| Sufjan Stevens – Springfield, or Bobby Got a Shadfly Caught in His Hair Lyrics | 15 years ago |
|
Not sure I can make sense of this one, but the fundamental fact about the Shadfly is its short lifespan. It lives simply to procreate. This kind of live, spawn, die is what the narrator feels he must flee. He appears to find a kindred spirit in the woman. They have a fling in view of a runway after which she escapes and encourages him to do the same. If I had to guess, I'd say this is autobiographical. Someone opened Sufjan up to a wider world and he went for it. The wife would represent family that wants to hold on, to punish him for his desire to escape them. She might also represent the alternate universe where Sufjan doesn't leave the midwest. I don't see any perspective shift in this song, and there is clearly none in Predatory Wasp. |
|
| Sufjan Stevens – Pittsfield Lyrics | 15 years ago |
|
It's about how the power and control that bad parents hold over their kids eventually wanes, though the damage remains. Sufjan's parents called him lazy and useless, and contrasted their own strong "work ethic" against his. When kids are told such things they believe them without question. "I am useless" probably still lives somewhere in him, though many (myself included) consider him an amazing and rare talent. But he grew up, became self-sufficient, wiser. He survived their abuse. And so the words here are a Fuck You that's a tangle of righteous indignation and ineffable loss. |
|
| Sufjan Stevens – The Mistress Witch from McClure (Or, the Mind That Knows Itself) Lyrics | 16 years ago |
|
"And the traffic stops for miles" conveys (beautifully) the deep shame young Sufjan is feeling over the public row. If you've ever had parents who made asses of themselves in public, you know this feeling. Feels like the world has stopped to gawk at the train wreck of your dysfunctional life. No one came and carried them away. And who should have come to rescue them? Parents, of course. Good ones, not the kind who think nothing of subjecting their kids to sordid adult drama. I love many of his pretty songs, but this one is very powerful and moving to me. There are songs of the mind, and songs of the heart. This (and Romulus) are the latter. Keep writing from the heart, Suf. A lot of folks find Casimir Pulaski Day very emotional, but that feels like a story song, not a personal truth. It's beautiful, of course, and might be my favorite song in his songbook, but doesn't move me emotionally. |
|
| Iron & Wine – Belated Promise Ring Lyrics | 16 years ago |
|
DownIsTheNewUp is correct. The song describes mature love, because it's not a projection about what he imagines her to but, but a gentle, loving description of how she really is. A thimble protects your thumb when sewing but she's used it to catch a bug and now has a bandaid on her thumb. She stands out barefoot in the cold, but then complains about the door being left open. She shines imitation pearls, which are "worthless," but sells off a "valuable" promise ring. She seems forgetful, flighty, indifferent to convention. And he wouldn't love her any other way. |
|
| The Decemberists – Sons and Daughters Lyrics | 16 years ago |
|
Song imagines modern victims of war, such as those caught up in the Middle Eastern or African conflicts and morphs them from the helpless, pathetic victims we see on TV--dad crying over dead child, masses trudging their property on their backs while being herded into refugee camps--into a purposeful, motivated community that drives their own destiny. It harkens back to various pilgrimage movements of the past, which tended to be moving away from persecution TOWARD something of their own creation and not simply "safety." It's not a judgment on modern refugees, just indulging in a little romantic reverie/wishful thinking. Of course the notion of creating a new community, or shared vision, beyond war and violence is a broader message and applies to all of us. And the song works on that level as well. |
|
| Joni Mitchell – Both Sides Now Lyrics | 16 years ago |
| This song is the beginning of wisdom. She knows she's lost her naive innocence in her current cynicism, but is beginning to see that neither view is wholly correct. | |
| R.E.M. – Nightswimming Lyrics | 18 years ago |
|
I get the sense that he's with people who are going skinny dipping as a lark, which provokes in his memory the times when he did it as a youth, and how much more real, more thrilling, more inspiring it was then. "I'm not sure all these people understand. It's not like years ago. The fear of getting caught..." |
|
* This information can be up to 15 minutes delayed.