In regards to the meaning of this song:
Before a live performance on the EP Five Stories Falling, Geoff states “It’s about the last time I went to visit my grandmother in Columbus, and I saw that she was dying and it was the last time I was going to see her. It is about realizing how young you are, but how quickly you can go.”
That’s the thing about Geoff and his sublime poetry, you think it’s about one thing, but really it’s about something entirely different. But the lyrics are still universal and omnipresent, ubiquitous, even. So relatable. That’s one thing I love about this band. I also love their live performances, raw energy and Geoff’s beautiful, imperfectly perfect vocals. His voice soothes my aching soul.
I drove out to the canyon ground
Grinding dust off from the sand
I don't ever fuck with the Dust Devil
He's got the power of an upright in his goddamn hand
The sand becomes a potent elixir
Wind as hot as flame
The bodies fly right through the night
All faceless and without name
I grab onto a foreign handle
Walking all through a door
Discovered I was just buying a pint
Of turkey at the liquor store
I drove out to the canyon, baby
And hit the motherfucking road
I paid my fine and all the lights
Look exactly like a picture show
The desert skies before my eyes
They turned into a sea
A flaming mass of oil and gas
Screams with ecstasy
Grinding dust off from the sand
I don't ever fuck with the Dust Devil
He's got the power of an upright in his goddamn hand
The sand becomes a potent elixir
Wind as hot as flame
The bodies fly right through the night
All faceless and without name
I grab onto a foreign handle
Walking all through a door
Discovered I was just buying a pint
Of turkey at the liquor store
I drove out to the canyon, baby
And hit the motherfucking road
I paid my fine and all the lights
Look exactly like a picture show
The desert skies before my eyes
They turned into a sea
A flaming mass of oil and gas
Screams with ecstasy
Lyrics submitted by planetearth, edited by ErinDoub, Warpig
Dust Devil Lyrics as written by Jeffrey D. Pinkus Gibson Jerome Haynes
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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He has the power of an upright? That makes no fucking sense. God, I wish they had put lyrics in the booklet.
These Lyrics are horribly mutilated, but trying to translate Mr. Haynes is sometimes next to impossible. But the power of an upright part is right. Dirt Devil used to use that as a slogan.<br /> <br /> youtube.com/watch<br /> <br /> I think the second part goes something like<br /> "The sand becomes a potent elixir, wind as hot as flame<br /> The bodies fly right through the night, all faces without name<br /> I grab onto a foreign hand, go walking through a door<br /> Discovered that i was just buying a pint of Turkey at the liquor store"<br />
and poking around i found what seems to be a closer version<br /> <br /> "I drove out to the canyon grindin' dust up from the sand<br /> I'm gonna hook up with the dust devil<br /> he's got the power of an upright in his god-damned hand<br /> <br /> The sand becomes a potent elixir, wind as hot as flame<br /> the bodies fly right through the night<br /> all faceless and without name.<br /> I grab onto a foreign handle, walkin' through a door<br /> I discovered that I was just buyin a pint of 'turkey at the liquor store<br /> <br /> I drove out to the canyon, baby, hit the motherfuckin road.<br /> I paid my fine and all the lights<br /> looked exactly like a picture show.<br /> The desert skies before my eyes,<br /> they turned into a sea...<br /> A flaming mass of oil and gas,<br /> screams of ecstasy."
Yeah, I thought Dust Devil was a household name as well as that line from the commercial. Hell, I have a Dust Devil in my closet now.<br /> <br /> Guess if Gibby had written it today it would be about a Dyson Devil. Maybe that is what happens when you do drugs and trip in a closet where a vacuum is stored. <br /> You also make a kick-ass song.
DirtDevil was a brand of vacuum cleaner made by Royal that came out in 1984; it was small and portable but still had pretty good suction power. The tagline for the early ads was "Power of an upright in your hand."<br /> <br /> So, Gibby made a pretty good joke swapping Dust Devil for Dirt Devil.