Sister Winter

the falsetto chorus is KILLER

Oh dear...this is such a beautiful song. I love how Sufjan can talk about Christmas in a song without the song being competely about christmas. I do, of course, feel that winter is used here to show the state of the narrarators broken heart being cold and angry and Christmas is a happy time within the cold of winter in which friends can be happy together and the narrarator can try to overcome his broken heart.

I tend to this that this song has something to do with the neglect of friendship that comes when one is in a serious relationship with someone.

In this case, it seems as though the point of view is from someone who gave all their love to someone over the summer months, ignoring their friends, and after their love scorned them ("You threw it all away"), they return with hardened heart back to their friends, apologetic for the neglect and realizing that Christmas is a time to celebrate with all of them.

That said, it's a beautiful song.

this song definitely speaks to how i feel in winter - i think that the other interpretations are totally valid but I think it might also just be a song about the experience of seasonal affect disorder.

It could be that he's depressed that he lost his love and even though his friends are there for him and he should be grateful or satisfied, he still can't be happy. So he is apologizing to his friends that he just wants to be alone and depressed, but hopes that they have a better and happy christmas. Very nice song... so sad...

Although I agree with the interpretations that he has been neglecting his friends because of a relationship, I think more along the lines of what Mendie said: that he is broken-hearted and is trying to deal with his sadness, and it happens to be Christmas- a happy time of year, where he wants to be there for his friends, even if his heart is 'as cold as ice'. I believe he is apologizing to his friends for being distant from them, he realizes that he has been reclusive from the ones he loves, and wants to wish them 'all the best', but finds himself sad and wanting to be alone, perhaps in a state of seclusion, which I take to be 'sister winter' a dark, cold place. I love that so many different interpretations can come out of one song. I tend to interpret things in a way that relates to my own life situations. This song describes perfectly what I am going through right now. Sufjan is always there for comfort, a beautiful minded, and extremely talented artist in my opinion.

I kind of think it's more a simple charge of emotion--the summer was happiness and joy, mirth and romance, and now he's gone dark like the weather, but he's come back to wish all those friends the best, knowing that 'tis the season for all that. I kind of adore that about Sufjan--he's able to nail very nuanced emotions in short pieces.

I tend to this that this song has something to do with the neglect of friendship that comes when one is in a serious relationship with someone.

In this case, it seems as though the point of view is from someone who gave all their love to someone over the summer months, ignoring their friends, and after their love scorned them ("You threw it all away"), they return with hardened heart back to their friends, apologetic for the neglect and realizing that Christmas is a time to celebrate with all of them.

That said, it's a beautiful song.

Cloud Five said it "he's able to nail very nuanced emotions in short pieces.

I love that So Honest Your Heart Could explode-ish-ness about his writing...Such a clever fellow

could it be that the love has frozen over. sister winter?