His father was a drinker and his mother cried in bed
Folding John Wayne's t-shirts when the swing set hit his head
The neighbors, they adored him
For his humor and his conversation
Look underneath the house there
Find the few living things, rotting fast, in their sleep
Oh the dead
Twenty-seven people
Even more, they were boys, with their cars, summer jobs
Oh my God
Ooh, are you one of them?
He dressed up like a clown for them
With his face paint white and red
And on his best behavior
In a dark room on the bed he kissed them all
He'd kill ten thousand people
With a slight of his hand, running far, running fast to the dead
He took off all their clothes for them
He put a cloth on their lips, quiet hands, quiet kiss on the mouth
And in my best behavior
I am really just like him
Look beneath the floor boards
For the secrets I have hid
Folding John Wayne's t-shirts when the swing set hit his head
The neighbors, they adored him
For his humor and his conversation
Look underneath the house there
Find the few living things, rotting fast, in their sleep
Oh the dead
Twenty-seven people
Even more, they were boys, with their cars, summer jobs
Oh my God
Ooh, are you one of them?
He dressed up like a clown for them
With his face paint white and red
And on his best behavior
In a dark room on the bed he kissed them all
He'd kill ten thousand people
With a slight of his hand, running far, running fast to the dead
He took off all their clothes for them
He put a cloth on their lips, quiet hands, quiet kiss on the mouth
And in my best behavior
I am really just like him
Look beneath the floor boards
For the secrets I have hid
Lyrics submitted by attractivecousin
John Wayne Gacy, Jr. Lyrics as written by Sufjan Stevens
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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There is a little piece in the new Spin in which Sufjan says that this song is about how man is naturally duplicitous, greedy, and sinful, and he can't see how he is any different from Gacy in that respect (paraphrasing). So while I don't doubt that Sufjan is a model christian and goes to church every sunday, I can't see how this is about God per se. It seems like people are projecting their beliefs onto this song. That's fine, but seems so unneccesary to me, given that Sufjan writes songs that are blatently about his religious beliefs like "For the widows in paradise" and "Casimir Pulaski Day" (which is not that complimentary to Him, you'll note). It might be "about" God in the same way that those songs are, which I've said is the most thoughtful that I've heard yet, in that he acknowledges that believing in God sometimes doesn't make much sense (and just try to refute that!). Ironically, to me, as an agnostic, makes me much more open to his Christian beliefs, because you so rarely hear anybody Christian (especially for me, growing up in the South) willing to talk about that duality.
Sorry, I've said nothing about the song... it's great.
BTW I read my previous post in which I said somebody was "stupid"... bit harsh. My bad.