| Sufjan Stevens – Impossible Soul Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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Wow... thanks very much for pointing me to that interview. That's the kind of inside perspective on Sufjy that I totally crave! :D For others interested, here are 2 links: http://www.exclaim.ca/Interviews/FromTheMagazine/sufjan_stevens_spends_time_out_of_mind/ http://vishkhanna.com/2010/10/31/sufjan-stevens-on-the-mvims-11032010/ I think the basic point is that he's a master-craftsman... and in Adz, he's seeking to craft emotion, sensation and feeling, rather than stories. Oh, and your statement: "Anyway this is why I love him so much, we could sit here and debate all day, but still we'll never really know, which is the mark of good art, it's ability to prove, negate and impact the various opinions of individuals." I couldn't have said it better myself! |
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| Sufjan Stevens – Impossible Soul Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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One thought on the "Stupid Man" lyrics, I wonder if it's a reference to one of his nick names as a child. Said out loud, it's Sufjan with a T & P & M stuffed in there. It seems like a logical thing that kids would name call him. He was teased quite a bit as a kid for his name, as he wrote about: http://sidebar.asthmatickitty.com/archives/1867 |
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| Sufjan Stevens – I Walked Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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My favorite commentary on this comes from Rob Harvilla, over at the village voice: "Still, if his new electro-prog epic The Age of Adz is, as it appears to be, a breakup album, whatever lover inspired it should put out an answer record simply titled I'm Sorry, But He Was Really High-Maintenance." So perfect. |
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| Sufjan Stevens – Impossible Soul Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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I was at the Thursday Boston show, and I have had it on repeat the last week too. It's really quite amazing and ground-breaking. I think musical genius is the only way to describe it, and watching it live was really quite magical. As I've mentioned to a number of people, I started getting sad towards the end of section 4, as I realized that it was going to have to end at some point, and I wanted to live in that moment forever. I think that's the whole point of the heartbreakingly beautiful section 5 - all good things must come to a close. I'm hoping that it gets turned into a DVD - I noticed that the video cameras were only out during the Boston shows, not any of the others. I also got the same message about his getting lost in aural exploration - I commented on it in my post on Vesuvius as well. My one disagreement with you, for what it's worth, is that the debate and discussion over his sexuality is irrelevant or uninteresting. I think that does Sufjan a bit of a disservice. Of course, you're entitled to your degree of irritation, but I'd encourage you to look a bit further. It's actually pretty fascinating, how people react. Obviously, they reflect varying degrees of bigotry or well-intentioned ignorance, but to some extent, it's also great that you have all these people, including men, who have this phobia of homos who are connecting with the very sensitive and very sexually ambiguous Sufjan. I agree with you 100% that he definitely has songs that could be read either way, and I think that is done intentionally and with purpose. Songs like Predatory Wasp, All for Myself, John Wayne Gacy, etc, clearly invite the question of his sexuality. But the lyrics are almost irrelevant, it's part of his entire public persona. It should be totally obvious that Sufjan is secure enough in whatever his sexuality is - straight, bi, gay - that he feels comfortable talking about how we made him feel like a prom queen (at the Boston show), having his picture taken while knitting, wearing butterfly wings and feathers, etc. Sufjan is a smart guy and his lyrics and outfits are chosen with purpose... He likes the fact that he's creating this tension, that people don't know. It's the same impetus that he talks about in his MTV interview when he says, "is this great music? Or is it just silly?" He's inviting discourse, engaging his audience, and for us to fear talking about it, is a bit ignorant in the opposite way of someone who likes his music but is afraid of his possible fagginess. If he wanted to come out as whatever, I don't think it'd hurt his career, I think 99% of us fans will adore him no matter what. But I don't think he wants to, because it's an important source of artistic tension in his songs, along with his other themes that he’s conflicted about. If he weren't so conflicted about religion, and either gave up on it or fully recommitted to following Christ, that would be a much less interesting subject. Not trying to rant, but just thinking that the whole thing about Sufjan's sexuality is not just a matter of privacy vs. prurient interest. :D |
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| Sufjan Stevens – Vesuvius Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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Sufjan gave a pretty significant (and somewhat rambling) exposition to Vesuvius in Boston at the Orpheum (11/11/10). Thanks to ShoGoEr on Youtube for recording a similar version of the explanation at the Philly show: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwyn4ZciKEM My apologies for the super-long interpretation — I hope it’s fun & interesting for some to read — those that hate literary over-analyzing, skip ahead and don’t flame please. :) What I took away from his story was the following: The main struggle in Vesuvius is the artistic one he felt in the 5 years following Chicago. He was burnt out on Song Writing, exhausted by the sudden stardom and grueling tour. Songwriting had lost its power as an artistic outlet for him, and he started turning towards sonic experimentation and chamber orchestration. But embracing that turned out to be far more difficult - it turned out to be a vortex, a chasm, a ledge that spiraled away, that threatened an impossible return from. It reminded him of the feeling he got when