| Sufjan Stevens – All for Myself Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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It seems like a song about understanding his own homosexuality to me. Just look at the entire last phrase. "We set out once forget our shirts with hairy chests and well rehearsed I want it all I want it all for myself Out in the earth I smell of you Of bathing boy, amazing you I want it all, I want it all for myself " |
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| Sufjan Stevens – Impossible Soul Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| I saw this live in Boston yesterday and it was... unthinkably amazing. I wouldn't trade that night for anything | |
| Sufjan Stevens – Impossible Soul Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| I saw this live in Boston yesterday and it was... unthinkably amazing. I wouldn't trade that night for anything | |
| Sufjan Stevens – All Delighted People (Original Version) Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| people on the internet are crazy. | |
| Sufjan Stevens – I Walked Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| Yes! Thank you! That makes much more sense than Sufjan singing those lyrics entirely of his own accord. Of course it's a vague historical theme. | |
| Sufjan Stevens – All Delighted People (Original Version) Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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I believe that this whole song is about the internal struggles and insanity of people, and the escape from our own frightening insides, described as an apocalypse ("the hurricane that inclined us toppling on the floor", several mentions of darkness) into dreams ("our lives depended on the visions through the night"). The song is about the idiocy of humans and the simple sadness which accompanies being part of the species. The storm inside of us is growing, and the insanity is growing; the apocalypse that will bring our doom is growing inside of us, and we can do nothing but live inside our own dreams and hope that we can never return to our own heads. "and they all prayed to the neon god they had made"- this is a reference to the golden calf which the Jews made in the bible to worship while Moses retrieved the ten commandments from Mt. Sinai, but the "neon" part is a contradiction. It makes one think of neon lights, artificial lights, and the city. This contrasts with the dreamy, drugged quality of the song- envisioning harsh city lights next to "in my restless dreams I walked alone, I walked alone". These are two ideas and two human ideals that are very similar but obviously quite different as well. The lines, "And the people bowed and prayed/Oh I love you a lot, I love you from the top of my heart/And you can see through my mistakes" seem like a God reference. Although I originally thought he was talking about a woman, reading these lyrics make it seem like he is talking to God, and remembering the great human sin in the bible, and he is telling God of his sins. He is "gently laying" on God's breast, and feels safe there, like a mother and child. "Your arms surround me in the lake"- is this his death? Is this suicide? If God is the arms, then that would be the lake drowning him. Or maybe it's only in his own head. Another great line is "And what difference does it make/If the world is a mess, oh, if the world is a mess?" The world being a mess is also referenced in the fourth song of the EP: "From the Mouth of Gabriel". Maybe it makes no difference because people are individuals and should worry about themselves, and be happy with the life they have (which is the sort of vibe I get from his other songs and albums), or maybe it's a reference to death, and that we will all die and it doesn't matter anyway (which I think is more likely). "the burning basement" would be hell, and I think in the 18th line he is saying that people think they can evade hell by being popular or strong or revolutionizing their society- evading hell by networking and loopholes, like they always have done, until it comes to God. One thing I don't really understand is the chorus, the most important part: "All delighted people raise their hands". The way it is in a major key until the last note is nostalgic and almost ironic. It sounds like a bible reference but I'm actually not really familiar with the bible at all so I wouldn't know. I'm also not very religious, but I thought the God references are references that Sufjan would make. Those are just my thoughts, I'm excited to hear yours. |
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