Sufjan Stevens – We Won't Need Legs to Stand

"We Won't Need Legs to Stand" as written by and Sufjan Stevens....
So faithful, so few,
So pardon, and done.
And when we receive,
We give a change at last.

When we are dead,
We all have wings.
We won't need legs to stand.
When we receive,
To see a change at last.


Lyrics submitted by EvilPopkin

"We Won't Need Legs to Stand" as written by Sufjan Stevens

Lyrics © BMG Rights Management

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We Won't Need Legs to Stand song meanings
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10 Comments

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  • +1
    General Commentnot just about christians

    "we all have wings."
    Morpheus02812on December 07, 2005   Link
  • +1
    General CommentI'm not exactly the most spiritual person, but this song is beautiful.
    tbarkerisafagon April 18, 2009   Link
  • 0
    General CommentI think the first bit has to do with Jesus' saying about entering by the narrow path that leads to life as opposed to the wide path that leads to destruction. The next bit reminds me of what Jesus taught about the ressurection when people will no longer marry but be like the angels.
    blackemmaon July 24, 2005   Link
  • 0
    General Commenti think it's about christians in general. as long as we are faithful while we're in the world, we'll eventually get to heaven, where we won't need legs to stand.
    Sum1LsesChpstckon August 04, 2005   Link
  • 0
    General CommentMorpheus,
    " when we receive, / we give a change at last."
    _ellieon December 09, 2005   Link
  • 0
    General CommentI think that this song is actually about physically standing. We kneel before God out of love and obedience. We can be knocked over by the world easier by kneeling, but in kneeling before our Lord Jesus Christ we are stronger and "stand" for something better than this world can ever give.

    Matthew 5:6
    mbass081on February 13, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General Commenti think that this song is not neccesarily about death to christians, but to people in general. i personally view the legs as humanistic wealth, this 'of the flesh' as i am so often told about. it speaks of death as the loss of a need for those things, that when we die we wont need the things that hold us to this earth, and thus 'we give a change at last'.

    this is, of course, only my personal opinion. i veiw meaning to be reletive to the individual reading/ listening, and so a song can have thousands of meanins, and not any of them the meaning the writer was originally attempting to convay.

    there are, i admit, many christian connotations to this, and many other of his songs, but that is natural, as songs are a reflection of the writer. i still go by what i said, that this does not neccesarily have to be about heaven, but could be about the loss of physical things that we value, but will all eventually loose.
    DreamerbyDeceptionon January 28, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General CommentWhenever I hear this beautiful piece of music I think of those sunken faces and skinny legs in black and white. The mass genocide called the holocaust. Sufjan creates such vivid moods.
    breathewordson September 05, 2009   Link
  • 0
    My Interpretationthis could also be about how the trivial problems we have on earth won't matter in the long run (in sufjan's opinion/belief, anyway). legs are one of the most important features of being a human, or being alive. they connect animals with the earth and bind them to mortality, so they are pretty much the opposite of heaven. so when you lose your legs, or when you have to face difficult problems, people think that that is the worst thing, etc. i think sufjan could be referring to his belief that even when you lose your "legs", heaven is still waiting for you. just a thought.
    exponentialon April 03, 2010   Link
  • 0
    General CommentI interpret this song in conjunction with the song just before it on the album, "Size Too Small." That song is told by a speaker who was supposed to be the best man at a wedding for a girl whom he was very close with. The speaker's final words in that song are "I still owe you."

    This song is the bride's response. "So faithful" is how the bride would describe the best man because he has always been faithful to her and she knows he will keep his promise. She is willing to pardon him because she has received the grace of God, and when she receives that, she makes change, and pays it forward to the best man. As she explains her view of Christianity, she affirms the faith of the best man.

    As a more general note about the whole album, I think Seven Swans portrays the progression of a young, skeptical Christian through faith, from confused and frustrated in the first few songs to awestruck by God's glory in the last few. This song is a key transition point for the speaker to accept his faith.
    eugene38on February 09, 2013   Link

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