Tame Impala’s “Tomorrow’s Dust” Lyrics Meaning
Tame Impala’s “Tomorrow’s Dust” starts off by using a number of colorful metaphors leading to the notion that living in the past cannot produce any type of presently fruitful results. However, it gradually morphs into somewhat of a personal conversation that the singer is having with an unspecified addressee. And it is clear, in the chorus especially, that their exchange has something to do with the aforementioned concept. That is to say that Kevin Parker realizes that yesterday does have an effect on their relationship today.
Indeed the title of this song is based on the general idea that memories are always being made, as in the memories we will have tomorrow (“tomorrow’s dust”) being based on the actions we take today.
So all things considered, it can be said that this song is centered on life being an endless cycle of cause and effect. Or as is being generally relayed in a roundabout way in the second verse, once something is done it can’t be undone nor necessarily redone.
Writing and Production
In addition to singing the tune, Kevin Parker also wrote and produced “Tomorrow’s Dust”.
Release Date of “Tomorrow’s Dust”
This track is part of the playlist of Tame Impala’s highly acclaimed album “The Slow Rush”. Both the album and song were released via multiple labels on 14 February 2020.
And despite not being issued as a single, “Tomorrow’s Dust’ is recognized as one of the album’s outstanding tracks.
thanks for this
I’m not young anymore, but listening to a song like this transports me to a place where every age of my life seems accessible, but I don’t feel confined by it. “Tomorrow’s Dust” plays almost like an instructional model toward greater self-compassion; toward a place of upfront existence, peeled away from other wasteful hinderances.
We can learn from the past, but we need not be governed by it. This song, lyrics as well as instrumentation, creates a type of instant nostalgia. It starts off sounding like a transistor radio, then swirls into these jazzy bass lines, disco beats, Spanish guitar, and that profound rock riff later on that seems to coalesce eras and genres into one. Is it 70’s? Is it the 80’s? The 2020’s? Herein lies the channel that Parker constructs do well — to see where we were once blind; to believe that love transcends time. The climatic rise of the song leads us around that corner – “endlessly”.
There is no use relating to that “old soul” when you are shown that the real soul by which we are blessed is timeless, ever-loved, and able to be ever-loving.
This song, as well as the entire album, has impacted me in a way that liberates old thinking. Embrace the unfamiliar. Treat every moment as a gift. As that happens, time will pass and afford you unbelievable gems in retrospect. Be fully present. And grateful.
Thank you, Kevin Parker.
I really like your interpretation but I’d just like to add another perspective on it. I feel like with “Tomorrows Dust” Kevin means the worries that the future brings with itself and that people worry too much about the future during the present time. I feel like this interpretation creates a connection to the song “Is it true” and “One more hour”, where Kevin talks about not being sure about the future and how he can’t hold promises like loving someone forever because he feels like he can never know something for sure. This would be an example of how Kevin worried too much about the future. This is further emphasised by how in “One more hour” Kevin goes from not being sure about the future to accepting the unknown and embracing the present, essentially saying “I don’t know if I’ll love you forever, but all I know is that I love you now and we should therefore not worry so much about the future”.
I’m 62 and this is lyrically my favorite song on the album. I must confess that I have hit repeat multiple times on multiple occasions. But, when I like any song as much as I like this one, it gets repeated until the lyrics are burned into my memory.
Doesn’t matter how old you are , does it? I don’t see how time on earth correlates knowing whether or not a song is fire