submissions
| Sufjan Stevens – No Man's Land Lyrics
| 19 years ago
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i think you could just call it 4/4 with the occaisonal 5/4, 17/4 seems a bit silly. yeah i like how he takes a classic patriotic song that everyone knows and kind of inverts it, and makes us kind of question something that we've accepted as truth just because we sang it in elementary school. or i did, at least. |
submissions
| Stars – Elevator Love Letter Lyrics
| 19 years ago
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this song is really sad, i think. They're both so lonely. But the music sounds happy, which I think makes you even sadder when you realize. |
submissions
| Stars – What the Snowman Learned About Love Lyrics
| 19 years ago
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I agree that the thing at the beginning is kind of lame but who cares, this song is fucking great. and way to go, alarm, making yourself soiund like a pretentious asshole. Music is subjective. And in my opinion, this is a very pretty song. Makes me wanna fall asleep on the beach. |
submissions
| Stars – Your Ex-Lover Is Dead Lyrics
| 19 years ago
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It's really hard to describe, like the first person said, but this is one of the best songs I have ever heard and I went through a phase where I would listen to it about 10 times a day. That harmony in the middle at "it's nothing but time...down the road from real love" KILLS me. I always though they were saying "I'm not sorry there's nothing to SAY" and I guess knowing it's "save" changes the meaning of the whole song. not that it matters much because lyrics aside, this is a fucking good song. |
submissions
| Sufjan Stevens – Sleeping Bear, Sault Saint Marie Lyrics
| 19 years ago
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yeah this is one of my favorites. I didn't know about the sleeping bear so i looked it up on wikipedia, of course, and this is what it said:
According to the legend, an enormous forest fire on the western shore of Lake Michigan (now Wisconsin) drove a mother bear and her two cubs into the lake for shelter, determined to reach the opposite shore. After many miles of swimming, the two cubs lagged behind. When the mother bear reached the shore, she waited on the top of a high bluff. The cubs, exhausted, drowned in the lake, but the mother bear stayed and waited in hopes that her cubs would finally appear. Impressed by the mother bear's determination and faith, the Great Spirit created two islands (North and South Manitou Island) to commemorate the cubs, and the winds buried the sleeping bear under the sands of the dunes where she waits to this day. The location of the "bear" is a patch of dark sand, which once covered the entire bluff top and was visible from the lake. Wind and erosion have caused the "bear" to be greatly reduced in size over the years.
Sweet. |
submissions
| Sufjan Stevens – Sleeping Bear, Sault Saint Marie Lyrics
| 19 years ago
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yeah this is one of my favorites. I didn't know about the sleeping bear so i looked it up on wikipedia, of course, and this is what it said:
According to the legend, an enormous forest fire on the western shore of Lake Michigan (now Wisconsin) drove a mother bear and her two cubs into the lake for shelter, determined to reach the opposite shore. After many miles of swimming, the two cubs lagged behind. When the mother bear reached the shore, she waited on the top of a high bluff. The cubs, exhausted, drowned in the lake, but the mother bear stayed and waited in hopes that her cubs would finally appear. Impressed by the mother bear's determination and faith, the Great Spirit created two islands (North and South Manitou Island) to commemorate the cubs, and the winds buried the sleeping bear under the sands of the dunes where she waits to this day. The location of the "bear" is a patch of dark sand, which once covered the entire bluff top and was visible from the lake. Wind and erosion have caused the "bear" to be greatly reduced in size over the years.
Sweet. |
submissions
| Sufjan Stevens – John Wayne Gacy, Jr. Lyrics
| 19 years ago
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umm I just want to say to casie and burnitdown (or something like that)that the scarlet letter is, in my opinion, an amazing book. But I suppose it, like this song, is difficult to appreciate without first understanding certain things about the faith of the author. Sorry, I realize that was very condescending, but yay for being anonymous! |
submissions
| Animal Collective – Who Could Win a Rabbit Lyrics
| 19 years ago
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I think they just use the voice as another intrument, even more so than most bands do. I guess what they actually say is of relatively little importance. And yet the words do evoke certain feelings, even thought they don't make sense. which is cool. yay. |
submissions
| Rod Stewart – Maggie May Lyrics
| 20 years ago
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apparently Maggie May is a traditional liverpool folk song (the beatles did a version of it) about a sailor who gets robbed by a prostitute. maybe thats why he choose that name. obviously its not exactly the same but there is definately a vibe of being taken advantage of in this song. |
submissions
| Sufjan Stevens – Vito's Ordination Song Lyrics
| 20 years ago
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I don't think it's wise to base an interpretation off the way the horns sound-- it's too subjective, and i think kind of stretch. Besides, in my opinion the horns don't sound hopeless. What about the part where they start playing that ascending scale over and over? I could easily say that they sound hopeFUL at that point and even transcendent. As for the more melancholy sounding two note pattern, to me it just sounds peaceful. And yes, I am a hypocrite, sorry. |
submissions
| Sufjan Stevens – John Wayne Gacy, Jr. Lyrics
| 20 years ago
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woah woah woah! hold on there caitsith. "Gacy was a nice, ordinary person when he was behaving himself, just like Sufjan." Did you even listen to the song?!
