In regards to the meaning of this song:
Before a live performance on the EP Five Stories Falling, Geoff states “It’s about the last time I went to visit my grandmother in Columbus, and I saw that she was dying and it was the last time I was going to see her. It is about realizing how young you are, but how quickly you can go.”
That’s the thing about Geoff and his sublime poetry, you think it’s about one thing, but really it’s about something entirely different. But the lyrics are still universal and omnipresent, ubiquitous, even. So relatable. That’s one thing I love about this band. I also love their live performances, raw energy and Geoff’s beautiful, imperfectly perfect vocals. His voice soothes my aching soul.
Oh great intentions
I've got the best of interventions
But when the ads come
I think about it now
In my infliction
Entrepreneurial conditions
Take us to glory
I think about it now
Cannot conversations cull united nations?
If you got the patience, celebrate the ancients
Cannot all creation call it celebration?
Or united nation
Put it to your head
Oh great white city
I've got the adequate committee
Where have your walls gone?
I think about it now
Chicago, in fashion, the soft drinks, expansion
Oh Columbia
From Paris, incentive, like Cream of Wheat invented,
The Ferris Wheel
Oh great intentions
Covenant with the imitation
Have you no conscience?
I think about it now
Oh God of Progress
Have you degraded or forgot us?
Where have your laws gone?
I think about it now
Ancient hieroglyphic or the South Pacific
Typically terrific, busy and prolific
Classical devotion, architect promotion
Lacking in emotion
Think about it now
Chicago, the New Age, but what would Frank Lloyd Wright say?
Oh Columbia
Amusement or treasure, these optimistic pleasures
Like the Ferris Wheel
Cannot conversations cull united nations?
If you got the patience, celebrate the ancients
Columbia
I cried myself to sleep last night
And the ghost of Carl, he approached my window
I was hypnotized, I was asked
To improvise
On the attitude, the regret
Of a thousand centuries of death
Even with the heart of terror and the superstitious wearer
I am riding all alone
I am writing all alone
Even in my best condition, counting all the superstition
I am riding all alone
I am running all alone
And we laughed at the beatitudes of a thousand lines
We were asked at the attitudes
They reminded us of death
Even with the rest belated, everything is antiquated
Are you writing from the heart?
Are you writing from the heart?
Even in his heart the Devil has to know the water level
Are you writing from the heart?
Are you writing from the heart?
And I cried myself to sleep last night
For the Earth, and materials, they may sound just right to me
Even with the rest belated, everything is antiquated
Are you writing from the heart?
Are you writing from the heart?
Even in his heart the Devil has to know the water level
Are you writing from the heart?
Are you writing from the heart?
I've got the best of interventions
But when the ads come
I think about it now
In my infliction
Entrepreneurial conditions
Take us to glory
I think about it now
Cannot conversations cull united nations?
If you got the patience, celebrate the ancients
Cannot all creation call it celebration?
Or united nation
Put it to your head
Oh great white city
I've got the adequate committee
Where have your walls gone?
I think about it now
Chicago, in fashion, the soft drinks, expansion
Oh Columbia
From Paris, incentive, like Cream of Wheat invented,
The Ferris Wheel
Oh great intentions
Covenant with the imitation
Have you no conscience?
I think about it now
Oh God of Progress
Have you degraded or forgot us?
Where have your laws gone?
I think about it now
Ancient hieroglyphic or the South Pacific
Typically terrific, busy and prolific
Classical devotion, architect promotion
Lacking in emotion
Think about it now
Chicago, the New Age, but what would Frank Lloyd Wright say?
Oh Columbia
Amusement or treasure, these optimistic pleasures
Like the Ferris Wheel
Cannot conversations cull united nations?
If you got the patience, celebrate the ancients
Columbia
I cried myself to sleep last night
And the ghost of Carl, he approached my window
I was hypnotized, I was asked
To improvise
On the attitude, the regret
Of a thousand centuries of death
Even with the heart of terror and the superstitious wearer
I am riding all alone
I am writing all alone
Even in my best condition, counting all the superstition
I am riding all alone
I am running all alone
And we laughed at the beatitudes of a thousand lines
We were asked at the attitudes
They reminded us of death
Even with the rest belated, everything is antiquated
Are you writing from the heart?
Are you writing from the heart?
Even in his heart the Devil has to know the water level
Are you writing from the heart?
Are you writing from the heart?
And I cried myself to sleep last night
For the Earth, and materials, they may sound just right to me
Even with the rest belated, everything is antiquated
Are you writing from the heart?
Are you writing from the heart?
Even in his heart the Devil has to know the water level
Are you writing from the heart?
Are you writing from the heart?
Come On! Feel the Illinoise! (Part 1: The World's Columbian Exposition; Part 2: Carl Sandburg Visits Me in a Dream) song meanings
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I agree strongly with the first poster. I can't believe there aren't more comments on this song, because I think it's the most important song on the album. I can't do nearly as good a job explaining the first part as some of the above posters, but what I would add is that the first half of this song is very reminiscent of the work Sufjan did on Michigan, cataloguing Flint or Detroit. And as Stupid_name put it, he does a good job of describing Chicago with the music and the lyrics. (Even if they're clearly about the World's Fair: much of Chicago still has the World's Fair feeling.)
The second-part of the song is the revelatory part, though, and not just because the switch from the initial 3-3-2 pattern to a straight 4 is the most progressive music on the album. Especially now that Sufjan has released Avalanche, it's possible to glimpse how large this project was when he was compiling it. And the second part of this song is Sufjan's reminder to himself that, in the middle of all this research and all these melodies, it's the personal touches that make the music powerful. On a broader level, it's a call out to the poet in all of us to follow our intuition, and expose our inner selves to truly create great art. And given that the songs that follow clearly embrace this vision ("Casimir Pulaski", "Chicago", "Pittsfield", "McClure", "Predatory Wasp" to name only a few stellar examples) the second part of "Come on Feel the Illinoise" is Sufjan Stevens laying his songwriting method bare for the listener. It's the closest we get on the album to a glimpse into his creative process.
I'm certainly not the first to say this, but many have observed that Stevens' albums aren't quite emo and aren't quite historic. You don't get the sense that Stevens is going to come to your house and lay up sobbing with you, and the history is at best pointillistic and often simply name-dropping. Ultimately, though, Stevens technique is to reflect on his own personal history through the history of the states he is describing. In this song, he as much as admits to the technique, and far from being a drawback I think this technique is what makes his albums so compelling. The history allows him to approach difficult and emotional issues without the navel-gazing that has ruined many an indie emo band. The honest personal emotion makes his music powerful. The two together are much more than the sum of the parts, and in the second section of this song, Sufjan clearly recognizes and celebrates this.