Lyrics for To Be Alone with You as interpreted by vwkeychain

To Be Alone with You Lyrics
I'd swim across Lake Michigan
I'd sell my shoes
I'd give my body to be back again
In the rest of the room
To be alone with you
To be alone with you
To be alone with you
To be alone with you

You gave your body to the lonely
They took your clothes
You gave up a wife and a family
You gave your ghost
To be alone with me
To be alone with me
To be alone with me
You went up on a tree

To be alone with me
You went up on a tree

I've never known a man who loved me

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  • 124 Comments
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The_Variable
09-09-2005

Rated 0 
In regards to Gummi's comment, I believe he was annoyed with how Pemberley explained the song in a sort of demeaning way. Pemberley came off explaining every little detail as if we didn't know who Jesus was...

I myself am an existentialist and don't believe in many things about the bible or God. However Jesus was a real person who died for something he believed in, and for that I love this song.

I just think gummi didn't want a sunday school less from Pemberley is all I'm saying.

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benjabean
09-15-2005

Rated 0 
why would he want to be alone with Christ?

its something I think only a believer would understand.

and also that Jesus is God, and to be able to spend time alone with the creator would be kinda neat.

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stereogirl
09-17-2005

Rated 0 
some one commented about christian muscian and there are A TON of popular bands now,that were or are christians. or they still have royalty to a label.
mxpx is a BIG ONE. they were on tooth and nail along with pedro the lion,blindside,etc.
6 pence none the richer,switchfoot,nodes of ranvier,eisley,mewithoutyou,etc.

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bitingsnow
11-08-2005

Rated 0 
i don't know why, but it bothers me that this song is on one of the "OC" soundtracks.

i was perfectly happy living in a world ignorant to the talent of sufjan stevens.

but whatever. it's how death cab got popular, hopefully sufjan gets even more love now.

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killercars
12-13-2005

Rated 0 
Sufjan's music is amazing. Why all the hate towards PemberleyTea? I think she had good insight. yes, she sure did go into detail about the meanings of the song and tried to translate all the symbols and meanings. this is what this website is for, and i appreciate her effort in explaining this song to a lot of people who may not be familiar with Christianity. umm shit soup, if you don't want insight into the songs, then don't come on this website. it really defeats the purpose when you come on SONG MEANINGS.com and bitch about how you're pissed because you got the SONG MEANING. gummi, stop the teenage angst. everyone takes what they want from songs. if PemberleyTea is Christian and wants to interpret this song this way, then you should be mature and respect her opinions.

woo vent!

this song hits me deep.

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Sadex
12-28-2005

Rated 0 
Jesus was so cute.

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laurengrc08
01-10-2006

Rated 0 
Hell yeah Bitingsnow. I agree. I love this song so much. I can't even stand listening to Christian bands at all because of their attitude of "everybody is crap if they don't believe in Jesus yada yada." Sufjan somehow twists everything around and makes you feel again. The man is simply a genius.
Gotta love him.

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Tomcube
01-13-2006

Rated 0 
Amazing ... just one of those songs that gives you an incredible feeling when you drives back home in empty streets, early in the morning, with the sun rising ...

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Infamous Jaxter
01-30-2006

Rated 0 
Having observed this controversy over Christian songs good/bad, I have to say that I believe it should be completely irrelevant to the enjoyment of the song. Not that an artist's intent doesn't matter, but should the last line make you connect to some particular love feeling- good. A song is like a tree falling in a forest- it doesn't make a sound unless someone hears it! Having said that, I do take offence to the tone PemberlyTea used in her response: she sounded condescending and (far worse) evangelical. Her tone seemed to me like, "it's about Jesus, the lord and savior, and if you haven't heard of him you're an idiot so sign up now and join the church mailing list." I do appreciate the insightful comments she shed on the song however.
While the biblical allusions are easy enough to understand (tree, clothes yadda yadda most of us are pretty familiar with the Easter story) there are some ambiguities. The most contentious of these are the mention of "wife and family". While there's really no hard facts either way, church cannon holds that Jesus never married. So perhaps Sufjan is as one of the earlier commenters said, talking about his precluded possibility of having a family. Yet, it is important to note that Jesus did not begin his ministry until he was nearly 30 years old, and he only worked for a short period of time. Unless Jesus was !gay!, a complete social reject (unlikely due to his amazing oratical skills), or really into raising public gossip about either one of those possibilities, he most likely would have married. However, once again this doesn't prove his marital status one way or another, so Sufjan most likely stuck to cannon in his personal beliefs. My personal belief? I like to imagine Sufjan taking on the mindset of another person (as he has done so well in his other songs) and bringing forth a tale that both serves as an example of holy love and the earthly love between two men.

