...Dust

From The Elvis Costello Wiki
Jump to navigationJump to search

If only dust could talk
What would we hear it say?
Before it's brushed aside
Just as it's swept away
It's just the evidence
It's of no consequence
It's only flesh and bone
Why don't we leave it alone?

If only dust could gather into lines of chalk
Around a silhouette detective fiction walks
For it's the only witness that can testify
Can I spit out the truth?
Or would you rather just swallow a lie?

Why did they dam the land?
How did they flood the plain?
Did they erase the name?
And wipe away the stain
You kept your mouth well shut
Appeared to turn your coat
Now there's a name for you but it's stuck in my throat

If dust could only mutter
Or in laughter trill
If it could warn and whisper from the windowsill
But it's the only witness that can testify
Can I split out the truth?
Or would you rather just swallow a lie?

Here come the juggernaut
Here come The Poisoners
They choke the life and land
And rob the joy from us
Why do they taste of sugar?
Oh, when they're made of money
Here come the Lamb of God
And the butcher's boy, Sonny

If dust could only gather in the needle track
Then it would skip a beat and it would jump right back
If dust could only gather in a needle track
Then it would skip a beat
And all the sense I lack

...Dust
Written byElvis Costello
Performed byElvis Costello (& The Imposters)
Produced byThe Imposter: Elvis Costello, Ciaran Cahill, Leo Pearson & Kieran Lynch
Horn arrangementElvis Costello
MusiciansElvis Costello - vocals, Silvertone electric guitar, DR-202
Davey Faragher - bass
Steve Nieve - vibraphone, filters
Pete Thomas - drums, shaker
Leo Pearson - frog guiro
Ku-umba Frank Lacy - flugelhorn
Curtis Fowlkes - trombone
Jay Rodriguez - tenor saxophone
Roy Nathanson - alto saxophone
Recorded2001, Windmill Lane Studios, Dublin
Horns recorded September 24, 2001, Avatar Studios, New York
ReleasedApril 15, 2002
AlbumsWhen I Was Cruel, 2002
Length3:04

First known performance:
May 4, 2001, London, England
Last known performance:
September 7, 2006, Amsterdam, Netherlands
     (127 known performances)


Alternate versions

see: Dust 2...

When I Was CruelWIWC album cover 400.jpg

Covers

Erich Sellheim home studio production, sung in German 2021 YouTube

Internal links

External links