| Sufjan Stevens – Age of Adz Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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I wanted to explore why he used "Adz", and so I looked this up on Wikipedia and it yields an interesting response. "The adze is a vampiric being in Ewe folklore. In the wild, the adze takes the form of a firefly, though it will transform into human shape upon capture. When in human form, the adze has the power to possess humans. People, male or female, possessed by an adze are viewed as witches. The adze's influence would negatively effect the people who lived around their host. A person is suspected of being possessed in a variety of situations, including: women with brothers (especially if their brother's children fared better than their own), old people (if the young suddenly started dying and the old stayed alive) and the poor (if they envied the rich). The adze's effects are generally felt by the possessed victim's family or those the victim is jealous of. In firefly form, the adze would pass through closed doors at night and suck blood from people as they slept. The victim would fall sick and die. Tales of the creature and its effects were probably an attempt to describe the potentially deadly effects of mosquitos and malaria. There is no defense against an adze." While this may be a stretch and I intend to spend more time exploring this connection, based on my limited knowledge on Royal there is something there. The idea of assuming someone is possessed by someone else is a common symptom of schizophrenia. Furthermore, the theme of jealously, present on the album, seems to be something Royal dealt with and anyone who has ever been in love has come to terms with. |
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