It when Gacy was "on his best behavior" that he "kissed them all," and then proceeded to kill them! So when Stevens says that on his best behavior he is just like Gacy, he is implying that his greatest deeds are like filthy rags. His best behavior is not good enough. He may not do anything as "bad" as murder, but even so, he falls short of the God's standards.
Stevens may be talking about his faith in each and every one of his songs, but he most definitely is in this one. It's no accident that the message of this song is a central theme in Christianity. Any Christian with his kind of background would have known that. |
submissions
| Sufjan Stevens – Seven Swans Lyrics
| 20 years ago
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Has anyone ever read that kid's book The Runaway Bunny? If you have, you know what I'm talking about. God chases us because he loves us. |
submissions
| Sufjan Stevens – The Transfiguration Lyrics
| 20 years ago
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I agree, i think we should be singing Sufjan's songs in church, they are so honest. I also hear the Chicago and the Predatory Wasp. I think he likes to use similar melodies and time signitures in a lot of his songs. |
submissions
| Sufjan Stevens – Happy Birthday Lyrics
| 20 years ago
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My guess is that it's about Jesus. The most obvious reaosn I think that is the line "your birthday brings a pardoning" but other phrases hint at it as well like "you burden" and "yours will number yours will be a paragon (as perfect example) a Paraclete (another word for the Holy Spirit)" Also, the part about being sorry that life is anxious and mean would make sense if you are talking to someone perfect and holy. But I don't undertand that bird motif. Also, can i just say that I dig the alliteration? |
submissions
| Sufjan Stevens – The Lord God Bird Lyrics
| 20 years ago
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suscipe725, altar calls aren't testimonies. Altar calls are when they say (basically) "if you want to be saved come forward," and a bunch of people go up and get prayed over. i don't know if that's relevant to the meaning of the song, which seems to be about some extinct bird, but I wouldn't rule out a double meaning. The thing that confuses me is why he says "paradise might close" if the bird dies in one verse, and then "paradise might laugh" if the bird dies in the next. Isn't this a blatant contradiction? |
submissions
| Sufjan Stevens – All the Trees of the Field Will Clap Their Hands Lyrics
| 20 years ago
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I am ashamed of myself for not getting the reference, but I did have a vague idea that the song is about the second coming of Christ. I think the lines "Will I be invited to the sound? Will I be a part of what you've made?" represent his wondering if he will be a part of the rejoicing on that day, or in other words, whether he is saved. the last few lines of the song is an amazing confession of faith. I think we should be singing songs like this in church.
I too find it incredible that people would say that they like this song in SPITE of its religious connotations, firstly because the Biblical allusion is what makes this song so amazing and without it the song would be without meaning, and secondly because if people shouldn't write about their faith, then what SHOULD they be writing about? It's the most important thing there is.
And Walty, if you ever read this, I recommend Pedro the Lion as well, if you're into honest and non-corny Christian music. |
submissions
| Sufjan Stevens – He Woke Me Up Again Lyrics
| 20 years ago
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I really like the parallel between his father literally waking him up and God figurtively waking up his father. When I first realized what this song was about, I couldn't stop smiling for about five minutes. There's so much joy in it. |
submissions
| Sufjan Stevens – Romulus Lyrics
| 20 years ago
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It's also really touching that the lyrics sound as if a little kid is telling the story. He mentions the kinds of details that a child would remember, the kind that are seemingly random but usually say a lot about what the event really meant to them. It's cute but also very sad. Also, i agree about the VCR line, it's heartbreaking. |
submissions
| Pedro the Lion – Promise Lyrics
| 20 years ago
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I think he's talking about not being sure whether he is in fact saved, like God promised he would be. I think when he says "if i look up and the sky's not there" he's talking about judgement day, [revelation 20:11- Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. Earth and sky fled from his presence, and there was no place for them.] and how wonders if he should be scared because he doesnt have enough faith. he knows that God has promised to save him but he struggles with doubt and worries that this imperfect faith will not be enough when it comes down to it. The last couple of lines seem hopeful, although I don't really know what they mean. Maybe that so far God has been faithful? |
submissions
| Pedro the Lion – The Well Lyrics
| 20 years ago
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Just read John chapter 4.
v. 10- Jesus answered her "If you knew the girft of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you the living water."
v. 13- "Everyone who drinks this water will be thristy again, but whoever drinks the water i give him will will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring os water welling up to eternal life."
yeah you get the idea. |
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