| Anathallo – ...In The Atlas Position Lyrics | 15 years ago |
| ie, Christ carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders. | |
| Sufjan Stevens – Jacob Lyrics | 16 years ago |
| Where is this song released? | |
| The National – Ada Lyrics | 16 years ago |
|
The connection to Adah from "Poisonwood" is phenomenally over-stretched. If it were meant to be a reference to her character, it would be a lot more obvious. I would venture a guess that Ada, whoever she may be, has a more personal connection to the song-writer. |
|
| The National – Ada Lyrics | 16 years ago |
|
The line "Stand inside an empty tuxedo with grapes in my mouth" makes perfect sense in the light of the social anxiety disorder interpretation. Picture standing at a party, all dressed up, hardly comfortable, and unable to talk coherently. I've heard a phrase having to do with grapes in your mouth in context of not being able to talk. |
|
| Andrew Bird – Fiery Crash Lyrics | 16 years ago |
|
eisey nailed this one. It contains both indirect and direct contemplations of society while waiting in an airport. |
|
| Spoon – 1020 AM Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| could be either, but you aren't a dumbass. | |
| Jars of Clay – Frail Lyrics | 17 years ago |
|
To be frail is to be open and allowing God to break you, the self-centered you, so that you may be all for God and all for other people. That is the fraility that we seek. This song is brilliant because the words aren't as plain as that. They don't simply speak so simply. |
|
| Sufjan Stevens – Lo! How a Rose E're Blooming Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| greatest christmas hymn ever | |
| Sufjan Stevens – Godzuki Lyrics | 17 years ago |
|
have you read the Rolling Stone interview with Sufjan? He talks about how he, his siblings and his father would make fake radio shows. i wonder if this isn't a product of those? |
|
| Sufjan Stevens – Casimir Pulaski Day Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| keep faith. | |
| Sufjan Stevens – Happy Birthday Lyrics | 17 years ago |
|
Lantern on a tree= christmas? also, something through out the song about the bird, the parakeet and its relation to the "Paraclete." There is a connection there. A bird who will not be. A parakeet who will not be. Will not be held, held still, contained. A Paraclete who will not be. You see where I'm going? |
|
| Sufjan Stevens – Happy Birthday Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| Sufjan weives both of those together. It could mean that there was a birthday party where he got angry, but him looking back on it could have made him think about a different pardening due to a different birth. | |
| Sufjan Stevens – All Delighted People Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| Humanity and one of them separate with pains and knowledge enough to ache. Perhaps Jesus? | |
| Sufjan Stevens – The One I Love (R.E.M. cover) Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| great song by REM,transfered to equally delicate acoustic glory by Sufjan. | |
| Sufjan Stevens – Get Behind Me, Santa! Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| So incredible. It all goes hand in hand with the essay he wrote in the Chrismas album. If you haven't read it yet, its worth purchasing the album for Sufjan's written work alone. | |
| Sufjan Stevens – Borderline Lyrics | 17 years ago |
|
sort of sounds like a husband and wife no longer caring about each other or are mad at each other. Perhaps deeper than that. Also, how does one "put up" one's head? |
|
| Sufjan Stevens – Woman at the Well Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| also instead of "she let it move her then" it sounds like "she lit a lantern then" | |
| Sufjan Stevens – Woman at the Well Lyrics | 17 years ago |
|
Instead of "He was her friend", it sounds more like "he has her hand" and also during that section there are lyrics saying something like: "What are your plans Wonderful child Water your ____ again" |
|
| Sufjan Stevens – Bushwick Junkie Lyrics | 17 years ago |
|
Bushwick is a poor neighborhood in Brooklyn. Perhaps the words of a junkie from the area. It is interesting to note: the song progresses like a drug addiction. Starting out at just "chilling in style" and just "acting the part" and only temporary but then degressing to repeated distorted "I was only trying to get high" |
|
| Sufjan Stevens – Majesty, Snowbird Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| the "is it the" part is near intelligeble in the recording I have. I hope he comes with a studio version. | |
| Sufjan Stevens – Majesty, Snowbird Lyrics | 17 years ago |
|
Most amazing live music experience ever. Thanks for posting it. I was working on desciphering the lyrics myself and it looks like we were on the same track. |
|
| Sufjan Stevens – Vito's Ordination Song Lyrics | 17 years ago |
|
the bible refers to Christ as the Bridegroom of mankind. As there is the spiritual bonding of two people in marriage so there is between mankind and his God. As a perfect man and perfect wife (none exists here) depend on one another absolutley and equally so should be we to Christ. But, just as there is no such thing as a perfect marriage of man and wife, our relationship with Christ also faulters. But that is getting away from the song itself and branching deeper in theology and such. This song seems to be God explaining to us what he did for us and what it means, but it seems his explaination raises just as many questiones as it brought answers. Mysterious wonder resides here in the words tripping out between Sufjan's lips. |
|
