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.
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.