Listen to An Early Translation of a Later Work (feat. J Mascis) by Gold Dust

An Early Translation of a Later Work (feat. J Mascis)

Gold Dust

Rock

Apple Music Note

OVERVIEW

LYRICS

Credits

PERFORMING ARTISTS

J Mascis

Sitar

Stephen Pierce

Guitar

Ally Einbinder

Guitar

Sean Greene

Bass

Adam Reid

Drums

Gretchen Williams

Gretchen Williams

Background Vocals

Fred Thomas

Synthesizer

COMPOSITION & LYRICS

Stephen Pierce

Songwriter

PRODUCTION & ENGINEERING

Stephen Pierce

Producer

Carl Saff

Mastering Engineer

Justin Pizzoferrato

Justin Pizzoferrato

Engineer

Lyrics

Translate an open sky

Into language I can use

Meaning drifts like a mindless swarm,

And I pull stingers from my cheek

Sure it hurts, the quiet's worse

Like some burn-right-through-you stare

A paragraph, a spirit cat,

A presence sensed, not seen

So if it sneaks up sly and sudden,

Licks your ear and vanishes into the night,

It can hang out with my younger fears,

That once would wash away on dollar beers

It's like a fourth-hand rewrite of your favorite poem,

A kaleidoscopic mess

Or a rearrangement of a mountain range,

A quarry carved to dust

Should I miss the lines I ditched?

I know they're gone with yesterday

A first draft, a vague abstract,

Won't move the rolling sky

But I still see it in the shadows and

The scrub brush dotting wind-whipped traprock cliffs

Like some scribble in the margin,

Some subconscious fragment dying to be read

If I'm nervous about the ending,

Then I'm more so that the end will never come

Because I stumble over syntax,

And the meaning gets lost in tautologies

Are the lines laced with survivor's guilt,

Is a manuscript a graveyard of ideas?

Does it figure out the hallway's creaks

And the way the flaking plaster speaks my name?

You see, it varies by translation,

Whether answer or abstraction,

And it's not so much creation

As it's something finally being laid to rest.

Written by: Stephen Pierce

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