clear he's talking about industry, which is both. They give us what we think we want (taste of sugar), while taking all of their profits from us (made of money). The Lamb of God isthe people, maybe us, who become a blood sacrifice for our sins, and the butcher's boy (note the film, the Butcher's Boy, from the same era) is performing the sacrifice for his own gain.
@LukeB Well, 12 years later, but . . . the inexorable forces of destruction come, unstoppable (lıke the juggernaut) and insidious (poisoners). The environmental themes make it fairly clear he's talking about industry, which is both. They give us what we think we want (taste of sugar), while taking all of their profits from us (made of money). The Lamb of God isthe people, maybe us, who become a blood sacrifice for our sins, and the butcher's boy (note the film, the Butcher's Boy, from the same era) is performing the sacrifice for his own gain.