Sawdust & Diamonds by Joanna Newsom Lyrics Meaning – Unraveling the Poetic Depths of Desire and Impermanence
Lyrics
Of the wide, white stairs
Through the rest of my life
Do you wait for me there?
There’s a bell in my ears
There’s the wide, white roar
Drop a bell down the stairs
Hear it fall forevermore
Hear it fall, forevermore
Drop a bell off of the dock
Blot it out in the sea
Drowning mute as a rock;
And sounding mutiny
There’s a light in the wings
Hits the system of strings
From the side, where they swing —
See the wires, the wires, the wires
And the articulation in our elbows and knees
Makes us buckle;
And we couple in endless increase
As the audience admires
And the little white dove
Made with love, made with love;
Made with glue, and a glove, and some pliers
Swings a low sickle arc, from its perch in the dark:
Settle down, settle down, my desire
And the moment I slept
I was swept up in a terrible tremor
Though no longer bereft
How I shook! And I couldn’t remember
And then the furthermost shake drove a murthering stake in
And cleft me right down through my center
And I shouldn’t say so
But I knew that it was then, or never
Push me back into a tree
Bind my buttons with salt
And fill my long ears with bees
Praying please, please, please
Oh, you ought not
No you ought not
And then the system of strings tugs on the tip of my wings
(Cut from cardboard and old magazines):
Makes me warble and rise, like a sparrow
And in the place where I stood
There is a circle of wood —
A cord or two — which you chop
And you stack in your barrow
And it is terribly good to carry water and chop wood
Streaked with soot, heavy-booted and wild-eyed;
As I crash through the rafters
And the ropes and the pulleys trail after
And the holiest belfry burns sky-high
And then the slow lip of fire moves
Across the prairie with precision
While, somewhere, with your pliers and glue
You make your first incision
And in a moment of almost-unbearable vision
Doubled over with the hunger of lions
Hold me close, cooed the dove
Who was stuffed, now, with sawdust and diamonds
I wanted to say: Why the long face?
Sparrow, perch and play songs of long face
Burro, buck and bray songs of long face!
Sing, I will swallow your sadness, and eat your cold clay
Just to lift your long face;
And though it may be madness, I will take to the grave
Your precious longface
And though our bones they may break, and our souls separate —
Why the long face?
And though our bodies recoil from the grip of the soil —
Why the long face?
And in the trough of the waves
Which are pawing like dogs
Pitch we, pale-faced and grave
As I write in my log
Then I hear a noise from the hull
Seven days out to sea
And it is that damnable bell!
And it tolls — well, I believe that it tolls
It tolls for me and It tolls for me!
And though my wrists and my waist seemed so easy to break
Still, my dear, I’d have walked you to the edge of the water
And they will recognize all the lines of your face
In the face of the daughter, of the daughter of my daughter
And darling, we will be fine; but what was yours and mine
Appears to me a sandcastle
That the gibbering wave takes
But if it’s all just the same, then will you say my name;
Say my name in the morning, so that I know when the wave breaks
I wasn’t born of a whistle
Or milked from a thistle at twilight
No; I was all horns and thorns
Sprung out fully formed, knock-kneed and upright
So enough of this terror
We deserve to know light
And grow evermore lighter and lighter
You would have seen me through
But I could not undo that desire
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh desire
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh desire
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh desire
Oh
Desire, desire, desire
From the top of the flight
Of the wide, white stairs
Through the rest of my life
Do you wait for me there?
Joanna Newsom’s ‘Sawdust & Diamonds’, from her critically acclaimed album ‘Ys’, is a haunting ballad that merges the mystical with the earthly, the poetic with the prosaic. Newsom, known for her intricate harp-playing and singular voice, constructs a narrative loaded with imagery and symbolism, breaking the boundaries of traditional songwriting to lead listeners into a reverie that explores the complexities of longing and the ephemeral nature of life.
Much like a shimmering gem under a microscope, every angle of ‘Sawdust & Diamonds’ reveals a distinct facet of meaning. It’s a song that doesn’t merely demand listening; it requires an intimate engagement, one where every metaphorical layer peeled back unfurls more questions about love, mortality, and the human spirit.
Bells and Whistles: The Auditory Hallmarks of Memory
From the resonant rings of bells to the ambient static that permeates memory and perception, Newsom paints an aural landscape that explores the persistence and pervasiveness of sound. In ‘Sawdust & Diamonds’, auditory motifs serve as markers of time and poignant reminders of moments both lived and lost. Newsom uses these motifs to signify the impact of experiences that echo throughout our lives, shaping who we are and who we become.
The symbolism of the bells – falling down the stairs, blotting out in the sea, and sounding mutiny – represents moments that, once initiated, reverberate indefinitely, incapable of being retracted or silenced. These moments are transformative and eternal, akin to the indelible impressions life etches upon us.
The Unyielding Dance of Life’s Puppetry
“See the wires, the wires, the wires,” Newsom intones, exposing the unseen forces that guide and sometimes coerce our movements. It is a candid acknowledgment of the limitations and constraints that life imposes. Rather than being free agents, we often find ourselves subjected to the system of strings, each tug influencing our trajectory.
The song’s vivid depiction of a puppetized existence raises existential contemplation about autonomy and determinism, with Newsom delicately illustrating our struggle to navigate a predetermined path while yearning for the freedom of uninhibited flight.
Crafting Love with ‘Glue, and a Glove, and Some Pliers’
The laborious construction of the little white dove, made not from feathers but rather mundane crafting materials, underscores the artifice often found within expressions of love and the tireless effort poured into maintaining its illusion. Newsom contrasts natural desire with fabricated symbols of purity and affection, inviting interpretation on the authenticity of love and the inherent contradictions in manufacturing symbols to represent an organic emotion.
By allowing the dove to speak, to coax the narrator into dismissing the sawdust and diamonds stuffing its own insides, Newsom explores the performative aspects of relationships. The beckoning to embrace adornment and superficiality in love is as compelling as it is deceitful.
The Hidden Meaning: Sawdust as the Shavings of Life’s Carving
At the song’s core, sawdust symbolizes the remnants of a life lived; it is the dust left behind as one carves out a path through the world. These shavings become the sawdust and diamonds filling Newsom’s metaphorical dove, each flake a piece of the past, every gem a moment treasured. The song delves into memory’s architecture, constructed from both the forgettable and the unforgettable, the trivial and the precious.
When Newsom croons about the components that constitute the dove’s filling, she draws parallel lines between the tangible prowess and the intangible worth, making us ponder the value we place on the tangible aspects of existence while grappling with the intangibility of time, desire, and life itself.
Why the Long Face?: Addressing the Melancholy in Memorable Lines
Inquiry manifests itself in a repetitive rhetorical question: “Why the long face?” Newsom challenges the innate sorrow that accompanies the human condition, the inevitability of decay, the anticipation of loss. The repetition serves as a comforting mantra, an insistence on seeking joy amidst the inevitable ‘long faces’ that life presents.
Promising to consume the sadness and ‘eat your cold clay’ speaks to the desire to alleviate the burdens of others, a solidarity in facing the darkness. It is an unspoken pact between the song’s subjects, and perhaps between Newsom and her listeners, to uphold one another through the trials etched into our expression, the sorrow we wear on our very faces.
