The evil it spread like a fever ahead
It was night when you died, my firefly
What could I have said to raise you from the dead?
Oh could I be the sky on the Fourth of July?

Well you do enough talk
My little hawk, why do you cry?
Tell me what did you learn from the Tillamook burn?
Or the Fourth of July?
We're all gonna die

Sitting at the bed with the halo at your head
Was it all a disguise, like Junior High
Where everything was fiction, future, and prediction
Now, where am I?
My fading supply

Did you get enough love, my little dove
Why do you cry?
And I'm sorry I left, but it was for the best
Though it never felt right
My little Versailles

The hospital asked should the body be cast
Before I say goodbye, my star in the sky
Such a funny thought to wrap you up in cloth
Do you find it all right, my dragonfly?

Shall we look at the moon, my little loon
Why do you cry?
Make the most of your life, while it is rife
While it is light

Well you do enough talk
My little hawk, why do you cry?
Tell me what did you learn from the Tillamook burn?
Or the Fourth of July?
We're all gonna die

We're all gonna die
We're all gonna die
We're all gonna die
We're all gonna die
We're all gonna die
We're all gonna die
We're all gonna die


Lyrics submitted by Mellow_Harsher

Fourth of July Lyrics as written by Sufjan Stevens

Lyrics © BMG Rights Management

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Fourth of July song meanings
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  • +4
    Song Meaning

    Carrie is the name of his mother, who left the family when Sufjan was young, and later died of cancer in 2012. This song is a (presumably imagined) conversation between Sufjan and her.

    This review elaborates more: consequenceofsound.net/2015/03/album-review-sufjan-stevens-carrie-lowell/

    Browns0286on March 27, 2015   Link

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