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About

Genius Annotation

The song is a call not to think of ourselves too highly or our daily concerns – because what we see is ephemeral – but to look up towards that which is eternal and substantial. The song has a number of themes that are reiterated in Thrice’s 2009 song, “Beggars”.

The song title is a reference to Isaiah 40:15:

Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket, and are accounted as the dust on the scales; behold, he takes up the coastlands like fine dust.”

The poems entitled “Ozymandias”, written in 1818, contain similar themes and may have influenced these lyrics as well. The two versions of “Ozymandias” quote the boasts of an ancient Egyptian pharaoh and then expound upon the annihilation of everything about which he boasted.

Furthermore, Kensrue borrows from C.S. Lewis’s The Great Divorce, The Silver Chair, and The Last Battle, with their interpretations of Plato’s Allegory of the Cave to paint a picture of what is real outside of the “shadow” we live in. By quoting Jesus in Matthew 6, Kensrue tells us what he sees as eternal and substantial.

Q&A

Find answers to frequently asked questions about the song and explore its deeper meaning

Credits
Produced By
Recording Engineer
Assistant Recording Engineer
Mixing Engineer
Assistant Mixing Engineer
Mastering Engineer
Recorded At
Bearsville Studios, Bearsville, New York
Release Date
October 18, 2005
Songs That Sample Of Dust and Nations
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Of Dust and Nations Live Performances
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