Dinu Lipatti's Bones Lyrics
We sealed ourselves away from view
You were looking at the void and seldom blinking
The best that I could do
Was to train my eyes on you
We scaled the hidden hills beneath the surface
Scraped our fingers bloody on the stones
And built a little house that we could live in
Out of Dinu Lipatti's bones
Treated the days as though they'd kill us if they could
Wringing out the hours like blood-drenched bedsheets
To keep wintertime at bay
But December showed up anyway
There was no money, it was money that you wanted
I went downtown, sold off most of what I owned
And we raised a tower to broadcast all our dark dreams
From Dinu Lipatti's bones
Dinu Lipatti was a pianist, yes. But she also died of leukemia at the age of 33. Where does leukemia reside? Bone marrow. Hence, this song may be about one's Kryptonite. Or perhaps the uselessness of an object. Or perhaps it's just a dark reference for "dark dreams." Or, likelier still, Darnielle owns Dinu Lipatti's bones and intends to build a broadcasting tower. Literally.
Of the many things I love about this song, I love the way it ends. It's almost a fadeout, but it doesn't just dissolve - it gets quieter, and calmer, and it just ends in a whisper.
These are two people in pain, clinging to each other desperately because there's nothing else to cling to. They're the kids from "This Year," a matched pair of high-maintenance machines, always inches away from breaking down.
The hushed falsetto, the muted tones of the guitar and bass and piano, and - especially - the tenderness of the ending sound like a lullaby to me - like Darnielle is carefully and gently tucking the song into a soft bed and whispering to it that everything will be OK, even though it probably won't. It's an amazing moment.
dinu lipatti was a man, and he died of hodgkins which isnt quite leukemia but rather lymphoma. dinu lipatti's extraordinary skill with the piano stemmed from a quest for musical perfection; i think this is an attempt to find perfection in each other. thats why they cut themselves off from the world, and why their failure is inevitable. sounds like a wild visionary quest together through drugs.
I think Dinu Lipatti's Bones are his music. His remains, that is, his legacy.
A theme I see a lot in the Sunset Tree is the saving power of music, and I think this song is another example of it.
In this case, the Music of Dinu Lipatti serves as a way of bringing the two characters of John and the unnamed girlfriend together. But ultimately the song is about how he depends on her for moral support.
What does this mean? O.o
Dinu Lipattis was an early 20th century Romanian pianist. What that has to do with this song, I have no idea.
Thanks for the lyrics. I think the third line is actually,
"You were looking at the void and SELDOM blinking"
I think its about tying to make something out of flawed material, houses are often seen as symbols of relationships, especially in darnielle's work (see the house that sripped blood). So the fact that this couple are building their house out of quite obviously flawed material, shows that their relationship was doomed from the start, however, in line with true human nature, they are willing to try anyway. Ignorance is bliss
I like this interpretation. But, I would go further in saying that the reason why their relationship was flawed was because this girl wanted to be (or just was) shallow. He wanted to still be with her (she wanted money and he sold off most of what he owned) but couldn't be as shallow as her. After they die their hair, she stares into a void and loses the depth he saw in her from what they experienced together, i.e. scaling mountains beneath the surface and ringing out blood drenched bed sheets like he's trying to help her with demons...
I like this interpretation. But, I would go further in saying that the reason why their relationship was flawed was because this girl wanted to be (or just was) shallow. He wanted to still be with her (she wanted money and he sold off most of what he owned) but couldn't be as shallow as her. After they die their hair, she stares into a void and loses the depth he saw in her from what they experienced together, i.e. scaling mountains beneath the surface and ringing out blood drenched bed sheets like he's trying to help her with demons from her past. "The best that I could do, was to train my eyes on you." Which maybe means that he stared at her in hopes of her not changing, but she inevitably changed for the worse and became vapid and lost the life he saw in her, i.e. "december showed up anyway."
I definitely think this is about a drug-related experience, and the reference to Dinu Lipatti may be no more than a part of the randomness of a psychadelic dream.
The last stanza of this song on Come Come to the Sunset Tree are There was no money, it was money that you wanted The paint cracked, and the moldy rafters groaned and we watched cracks form in the house we made out of Dinu Lipatti's bones