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Sufjan Stevens – All for Myself Lyrics

15 years ago

This song seems to break away from all the failed attempts at expression through language and incommunicative, ineffectual dialogue that recur earlier in the album. Instead, this song is incredibly sensual: the stone in the shoe, the cradling of a loved one, the smell of each other lingering... I think this marks a transition in Sufjan, from his hyper-metaphorical earlier albums to his recent, sparse lyrics.

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Sufjan Stevens – Vesuvius Lyrics

15 years ago

So far, going through the comments song by song for this album on this site, this one probably has the most in-depth debate over the lyric's meanings. The ghost is obviously, at least partially, a reference to the Holy Trinity, and also a reference to the murdering spirit in Sufjan that constantly sits below the surface of his beliefs, threatening to destroy them. I think teetering on the edge of the volcano is reminiscent of how Sufjan must feel all the time--perpetually fighting off the doubts he harbours and feels he must overcome. He expresses an interest in having everything end now, while he is still able to fight off the negative thoughts, before the existential crisis he has been experiencing perhaps overtakes him. In a way, it reminds me of Now That I'm Older, in that he is aware of how the Sufjan of now will be a different person from the future Sufjan (we can thank postmodernism for that one). It seems he laments the idea of not retaining his current beliefs and fears faltering in his faith.

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Sufjan Stevens – Now That I'm Older Lyrics	15 years ago
I really enjoy how the style of this album reflects its lyrical themes. As mentioned in a post above, Sufjan has really decimated his use of metaphors that were so prevalent on previous albums. He seems to be attempting to cut through much of the abstraction of language and get as directly to the point as he can.

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Sufjan Stevens – Now That I'm Older Lyrics

15 years ago

I feel, since I've commented on other songs from this album, that I'm being a bit redundant at this point, but this seems to be, in part, again about the futility of words. When he felt in love, others said it wasn't true--there will always be someone to say the opposite. I think it reflects the difficulties of a postmodern time where almost any statement can be deconstructed from so many sides that it loses all meaning. Even the narrator becomes two distinct people. He becomes "someone else" and sees things for himself now. He is both himself and someone else. Everything is deconstructed into abstraction. Even any conclusion he reaches in this song will be further abstracted, because eventually, he will be older again... Arguably, the most striking image in the song is of the SILENT man who comes down dressed in radiant colours. I don't believe this is a coincidence.

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Sufjan Stevens – I Walked Lyrics

15 years ago

It seems like the references to Royal are definitely on the surface of this song, especially considering his dedication to Royal while playing this song in concert. But underneath that, I think that this album and song undoubtedly depict Sufjan's loss of faith in the term "love" as it is so often thrown around. "Sensation to what you said", I believe, indicates the manner in which the narrator reacts so strongly in a physical, sensation-based manner to everything the lost love says, and as a result, he is now "lost." The narrator indicates that this is his own fault, presumably for putting so much faith in his ex-lover's words. He goes so crazy (for lack of a better term) after their separation, that he leaves a mess worthy of apologizing over and runs like a wild dog through the night with the wound still deep in his heart. Yet putting so much emphasis on her words and actions will get him nowhere, as when he walks because she walks, he "won't probably get very far." The song also reflects the importance we attach to emotions like love. Having nothing left to love, the narrator is lost--dead.

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Sufjan Stevens – Age of Adz Lyrics

15 years ago

I really wish I understood the song/album title better than I do, because I have this aversion to changing random letters in words like so many contemporary artists do (or, for that matter, like many facebook and instant messenger users do). But maybe it ties into his existential crisis and mistrust of the importance placed on many words, so he plays around with on of the titles words a little to hint at this. Then again, maybe that's a bit of a stretch and in taking his words so seriously I'm falling directly into the trap he seems to be warning against...

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Sufjan Stevens – Too Much Lyrics

15 years ago

I think this song carries over the theme from Futile Devices about the futility of language. It seems that, perhaps, Sufjan is wondering if he often talks too much and really says too little. It seems maybe he is being a little hostile against love in this song, and I'm not sure if that stems from something occurring in his personal life while he wrote this, or if love is an artistic device that he uses to describe the way most people put too much emphasis on certain words, such as "love." It seems he would rather see more emphasis placed on the actual actions of things transpiring, such as "the sensitive laugh" of "the sensitive touch."

submissions

Sufjan Stevens – Futile Devices Lyrics

15 years ago

I realize that a lot of the conversation on this song deals with Sufjan's sexual orientation. Yet, while this album is supposed to be much more deeply personal than his "state albums," I don't feel that this is entirely what is important in the song. This song marks an abrupt change in the style of his lyrics. Yes, on the surface, the comment to the person being referred to as a brother consists of the words being referred to as "futile," but I think that what this song is indicating is the reason for the change in his lyrics. We have all read that he suffered an existential crisis between Illinois and Age of Adz, and I think what is being indicated is his loss of confidence in the power of words, which is why this record is so much more sparsely written than his older ones--he is sick of people talking so much and saying nothing. Words have become futile in some way. And it would also explain the drastic change in the style of the song titles.

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