Lyrics Album

Joanna Newsom – Divers

Updated

March 23, 2023

Joanna Newsom – Divers

full Divers Lyrics and Tracklist Joanna Newsom

Divers is the fourth studio album by Joanna Newsom. It was released on October 23, five years and eight months after her third album, Have One On Me.

From an interview about the overarching narrative of the album:

I would say all the songs on this record either ask the same question, or attempt to make the same case, or are lamenting the same thing or celebrating the same thing or railing against the same thing. I think that, taken as a set or cycle, they are each sort of like relay racers passing the baton on from one to the other. They are circumnavigating the perimeter of the idea that is the central narrative of the album. So each of the songs is representative of one stretch of the landscape. Then you can sort of see that what they’ve traced is the central thing. So there are all these sorts of set pieces. They’re not really what the album is about; they’re just things that appear again and again and again: a sort of context.

This album is a tribute to all those who have the courage (or, perhaps, the inevitable fate) to become Divers. The word takes on at least two meanings in they lyrics.

First, the Divers are those souls that dive back down to Earth (or at least life) to take form again and live out all life’s vicissitudes. These are often symbolized by morning doves and Whip-Poor-Wills (spirit guides of folklore) who leave their peaceful Nirvana to dive back into the fray and play the game of life again.

The second kind of Divers are those, who, having taken form (human form?) dive into the experience of love.

The essential quality of Time is also a constant theme on this album, and Time-as-a-stream may also be thought of as the stuff into which the Divers plunge on their repeating journeys.