| Sufjan Stevens – Redford (For Yia-Yia and Pappou) Lyrics | 17 years ago |
|
it is similar to some i've heard too. Very similar to the song at the end of "The Truman Show" when Truman is sailing away on the boat. Mozart also did a sonata tat sounded similar. But this is of Sufjan's own mind. |
|
| Sufjan Stevens – Oh God, Where Are You Now? (In Pickeral Lake? Pigeon? Marquette? Mackinaw?) Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| most beautiful song of all time. | |
| Sufjan Stevens – They Also Mourn Who Do Not Wear Black (For the Homeless in Muskegon) Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| lets save it. | |
| Sufjan Stevens – The First Full Moon Lyrics | 17 years ago |
|
Perhaps this is an allusion to creation and the choice man was givin between sin and the inverse. The choice that resulted in his fall and subsequent loss of eternal life. Putting away of clothes, going back to the origonal trust in God without our own cover, our shame. Do you mean it? Do you, God, mean that we have to die? then, Do you mean it? HAve you really come to save us? The choice between salvation and otherwise. This is vague, i feel like I'm groping in the dark. |
|
| Sufjan Stevens – Sister Winter Lyrics | 17 years ago |
|
I like both interpretations and belive them to be intertwined. Nice work southbound, I would've never made that connection! |
|
| Sufjan Stevens – The Vivian Girls Are Visited in the Night by Saint Dargarius and His Squadron of Benevolent Butterflies Lyrics | 17 years ago |
|
Found it: Henry Darger was was a reclusive American writer and illustrator who worked as a janitor in the Chicago area. He has become famous for his posthumously-discovered 15,143-page fantasy manuscript called "The Story of the Vivian Girls, in What is known as the Realms of the Unreal, of the Glandeco-Angelinnian War Storm, Caused by the Child Slave Rebellion," along with several hundred watercolor paintings and other drawings illustrating the story. Darger's work has become one of the most notable examples of outsider art. (side note: outsider art is artwork made by people with absolutely no contact to the mainstream art world and no instruction/schooling in the area.) In Darger's story, the Vivian Girls interact with winged creatures who normally are benevolent to them. For more info, visit the Wikipedia page for Henry Darger. Its all incredibly intruiging! |
|
| Sufjan Stevens – The Vivian Girls Are Visited in the Night by Saint Dargarius and His Squadron of Benevolent Butterflies Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| any ideas on the title? | |
| Sufjan Stevens – The Mistress Witch from McClure (Or, the Mind That Knows Itself) Lyrics | 17 years ago |
|
I can totally see that. Wow. |
|
| Sufjan Stevens – Sleeping Bear, Sault Saint Marie Lyrics | 17 years ago |
|
When I was younger, I ran to the top of the Sleeping Bear dunes and was so scared. It was way up over looking lake Michigan and freaked me out. I'll bet there is so much more story behind this than we'll ever know. |
|
| Sufjan Stevens – The Dress Looks Nice on You Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| sufjan is so awesome. period. | |
| Sufjan Stevens – Seven Swans Lyrics | 17 years ago |
|
What a mysterious life it seems sufjan has. We sit here trying to piece it together from only what he sings about and the little backround he gives when not zoneing out on stage. I wonder if it really does him justice? I hope that mabye somewhere in his lifetime (and mine) he writes a book or something. (he did zone out at the show I saw him at on sept. 25 in Milwaukee. He got done with a song and as the backing group changed a few things around he just sat on the piano bench sorta staring at his music stand. Then after a minute or so he turns back to the crowd and says, "Oh! right! I sorta forgot I was here, singing and stuff (trails off)" Then he simply counted off the next song and continued playing. It was hilarious and beautiful in a strange surreal way.) |
|
| Sufjan Stevens – To Be Alone with You Lyrics | 17 years ago |
|
Amazing song, and amazing spirtual warfare going on all over this posting and all the other ones on Sufjan's songs. For the record: (No condicension nor offense meant here nor anywhere.) Religon and Faith are not the same thing. Jesus taught only salvation through faith, not through religon. Religon is not the means to salvation, or for that matter happiness, here or after. Whether this song is about Christ or not is incredibly vague. Infact all of Sufjan's songs are beautifully vague. They ask alot more questions than they answer, which is why they are better than the average "Christian song." The bible sparks more debate than any other book in history. It seems that God wants us to think for ourselves, therefor he gave us that first origonal choice. Praise God in all his strange diversities and eccentricities that I will never know or understand. |
|
| Sufjan Stevens – Holland Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| In an interview some years ago when Michigan first came out, Sufjan was asked what his favorite song was off the album. He said it was this song, Holland, because it was a love song, and he said he doesn't do many of those. | |
| Sufjan Stevens – The Predatory Wasp of the Palisades Is Out to Get Us! Lyrics | 17 years ago |
|
This performed live was amazing. With a practical orchestra backing him it was simply indescribable. It was a gradual climb in resonance to full blasting, string snapping, cymbal flaring glory. I was sure that the stage was going to split in half and that Sufjan and the group would have to use the fake butterfly and bird wings they had strapped to his back. |
