The Giant of Illinois

My InterpretationTo me this is one of the most beautiful and saddest songs I've ever heard.

Aside from the literal connection to Robert Wadlow... the song strikes me as poetic in a way that I don't think I've experienced before.

The first verse, a man so engrossed in his care for the lowest of birds (pigeons) that he does not even tend to his own pain. A penance of sorts. Dies in his duty, comforted so very deeply in the end by the eternal, who like a mother forgives him his sin.

The second verse, a child, who meets a friend who leads him astray to commit a deep sin, to kill the most beautiful of birds. And even though they could have lived in indulgence after that, the child realizes what he did was wrong, but in realizing this, the eternal, who like a mother, comforts him and gives him his duty (to right his wrong).

What I love about the song is how the first verse is actually the chronological future, and the second is the past, and how it just all ties in so nicely and so beautifully and sadly. And how much pain you feel for the swan. And how sometimes you live with something wrong you did for the rest of your life. But that there is a comfort that it can somehow be righted.

• 1 Reply Log in to reply

General CommentThis song is about Robert Wadlow, the tallest man to ever live, who was from Alton, Illinois. He did, in fact, die of a blister on his ankle. What a tragedy that the human giant was brought down at such a young age by an infection on his foot.

• No Replies Log in to reply