The Tallest Man, the Broadest Shoulders (Part 1: The Great Frontier; Part 2: Come to Me Only with Playthings Now)

Amazing song.

How does a boy who doesn't even learn to read till the third grade grow up to be one of the greatest, if not the greatest songwriter of the past decade? Blows my mind.

With regard to "Tallest Man".... Robert Wadlow is in the record books as the tallest human ever. He was 8'11" and was from Alton, IL, where he lived his entire life.

also the sear's tower is pretty freakin' tall.

"Oh Great Fire of Great Disaster" the great chicago fire where over 300 people died and fires burned for over 24 hours (legend has it that it was started by mrs. o'leary's cow that knocked over a lantern)

"Oh Great Goodman, King of Swingers" benny goodman - best clarinet player of like, all time!!!

thanks for some of the things that even a illinois native didnt know, tundraprynne!

I believe this song is in 5/4 time (or some form of five). The pulses seem to occur on beat 3, then 2 beats after. Then the song seems to switch to 4/4 (or maybe cut time? I'm really bad at determining the difference). There aren't many (recent) popular songs in this time signature. If anybody else has more knowledge (which I bet a lot of people do), please post it because I seriously wish to know!

I agree with goldmund. It's either 5/4 or 5/8 (I think 5/8), alternating with 6/8 every measure until the chorus, where it goes into straight 5/8. At 2:40, the first 4/4 section, we're still in the first movement, but I believe that the second movement starts at around 4:44, with the 4/4 change again, and the decrescendo. goldmund, I'd never noticed that the percussion part continues in 4/4! Thanks for letting me know!

I'm pretty sure the title is based upon the Isaac Newton quote "If I have seen further, it is only from standing on the shoulders of giants", i.e 'tallest man' and 'broadest shoulders'.

I have no idea what this song is about. Any ideas?

Westward migrants built Chicago on the prairie. This song asks if it was worth it and suggests that we appreciate the grandeur and experience of the new city, good or bad. The West was not for the patient, but for the soldier and carpenter who played equally important roles in transforming the West. Settlers raced into this new life without much contemplation of where they would end up or what they would create. The remainder of the song lists aspects of the city that would have impacted the lives of residents from founding days to the present:

The fortress – Fort Dearborn, The faker – Mayor Daley claimed he yelled this (not something much more vulgar) at the ’68 Convention, the chewing gum – Wrigley etc., the floozies – low life on Skid Row perhaps, the wind that wakes the ocean – 1893 World’s Fair (“Windy City” put on map)?, the house we got at Sears – everything you need or thought you needed you could order from Sears, Great Fire – 1871 fire that destroyed city, Great Goat – the Cubs are cursed to lose in the postseason because they didn’t let the owner of the Billygoat tavern bring his goat to a game, Great River green with envy – Chicago river is dyed green each year for St. Pat’s Day and the city is always envious of New York, Jane Addams – she built the Hull House south of the loop in the 19th century to educate and train immigrants and the poor, Great Trumpet and the singers – jazz and blues, Joe Jackson – Shoeless Joe Jackson of the 1919 World Series scandal.

You can’t pine for the prairie when all these things are going on around you; embrace them.

Song title – another of Chicago’s names is The City of Broad Shoulders

Nice writeup Tundra.

I thin that when you look at the title of the song you can come up with 2 possible meanings. The Tallest Man, The Broadest Shoulders. The Broadest Shoulders is obviously a referrence to Chicago. So who or what is the Tallest Man? My first thought was Abraham Lincoln and the line "Forgiving, faced the seventh year" might be a referrence to Lincoln's speech, 4 score and 7 years ago. Another thought after reading Tundra's writeup, is that Sufjan is calling everyone to be the tallest man and stand above all the negative things that have emerged from and happened to the great city of Chicago and stand for all of the good things.

also the sear's tower is pretty freakin' tall.

"Oh Great Fire of Great Disaster" the great chicago fire where over 300 people died and fires burned for over 24 hours (legend has it that it was started by mrs. o'leary's cow that knocked over a lantern)

"Oh Great Goodman, King of Swingers" benny goodman - best clarinet player of like, all time!!!

thanks for some of the things that even a illinois native didnt know, tundraprynne!