Dark Star

People say this (along with other GD songs) is just about drugs. This song is actually about a certain feeling of meaninglessness. When you feel like your whole life was totally wasted, and you notice it at one point.

I believe Robert Hunter wrote this line on an acid trip. "Through the transitive nightfall of diamonds" Its pretty much an acid trip if you ask me "Mirror shatters in formless reflections of matter. Glass hand dissolving to ice petal flowers" these thing only happen on acid. i do understand though people interpret songs differently but if any song is a trip it's Dark Star everyone knows that and frankly i cant believe there are not more posts about this song maybe that is because it is so obvious the meaning that is. peace and love and legalize marijuana dont just say it do it get out there take some signatures.

though the song is notoriously reminiscent of drug-related imagery, it also describes what it would look like to see a dark star implode or crash into another object in space.

it might not have anything to do with the song, but one of the many designs of blotter paper(paper soaked in LSD)is a dark star.

This song was written from the perspective of an acid trip. It's a metaphor for the cosmic forces which seem to control your life, and what causes us to perservere through our brief nihilistic existence. In the end, the nightfall of diamonds is exceedingly transitory but that takes nothing away from it's breathtaking beauty. If this song could be distilled into one emotion, it would be that of awe. The composition that was followed for this song drives the point home further, with a dramatic build up of energy which sometimes would explode with apocalyptic fury, and other times simply fade out, like a dying star.

I just bought my first GD album (live/dead) and this has got to be some of the longest and best guitar sex i've ever heard at just over 23 min.

Does anybody else hear a phone ring or some shit at around like 14:45?

As is the case with many concepts we don't understand, it's all too easy just to dismiss this song as drug-induced and therefore nonsensical. I actually did a school project, so I researched this song in a lot of depth. (http://arts.ucsc.edu/Gdead/AGDL/darkstar.html) This song is really more about the patterns of our lives; how most of the time we go about our business doing nothing much in particular, but then there are rare moments of bliss or happiness that make life worth living.

A "dark star" is actually a star at the end of its life. It is an oxymoron: the brightest of objects, seen as the absence of brightness. This can represent out dull, "brightless" lives that are illuminated by the crashing of a dark star; again, one of those rare moments that makes life more livable.

[feeling rather unmotivated now... to be continued if anyone actually wants to hear it]

The song is about the loss of ego, and a sudden and awe filled access to a greater consciousness.

Dark star crashes pouring its light into ashes Reason tatters the forces tear loose from the axis Searchlight casting for faults in the clouds of delusion shall we go, you and I While we can? Through the transitive nightfall of diamonds

This is a song about the destruction and rebirth following death. It is a celebration of the cycle of death and rebirth. The dark star is a symbol for death but when it crashes it is reborn into ashes. Following the dark star crashing, there is a renewal where delusions are destroyed and the old way has to give way to the new. This may refer to any change - whether it be a personal, spiritual change, or a change in society or government. The ‘transitive nightfall of diamonds’ refers to a new age of transition where the future is still uncertain and being constructed.

Mirror shatters in formless reflections of matter Glass hand dissolving to ice petal flowers revolving Lady in velvet recedes in the nights of goodbye Shall we go, you and I While we can? Through the transitive nightfall of diamonds

The second verse lists objects that then are broken down into their components. These components are now available for us to use however we want to create the future that we want for ourselves.

My sense is it’s about the terror, awe and anticipatory beauty of dying.