standing at a precipice like the Grand Canyon or Niagara Falls and being enveloped/overwhelmed by the nature around him, feeling paralyzed, and wanting to jump. Vesuvius is about standing at that precipice, wanting to take the leap. While Krobe23 is right, that Sufjan called it "wonderous and great", like everything typical of Sufjan, especially the grown up one of Adz, there's a much darker undercurrent to it - suicide. I got chills, hoping that it was just a metaphor for artistic suicide, and that he wasn't really heading down the dark path traveled by many of the brilliant artists of our generation - Elliot Smith, David Foster Wallace, etc. But back to the artistic struggle, post-Illinoise, he had fame, he had an adoring audience, and he was contemplating abandoning them. It would be total artistic suicide to so radically shift his musical style & abandon songwriting altogether. I'm guessing he saw the world in which critics would dismiss him, his fans would abandon him, etc. Which is what some of us did after the BQE (guilty as charged). But the burden of living in the eternal shadow of Illinoise and never progressing as an artist was too much to bear, and he was looking for an escape. Vesuvius / I am here /You are all I have Fire of fire /I'm insecure For it is all / Been made to plan / Though I know /I will fail I cannot /Be made to laugh For in life /As in death I'd rather be burned /Than be living in debt The first stanza speaks to this directly. He needs to move forward artistically, but he knows that the volcano of sonic experimentation is certain failure. But he would rather die trying than forever live in the shadow of the glory of Illinoise, to which is indebted. The rest of the stanzas flesh this out and add layers to his struggle. Vesuvius /Are you a ghost Or the symbols of light / Or a fantasy host? In your breast / I carry the form The heart of the Earth /And the weapons of warmth The 3 symbols, ghost / symbols of light / host are tricky to interpret. Of course the words ghost & host are both stacked with religious meaning - the ghost being the holy ghost, and the host being the Catholic transubstantiation of the body of Christ, and perhaps the "fantasy" referring to the fact that as a non-Catholic he considers it a fantastic notion? However, both seem to imply something dark or negative pulling at him. Literary ghosts are often called upon to point the way forward, think Dickens' Christmas Story and the ghost of Hamlet’s father. If it's the same ghost as the "murdering ghost" in stanza 3 though, it is something far more dangerous - perhaps a dangerous ambitious that is not substantial and somehow linked to a darker current of self-destruction. That murdering ghost also doesn’t square with the notion of the holy ghost, either. I don’t know how to read it. Symbols of light is easier to interpret - it is the end goal, artistic transcendence — always in the distance, elusive, but bright. Fantasy host is again tricky — perhaps it refers to a temporary body that is just a mental fantasy that is just an illusion and not real? In this interpretation, Sufjan is asking himself and appealing to the volcano oracle, if this is the real path, or just a temporary fantasy, or something more dangerous. The next two lines say to me that he carries in his heart the artistic form that he sees as the essence of his music. That it's the "weapons of warmth" suggests that he knows he can turn it into something useful. Even though the weapons image is aggressive, the fact that he uses warmth, rather than fire or burning, suggests that he knows that he can create something loving and out of it. Vesuvius /The tragic oath For you have destroyed /With the elegant smoke Oracle, I've fallen at last But they were the feast / Of a permanent blast The third stanza’s tragic oath probably refers to King Herod’s oath to Salome of half his kingdom, which of course ended up with John the Baptist's head on a plate. The lesson learned, that overpromising can have dire consequences, is what hangs over his head — if he jumps, there's no turning back. The "elegant smoke" may be the literal ash and smoke that came out of Vesuvius. Why elegant? Not sure… perhaps because the unearthed scenes at Pompeii and Herculaneum were elegant? The third line, I'm not sure if it is "fallen at last" or "follow my last" — I think it's the latter, but it's really hard to tell. The last line in the stanza is the biggest mystery to me — who is "they"? Again, another reference to the citizens of Pompeii maybe, but… not sure what it's a metaphor for. Perhaps someone can come up with a good theory on this? Vesuvius / Oh, be kind It hasn't occurred / No it hasn't been said Sufjan, follow the path It leads to an article of imminent death Sufjan, follow your heart Follow the flame / Or fall on the floor Sufjan, the panic inside The murdering ghost / That you cannot ignore The fourth stanza is pretty straightforward. It’s his other self telling him that he needs to move forward. The path is alternately one of death or enlightenment, but failure to do that would be giving up ("fall on the floor"). The "panic inside" and "murdering ghost" are very evocative of artistic desperation to keep progressing and not becoming stagnant. The last refrains then flesh out this indecision, although it's again hazy to me what exactly he's implying by following the ghost and host, since I'm not entirely sure what they stand for. At the end of the day, Vesuvius is layered with meaning, as with all of Sufjan's music. He’s a true artist that uses his prodigious intellect as much as he uses his heart. He's a master at weaving ambivalence and ambiguity into his lyrics, and many interpretations are equally plausible. I choose to interpret his song as artistic struggle, but there are clearly many other interpretations — about struggle with/loss of faith, death, sexuality and innocence — his bread and butter, really! One last thought, if anyone has bothered to read this far, is in revisiting the last 2 lines of the first stanza, I came away with a pretty interesting reading related to faith… it suggests that he would rather burn in hell than live in the debt (of Jesus Christ who paid for humanity's sins). That line alone makes the case that everything that I’ve said is bullocks, and the entire thing is about the questioning of faith. Happy listening, everyone! :D |
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