Oh, Sleeping Bear!
Ran to the top and got scared
Of what I could see

Oh, Lamb of God!
Tell us your perfect design
And give us the rod

Oh, Sturgeon Bay!
Covered completely in sand
And covered in sun

Oh, Saint Marie!
Give up, the rocking boat's drowned
The Captain is done



Lyrics submitted by drinkmilk

Track duration: 02:52


Sleeping Bear, Sault Saint Marie song meanings
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13 Comments

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  • +2
    General Comment:i love the crickets.
    Flag halfway Imaginedon December 28, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:its in michigan too. btw, the sand dunes are sweet...climb up then run down, lose your balance, bite it and then wash sand out of your eye.
    Flag moocow86on September 25, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:sault st marie is in canada though. yeah canada.
    Flag danielleyvetteon September 29, 2007   Link
  • -1
    General Comment:This is the only song by Sufjan Stevens that I do not enjoy.
    Flag Anilandon July 15, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:i actually tried to run down the dunes here to the shore and got scared-there are warning signs for weak at heart not to try it.i love this song-it's my son's favorite too
    Flag indierodon July 13, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:i actually tried to run down the dunes here to the shore and got scared-there are warning signs for weak at heart not to try it.i love this song-it's my son's favorite too
    Flag indierodon July 13, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:this is one of my favorite sufjan stevens songs
    Flag dan356on March 04, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:I've visited the Sleeping Bear Dunes when I lived in Michigan. I've got a book about it. It was a lot of fun, and sort of a mystical experience for me.

    Also of note, I just (an hour ago) got to see him play a free show at the Kennedy Center Opera House in downtown DC. He played this song for the first time ever live.
    Flag companyofghostson February 05, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:When I was younger, I ran to the top of the Sleeping Bear dunes and was so scared. It was way up over looking lake Michigan and freaked me out.

    I'll bet there is so much more story behind this than we'll ever know.
    Flag zachharrismenton October 09, 2006   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:yeah this is one of my favorites. I didn't know about the sleeping bear so i looked it up on wikipedia, of course, and this is what it said:

    According to the legend, an enormous forest fire on the western shore of Lake Michigan (now Wisconsin) drove a mother bear and her two cubs into the lake for shelter, determined to reach the opposite shore. After many miles of swimming, the two cubs lagged behind. When the mother bear reached the shore, she waited on the top of a high bluff. The cubs, exhausted, drowned in the lake, but the mother bear stayed and waited in hopes that her cubs would finally appear. Impressed by the mother bear's determination and faith, the Great Spirit created two islands (North and South Manitou Island) to commemorate the cubs, and the winds buried the sleeping bear under the sands of the dunes where she waits to this day. The location of the "bear" is a patch of dark sand, which once covered the entire bluff top and was visible from the lake. Wind and erosion have caused the "bear" to be greatly reduced in size over the years.

    Sweet.
    Flag Miss Miseryon July 03, 2006   Link

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