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raindog
02-07-2006

Rated 0 
windmills, what exactly is the problem with christians writing songs about Jesus? don't lovers write songs about love? music is about your heart so why not allow it to be? sufjan has a gift that allows him to sing as a christian and at the same time relate to non-christians...i don't see the issue here.

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off_by-heart
02-10-2006

Rated 0 
wow.. i would have never guessed this song is about jesus.
and all along i was thinking it was about a guy and his gay fantasy and how bold sufjan was to make a song about that.

wow. i guess that's what i get for not being religious whatsoever.

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joeerickson
03-24-2006

Rated 0 
first off, to clear up the confusion of what "wife and family" means.
the Bible talks about the church being Christ's wife. It is a symbolism. A man is supposed to love and care for his wife, in the same way that is how Christ acts toward the church.
And from my own point of view, I think family means mankind. In the Bible it talks about human kind being Christ's children, and when you accept Christ in your heart, your fellow believers are your brothers and sisters.

Secondly, I want to apoligize and behalf of my faith. I am a Christian. And I feel that the view of Christians in general from a non-believers point of view is a bunch of judgemental, hypocritical, and two-faced group of people. Sadly, I would have to agree with this. I have seen more people judge in a church then anywhere I have ever been. Frankly, it pisses me off. For instance, at my high school, there is this gay crossdresser. I have seen that the people who treat him the worst are Christians, and though I don't believe homo-sexuality is right, I think ANYONE no matter what they have done should be treated with love. Contrary to many perspectives of Christ, he was much like this. Most people think he was all meek and perfect, trapt in his little Christian bubble. But the people he hung out with most were prostitutes, and tax collectors (who were hated the most in the jewish society during this time) He never judged people in the way most Christians today judge. Also, I hate religion. there is something non-Christians don't realize. and that is that Christianity IS NOT about rules, regulations, and being perfect. it is having a personal relationship with Christ. this is what I think sufjan is talking about when he says he wants to be alone with Jesus. It isn't something I can really explain. If your interested in this kinda stuff though, I suggest you read Blue like Jazz. It will give you so much insight. Anyway, I am trully sorry for how Christians have judged people in the wrong way. If you care to talk to me about anything, or are confused about any stuff about Christianity, then please don't hesitate to e-mail me at joe_erickson@bellsouth.net.

also, if you like sufjan stevens then you might like iron & wine which sounds a lot like him.

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Sweet_Amity
04-23-2006

Rated 0 
I've never thought of this song being about Jesus. I know everyone thinks it is, and heck, it probably is, but I just like to think of it as a person who gave up their life for people who need his help and they ended up taking all of him. It's much sweeter to think that someone was decent enoguh to do that, so I'll never think about it being about Jesus. Even if it is. SO THERE!!!

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Sweet_Amity
04-23-2006

Rated 0 
To BitingSnow.

WAS THIS SONG ON AN OC SOUNDTRACK!?! Oh that's silly, after musicians go on that, they USUALLY (not always) end up being popular for five seconds and then everyone saying they are a sell out indie band and then ditching the band or singer, even if they are good.

THIS IS RIDICULOUS I KNOW!!! But, I guess if he has enough fans ( I am one :) ) then he won't be like a sell out muso for some stupid popular thingie.

But even if he did, i owuld still love his music :)

PS: I like Death Cab before the OC came out, so not EVERYONE liked them after the OC. Just some people.

PPS: i hope I didn't offend anyone, OR bore them to death. Sorry if I did :( OKay I'll shut up now BYE!

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raindog
04-24-2006

Rated 0 
umm, sweet amity? you...just...described...jesus.
k?
love!

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diesel83
05-10-2006

Rated 0 
I was reading a background of Sufjan earlier, and I was wondering if maybe it is actually about his step father? Sufjan's stepdad helped him out a lot while he was trying to get his music published, and I guess the actual record company that Sufjan goes through (Aesthetic kitty? somethin like that) was actually started partly through Sufjan and his stepdad.

I was just thinking maybe the whole "you gave up a wife and a family" line was about how his step dad gave up a lot of time with the rest of his family in order to help Sufjan in his musical career. Maybe Sufjan says the line "I never met a man who loved me" in possible reference to the great bond that he made with his step dad throughout his musical career.

Just a theory, because to be honest, when I first heard this song, Jesus didn't once cross my mind. Either way, great song. That's something that I like about great music, it can mean something different to everyone depending on how you look at it.

