| Sufjan Stevens – A Good Man Is Hard to Find Lyrics | 14 years ago |
| Flannery O'conner is a terrifying writer. She has a way of bringing readers face to face with the hardest and most revealing questions one can ask. The Misfit, from whose perspective Sufjan writes, is essentially the antithesis of the modern sedation towards the implications of the question of God. My favorite lines are "So I go to hell, I wait for it/ but someone's left me creased." The Misfit is so coldly rational through the whole story and the Grandmother is the archtypal pretentious Christian. Then in a moment she is faced with death and truly finds God. Through her the Misfit sees God and he cracks for a moment. O'connor crushes all the cliche's that surround the biblical sense of grace in that instant. It's really beautiful. The Misfit has consigned himself to hell, but he can't resist the power of God's willingness to accept those most distant. This momentary realization is terrifying to the Misfit and he destroys the vessel of grace, the Grandmother. Carefully reading the story you can see images of Christ represented by both main characters. They provide grace for oneanother in their apocalyptic meeting. I guess I didn't talk much about the song, but the story Sufjan is covering is really tricky. | |
| Joanna Newsom – Kingfisher Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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I think that this song is about Joanna contending with the idea of God. I think that most of the song is adressed to him. She drifts back and forth between doubt and moments of what seems to be faith. The first couple lines and the last couple lines are most explicit, but the relationship mentioned in some previous posts of we assume it to be one with God. The ashes, volcanos, and other images of destruction call to mind a struggle with the idea of a good God in a painful world. She speaks of her youth when, for her, faith was still possible, saying in the third verse, saying, When I could speak it was too late Didn't you hear me calling? Didn't you see my heart leap like A pup in the constant barley? Some really harsh and beautiful imagery that alludes to Christ is Blows rain upon the one you loved And though you were only sparring There's blood on the eye, unlace the glove Say, honey, I am not sorry This language seems a bit sarcastic, but it is hard to say. The whole song is a bit pessimistic in its frustrations, but they are really well played out. Like all good poetry this song shouldn't be pidgeon-holed as being excllusively about God, but largely the themes she discusses stem from her questions concerning Him. |
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| Sufjan Stevens – Casimir Pulaski Day Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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This song is obviously about the death of one of his childhood friends. I can be sure that this song is not about any one single emotion, (anger, sadness, etc.) because death is never simple. Sufjan uses a beautiful vagueness in all of the details he uses in this song. For example, I don't believe that Goldenrod and the 4H stone are intended to be delved into too deeply, but are intended to be some sort of nostalgic items which, I would guess, the speaker (Sufjan) and his girl friend both associated memories with. Sufjan's story-telling is really brilliant in this song. He omits large amounts of contextual information, but allows what is important to rise out of the details- I remember at Michael's house/In the living room when you kissed my neck/And I almost touched your blouse. I love how he skips around chronologically with each set of verses, because it makes the song feel very reminiscent, like he is sorting through memories. From the details of the lyrics there is confusion, fear, and anger that is evoked in perfect proportions. The theme of her father seems to indicate that he was abusive or at least negligent. He stands next to the other father referred to, God, with whom he is to be contrasted and compared. This is a really great move that Sufjan makes. Both are tied up with fear and the unknown, but the girl's father is essentially brought to his knees (at the navy yard) whereas God the Father has his character resolved quite differently. All the fear and pain come together and intersect with the repeated claims of glory as Sufjan is touched by God's confusing, awesome, and painful redemption. All the glory when He took our place But He took my shoulders and He shook my face And He takes and He takes and He takes |
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| Sufjan Stevens – That Was the Worst Christmas Ever! Lyrics | 15 years ago |
| The instrumentation in this song really does it. I love how the banjo and guitar trip over eachother. This might be my favorite off of his christmas set. I'll have to check out his story behind it. It's just wonderful how he has this awesome redemption rising through a christmas where "nothing feels right." | |
| Sufjan Stevens – Holy, Holy, Holy Lyrics | 15 years ago |
| I couldn't agree more. Contemp stuff is so weak. They don't make worship music like they used to. I wish Sufjan would do more songs like it. I have to listen to hymns and old traditional music or else cringe along to what they're making these days. | |
| Sufjan Stevens – John Wayne Gacy, Jr. Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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jady: The idea of Christ and christian themes in general used to be oppressive to me. Since I've begun to follow christ I don't want anything else. All of the christians who say this song is religiously themed say that because the song is not as wonderful without it. They read that particular message into the song because that is exactly what Sifjan intended to present. |
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| Sufjan Stevens – John Wayne Gacy, Jr. Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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aha a lion: You say "this songs is about the universal capability universal capability of humankind for the worst kind of actions." Sufjan, a Christian, would necessarily define that as sin. If he writes song about a broken twisted human he is not talking about a secular concept. If you live in a world described by faith the word secular doesn't even mean anything. I agree that Sufjan, an extreme introvert, is bothered by people dissecting his musical decisions. However, there isn't much else worth writing about to someone who has a relationship with Christ, other than his creation, redemption, and the seperation of this world from him. This song is certainly about the latter. |
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| Elliott Smith – No Name #1 Lyrics | 16 years ago |
| Some how I passed over these lyrics for a while. This song's just beautiful. And so painful. Elliott puts these emotions into words in a way that no one else can | |
| Muse – Plug In Baby Lyrics | 16 years ago |
| No one as talented as Matt writes guitar songs about rocking out on his guitar. In a sense all good rock songs are about escaping the world with music anyways. I think this song is about turning to pornography to forget a broken relationship. To say it is about his guitar is to say he truly loves his "plug in baby." I hear no such thing in this song. He hates it and before I thought about lyrics I figured this song was about some addiction. Because most people pretend that the hollow addictiveness of pornography is not a big deal, they will never understand this song. | |
| Elliott Smith – Rose Parade Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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gravitydwarf: It's funny because all the times I listened to this song I always figured he said "They say it's a sight that's quite worth seeing" ("They" rather than "I'd") Even so I think that he's saying: I guess a drunk trumpet player should be funny... "but every ones interest is stronger than mine" Elliott obviously could not connect with the enjoyment everyone around him was getting out of the parade. I've always identified with this song a lot. When you are depressed you want to distance yourself from people (especially something big and commercial and social like a parade). When you distance yourself from people, you see how rediculous they are. When you see how rediculous they are, you can't make yourself engage them and end up alone and more depresed. It kills me every time he says "when they clean the street I'll be the only shit that's left behind" I know that hollow alone feeling and he couldn't describe it any more truthfully and tragically. He was a great guy. His music changed me. God bless Elliott. |
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