Gold Dust

I think Tori states it beautiful herself:

"Gold Dust is very much about being other people and feeling how they feel. And feeling how you felt in another time, when you've been in another place. And it really isn't your past because somehow these frames are written on your body and they've made you what you are. Nothing is gone, it's just on your body map. And this project has been very much about finding my - i guess, my body map. I think if you're going to really write a work about a road trip and about America and who she is, then you have to go see her in all her glory and all her (laughs) bad fast food joints and good truck stops and everything in between. You know, you can't just go to the coast and then fly, do the fly over country trip. You really have to experience it. And the crazy thing about it is, the gold that we found - you find it so much when you're not even...thinking that you're in it. You turn around and see this pair of eyes and somebody puts a bowl of chili in front of you and it's heaven. It doesn't get any better than that." -- Scarlet Stories CD

I don't like these definitive statements when people say "this song is NOT about regret, or nostalgia, or death, etc., etc. I think Tori herself would agree that her music tends to be very open ended--both lyrically and musically. She's also stated many times that the "clues are in the music". I love the idea that she has embedded little clues, but that she still realizes that each person will extract something different after listening to the song.

For me, this song is inseparable from the memory of a friend who died at the age of 17. He was such a sweet soul. He died in a car accident on an icy road one evening. I've kept growing up. I'm in my mid twenties now and I've changed quite a lot. He's still there, though--in that place and with that innocent smile. He cannot change anymore. So for me, when I hear these lyrics mixed with the music it brings him back to me somehow... and it brings me back to who I was when I new him: both on the brink of graduating... sitting together in the woods outside our school when we should have in class.

very very moving song. one of my most favourite. But I wouldn't call it regret. It's more like a memory, like "this used to be our playground".

This song is, in part, about her daughter. "Gold Dust" is the song for D.C. (the cherry blossoms, the reflecting pool...); Tori grew up in the metropolitan area. The birth of her daughter has given her pause, and the singer has begun to reflect upon her own childhood.

Seems to me it`s simply about old memories. Memories of an innocence time when both characters had no responsabilities.

simple, the song is about reget. regret for the things they've done, or haven't done

This song is so touching, It has a very nostolgic sense to it, a yearning for the past.... or atleast an insight to it... she can remember all those times where she was happy... and sfter everyone leaves her, one day they will look back and realize that they had precious time....

This song has personal meaning to me; it feels to be about losing someone you love. You never realize how much you'd miss them, until they're gone. The gold dust (loved one) is (forgive the cliche) gone with the wind...

I agree that it has more of a nostalgic and happy vibe to it. I don't think anyone died or any relationship ended. She looking back on the past; a relationship with a friend, not necesarrily romantic.

A very nice and nostalgic song!

About reflecting on the past and memories, momentarily bliss and bittersweet in remembering past things and times...

Giggin school as a kid...

This song is amazingly gorgeous. It's a nostalgic song about visting the places you've been in the past, whether it be physically visiting them, or just looking back.