Robyn talked about this song on the promo record SPECTRE, on which he explains each of the songs on RESPECT:

"I just sang this song, 'Then You're Dust,' I was just singing it as I
was walking around, just literally a description of what was happening,
you know, it was like a children's picture or something. That song is
totally at face value. It is about one thing and one thing only.
I don't usually write those sort of minor key things; they're a bit
dreary, but it just seemed appropriate. And I think we did that around
the kitchen table, actually. Morris and I just sat there with acoustics
and I sang it live. It's like a lot of simple things -- it's great
because it's simple. All it is is what it appears to be."