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diesel83
05-10-2006

Rated 0 
One more thing while I'm here. Why does everyone think it's such a bad thing if this song was on the OC soundtrack? It's a good song none-the-less, and I think the OC does a good job with music selection during their episodes, though the plot of the episodes aren't that great, it still has great music from artists that are on the rise.

Yeah, Death Cab blew up after they were on the OC, but why is that a bad thing? that means a lot of people enjoy their music, and just didn't know about it. Remember, there was a point where you didn't know about a good artist until after they became popular too, so don't jump the gun to go after others in similar situations.

Anyways, kind of a long rant there, but I just don't like it when people criticize others over such stupid matters like who heard of whatever band first. If it's good music, why the hell does it matter? We should all embrace the fact that we all have similar tastes in good music.

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salsa shark
05-19-2006

Rated 0 
I'm not a Christian (Jew in the house!) and *I* think this song is about Jesus. Specifically someone who has had some sort of disconnect with Jesus or God or the church, and wants to find his or her way back to them.

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Meinos
05-30-2006

Rated 0 
I can definitely see why everyone thinks it's about Jesus, and I'm completely sure that it is (seriously totally unquestioningly convinced), though it never crossed my mind when I listened to the song before. (Likely because I didn't hear it in the context of ever having heard of Sufjan Stevens.)

That's not how I like to think about it, though. It's nicer, to me, for it just to be about two people. Jesus has a lot of other stuff attached to him, and we all know he was a self-sacrificing guy and such. I'm more interested in and moved by it being a more . . . specific, sort of, one-on-one, just-some-people-who-want-to-be-happy kind of thing. It's abstract in a way I don't enjoy as much, if it's about Jesus. My way is more concrete. So that is how I will listen to it.

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eightyeleven
07-17-2006

Rated 0 
i guess i don't really understand what the big deal is. the song is about love. who the hell cares who it's about? it's about someone different for everyone. jesus was just a guy, and people make a big deal about it when someone writes a song about that guy, but they don't seem to care when someone writes a song about any other guy.

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kev404
07-21-2006

Rated 0 
I find it interesting that so many ppl. are SO turned off to christianity that when they hear a beautiful song like this coming from a brilliant artist who happens to be a christian, they choose to hear the song as being about a regular person rather than jesus. What sufjan is saying about jesus is competely true. He was a man who chose to give up all human indulgences: self-gratification, sex, personal goals, etc....and as the bible says(also if you will notice, as Sufjan says)... Jesus gave all this up to save mankind from Hell and allow us a chance at Heaven to be alone with us. I know most of you will automattically read this and get angry because I am throwing the Bible in ur face and your turned off to religion. But what I find rather strange here is that when Sufjan basically says the same things, but in a more artsy beautiful way not meant to get you to "come to Christ," you would still choose to hear it as just some regular person because Jesus has too many negative connotations. My purpose in writing this is to influence those of you who would rather hear this as being about a regular man to respect Sufjans lyrics and, at the very least, understand that it IS about Jesus and accept the beauty in it as being about Jesus' love for us. SO what if you're not a christian, thats not what Sufjan is trying to make you. He is just revealing the beauty in his beliefs and in Christs love for him and all of us.

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bluebarquentine
07-27-2006

Rated 0 
I think its so incredibly weird and irresponsible wen people say things like: "I know without a doubt that this song is about A, but I like to imagine that its about B." What the heck? Its like an endless circle of illogic. "but thats not what the song's about." "but, thats what I like to think its about" "but..." You can't make your own truth, otherwise nothing has meaning.

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SnwBorder52
08-06-2006

Rated 0 
lol i think part of gummi's frustration is that pemberlytea respons to almost every sufjan song with "This is a song about christianity". As a christian myself i respect his enthusiam, but sometimes is just not true (see John Wanye Gacy Jr.)

And Pemberly, i think your spot on about everything minus

"Sufjan is trying to talk about the humanity of Christ. He was both fully human and fully God (see John 10:30). Hebrews 4:15 says that Jesus was tempted in -every- way - therefore He was tempted sexually, but He never sinned."

thats not what its about, what that line is about is what you said next.

"A lot of times people have a picket-fence house dream of a family with 2.5 children and a dog and a cat, but Jesus chose a much harder life."

Its about giving up the eazy road so we could live it.

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SnwBorder52
08-06-2006

Rated 0 
Uh, sweet amity...

"I just like to think of it as a person who gave up their life for people who need his help and they ended up taking all of him. It's much sweeter to think that someone was decent enoguh to do that,"

that pretty much describes jesus in a nut shell.

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CheckOutMyWheaties
08-22-2006

Rated 0 
I think its pretty hard to describe Jesus in a nutshell.

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