The Upper Peninsula Lyrics

Lyric discussion by Raving Lunatic 

Cover art for The Upper Peninsula lyrics by Sufjan Stevens

This seems to me to be a story of lower-class citizens of Michigan, though it could probably describe those of any state. It describes a man who lives in a crappy trailer and doesn't have much, but he's still human; he drove all night to find his child, who was presumably lost somewhere.

The man is probably uneducated because he says his son has been revived in "strange ideas." This can mean one of two things, that his son was literally revived in a hospital that used some equipment or method that is foreign to the man (hence the strange ideas) or it could mean that his son was "revived" from a life of property by being educated. His education consisted of "ideas" that are "strange" to the man, since he is unfamiliar with them.

Finally, he admits his confusion with the "strange times" we live in. The world is complicated and sometimes we just don't know what's right. Are the "strange ideas" right? There's no way for him to know.