Just checked out the Carlyle Lake website. Doesn't look like anything's been changed in 9 years. I wonder if Sufjan checked it out before writing the song... Anyway the song in question is, I think, the speaker giving a little lecture to someone who's, apparently, obsessed with thinking of the future, maybe they always plan ahead ("you've got resolutions"), theyve got no spontaneity, theyre so paranoid about whats gonna happen tomorrow or five years from now that their present life is suffering, the speakers someone close to this person and this song is a wake up call to them. The use of Carlyle Lake as a metaphor is what kinda stumped me - i'm not sure how speed factors into the high tide, supposedly its supposed to be like taking "the long way home" or something - but i think the last two comments are apt in their conclusions.
Just checked out the Carlyle Lake website. Doesn't look like anything's been changed in 9 years. I wonder if Sufjan checked it out before writing the song... Anyway the song in question is, I think, the speaker giving a little lecture to someone who's, apparently, obsessed with thinking of the future, maybe they always plan ahead ("you've got resolutions"), theyve got no spontaneity, theyre so paranoid about whats gonna happen tomorrow or five years from now that their present life is suffering, the speakers someone close to this person and this song is a wake up call to them. The use of Carlyle Lake as a metaphor is what kinda stumped me - i'm not sure how speed factors into the high tide, supposedly its supposed to be like taking "the long way home" or something - but i think the last two comments are apt in their conclusions.