|
| Sufjan Stevens – The Transfiguration Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| This song was the opening for the last live show I saw Sufjan with, except with a full ochestra backing him, it was like the origonal song, times one-billion amazing factor. | |
| Sufjan Stevens – Joy! Joy! Joy! Lyrics | 17 years ago |
|
great melding of sufjan's electronic "enjoy your rabbit" tendancies with the normal sufjan-y vocals. There are some other layered words at the very end that I can't make out what so ever. The (name?) does sound like Cher, but who knows on that one. I believe in (page) is definitly page only with only one vocal singing it, so its harder to make out. dan356 sounds right on the "kingdom's will/field" thing. But who knows! Someone ask sufjan. |
|
| Sufjan Stevens – Super Sexy Woman Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| best song ever. | |
| Sufjan Stevens – The Predatory Wasp of the Palisades Is Out to Get Us! Lyrics | 17 years ago |
|
Though Sufjan wrote the song about a friend he had at a summer camp as a child where they were afraid of the "preditory wasps of the palisades" and whom he never saw again after that week (and that is a fact straight from Sufjan's lips), many meanings can be derived from his words. This song is about love and innocence. |
|
| Sufjan Stevens – Casimir Pulaski Day Lyrics | 17 years ago |
|
Thank you Lord for all who see, Mysteries in sad complexity. |
|
| Sufjan Stevens – Dear Mr. Supercomputer Lyrics | 17 years ago |
|
This is the funeral dirge for a too world obsessed with technology to see the greater glory. Too often we are blind to God because we have iPod eye patches and Television sunglasses. Look carefully at the lyrics and you can detect the little culture references. "Pull the chord, raise the dead." This is the tale of a society who sees no more miricles and thinks they have everything figured out on their own. The final verse is Sufjan's praise to the Lord that he knows he is saved. He brings it back with comparing iot to Abraham Lincon and Illinois. Brilliant lyrics as always and quite simply an awesome song to listen to. |
|
| Sufjan Stevens – Bushwick Junkie Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| whats this from? | |
| Sufjan Stevens – Casimir Pulaski Day Lyrics | 18 years ago |
|
I've definitly heard the tale bit about a bird hiting a window before. Way back on page 1, thexdropoff said it very well. This song is the question, "Why?" It is a prayer asking God, "Why did they have to die?" Or even further, "I know that you have a plan here Lord, but I don't see what it is!" We don't understand God. We could ever hope to see through the eyes of a diety when we can barely step into other people's shoes. Admiting that we can't handle this world on our own is the key to salvation. We cannot depend on our selves, only on Christ. If you like Sufjan Stevens, check out the books ~The Problem with Pain~ and ~A Grief Observed~ both written by C.S. Lewis. He writes books in a similar way to how Stevens writes music. |
|
| Sufjan Stevens – They Are Night Zombies!! They Are Neighbors!! They Have Come Back from the Dead!! Ahhhhh! Lyrics | 18 years ago |
|
Although Sufjan Stevens brilliantly weaves religioun into each empty nook and crany in his songs, each song on his two "States albums" has a real world story which he is telling. In this song he is talking about a large number of towns in Illinios which have changed their names over years in order to change. These towns were engulfed in poverty and such, so changing their names was changeing their identity. If they were no longer the name of a town in poverty, they were no longer in poverty, right? This constant change of identity resulted in the people there being left rather displaced. They already had no job, no house, no lives, and now on top of that they did not have a city for more than a year. They lost their identities as the names changed. This song is the uprising chant of all of those disposesed citizens who were forgotten as a result of all the poverty and public policy. They are back to claim the lives and the towns that were theirs. They say, "Look out all you who reaped benefits from our untimely demise!" As the title states, they are neighbors. They are the people all around us whom we ignore, who we refuse to help. They are back from the dead and are here to judge us for what we have done or done none of. There is the religous undertone: honor thy neighbor, for judgement day is near. Sufjan Stevens talked a little about the history behind this song and others on a radio interview which is available as a podcast from "KPBS These Days." I'm not sure what the website is but I'm sure google won't fail you if you are in search of it. |
|
| Sufjan Stevens – I Can't Even Lift My Head Lyrics | 18 years ago |
|
This song is a direct representation of my heart. It is on the compilation "To Spirit Back the Mews" available from asthmatickitty.com which is his record label. |
|
| Sufjan Stevens – A Loverless Bed (Without Remission) Lyrics | 18 years ago |
|
Saturn was a god in Roman mythology which was derived from the greek deity Cronus. In Roman mythology Saturn devours his children once they are born to prevent a prophesy that one would one day overthrow him and rule the universe. A "Saturn eye" could be a reference to the famous painting of Saturn savagly devouring one of his offspring. In the painting the eyes are large and white, bulging out in his madness and selfish ambition. |
|
* This information can be up to 15 minutes delayed.