Detroit, Lift Up Your Weary Head! (Restore! Rebuild! Reconsider!) Lyrics
All I can say, all I can do
People mover: bad decision
From suburban, now a prison
All I can say, all I can do
Everything you want, it’s a great idea!
All I can say, all I can do
Public trans, public trans
Pontiac, Pontiac
Feed the poor, feed the poor
City Hall, City Hall
Windsor Park, Windsor Park
Saginaw, Saginaw
After dark, after dark
Tigers game, Tigers game
Eighty-four, eighty-four
Industry, industry
Unemployed, unemployed
Gun control, gun control
Wolverine, wolverine
Iroquois, Iroquois
Industry, industry
Public trans, public trans
Auto cars, auto cars
Jefferson, Jefferson
Michigan, Michigan
Everything you want, it’s a great idea!
From the Renaissance, it’s a great idea!
Everything you want, it’s a great idea!
Throw them all away, it’s a great idea!
From the Renaissance, it’s a great idea!
Everything you want
(Hesitate to burn the buildings)
the repetition and melodic focus in this song is lovely, really, it adds depth to lyrics that might be considered bland in another context.
sufjan sure knows what he's doing, eh?
I love the line "once a great place, now a prison." To think such a catchy song could be written about urban decay. As a student of urban studies, this song rocks.
I really love this song. I attended university in Detroit and lived there last year. I hated living there, I found it isolating and deadening. I believe the line about trembling walls is about the demolition of the JL Hudson building in 1998. It was heartbreaking for many to see that building go.
It seems like this song is mostly just an account of the decline of Detroit. I'm confused by the chorus os "From the trembling walls. It's A Great Idea!" as well as "Everything you want..." and "Throw them all away" and "From the Renaissance." Any ideas anyone?
"Tigers game / Eighty-four" makes me grin like crazy every time, though that too can be seen as a symbol of Detroit's decline- from World Series champions to the Tigers of today.
People Mover: Bad Decision.
AND HOW!
"Tigers game / Eighty-four" makes me grin like crazy every time, though >that too can be seen as a symbol of Detroit's decline- from World Series >champions to the Tigers of today.
Hey, they Tigers are in first place now! Heh.
Well as someone who grew up but a mere river's width from downtown Detroit I'll offer my take on this song: modern Detroit is kinda a tragic place in that it doesn't have much life in it and all attempts to revive it have failed because they were misguided.
For example, "From the Renaissance, it's a great idea!" Is an example of sarcasm. The Renaissance Center in DT Detroit is a huge multiplex that was built with the idea that it would draw people to downtown Detroit and breathe some life back into it (hence "Renessaince"), but it failed because the people who go to the Renaissance centre drive in from suburbia, fulfill their days work and head home without even walking a block into the actual city.
I think the whole song is sacrcastic...not "great ideas!", bad ideas. Bad ideas that lead Detroit even further astray.
Do it up Detroit. DO IT UP! I love sufjan.
sufjan talks about this song, or at least detroit, in his interview on pbs (after acl). i think he said something about how it affects him; how he feels a connection with the town.