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Chicago Lyrics
I fell in love again
All things go, all things go Drove to Chicago All things know, all things know We sold our clothes to the state I don't mind, I don't mind I made a lot of mistakes In my mind, in my mind You came to take us All things go, all things go To recreate us All things grow, all things grow We had our mindset All things know, all things know You had to find it All things go, all things go I drove to New York In the van, with my friend We slept in parking lots I don't mind, I don't mind I was in love with the place In my mind, in my mind I made a lot of mistakes In my mind, in my mind You came to take us All things go, all things go To recreate us All things grow, all things grow We had our mindset All things know, all things know You had to find it All things go, all things go If I was crying In the van, with my friend It was for freedom From myself and from the land I made a lot of mistakes I made a lot of mistakes I made a lot of mistakes I made a lot of mistakes You came to take us All things go, all things go To recreate us All things grow, all things grow We had our mindset All things know, all things know You had to find it All things go, all things go You came to take us All things go, all things go To recreate us All things grow, all things grow We had our mindset (I made a lot of mistakes) All things know, all things know (I made a lot of mistakes) You had to find it (I made a lot of mistakes) All things go, all things go (I made a lot of mistakes)
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08-16-2009
I get this most from the verse
"If I was crying
In the van, with my friend
It was for freedom
From myself and from the land"
Maybe there's a tinge of regret/remorse? Maybe he has lost the person he was doing this with? Maybe he does not really have these opportunities anymore? Maybe he misses the memories? I dunno.
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08-10-2009
Chicago is a great city, but I'm betting Sufjan, being from Michigan, has been there many times and is familiar with it. So I like that he takes the van to New York City on a perhaps impromptu road trip with his friend. And when they get there, even though they are sleeping in parking lots, and are basically homeless, near clothesless refugees, he "was in love with the place / in my mind."
That's because New York captures the imagination in a vastly different way from Chicago. There's the idea that you can come to New York City and recreate yourself. Artistic, creative, and intellectual freedom is celebrated. Totally different from Chicago - "Hog Butcher for the World... City of Big Shoulders" (Carl Sandberg) and again, the Casimir Pulaski song has a couple of references to shoulders.
You probably have a preconceived idea of New York in your mind, from movies and books and tv. Think: Salinger, Gatsby, Poe, Dylan Thomas, Damon Runyon, Henry James, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Woody Allen. On and on really. People who come here are usually already in love with an idea of New York not rooted in their own personal experience with the place.
So when he talks about crying for freedom from himself "and from the land" I think he is relieved to be out of the land-locked familiar Midwest and in the New York City of his imagination, a harbor city surrounded by water that looks out to the world.
And a nonjudgemental city that welcomes refugees of all manner. ("Give me your tired, your poor, / Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, / The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. / Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!")
I love that he cries for freedom "from" himself, it's taken me a while to get into that concept. I still hear it freedom "for" myself. Which is just my own trip where I'm very independent and libertarian and individualist I guess. But the "freedom from my self" is key to what Sufjan's about: his quest for spiritual transcendence from the material world, and getting through his own past, faults, and mistakes, his old mindsets, and probably from his sometimes-ambivalence toward his own Christian faith.
And the ambivalence is gorgeous. He doesn't say he WAS crying. He says IF he was crying... which to me means he asks us to see him vulnerable, crying, in a strange city, practically clothesless, homeless, in a van, in a parking lot -- a pitiful scene really -- and then he asks us to suspend our pity and believe that at that moment he's crying in JOY!! for finally getting to where exactly he needed to be on his own particular spiritual journey - true FREEDOM! Beautiful.
I love the meditative, repetitive "all things go" which seems like a Buddhist nod.
Simply gorgeous song.
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08-01-2009
Sufjan notices that he's made mistakes, and God forgives, and will make him new.
This song is absolutely gorgeous.
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07-30-2009
Like being in love with a person, or a place, is often very much an illusion,
an illusion that comes and goes... And Sufjan knows that it all eventually goes.
These illusions become attachments, and that is why Sufjan cries for freedom
from himself. He is realizing that all these material things, like clothes and
where he sleeps, don't matter to him. He is also realizing that all things
know, that all things have consciousness. When he says "You came to take us..."
I think he is addressing something or someone - whether it be a Buddha, or a friend,
or a rock, or a flower, or "The Self" - which guides us to enlightenment,
by helping us recognize our own mindset and showing us that
everything grows, changes, and goes.
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07-12-2009
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05-06-2009
or want to run in a flower field lol
idk.
i'm sorry
i just love it.
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04-10-2009
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03-22-2009
:)
He's fantastic.
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01-12-2009
Although there are many religious typey things, to me this song has literal meaning. Growing up in the northern suburbs of Chicago, it was always an appealing dream of just taking a car or train to Chicago. In my head this city was an escape. Chicago gave peace, a place a away from all of the things in your life. So the lines of falling in love with a place in my mind and going to Chicago and leaving everything behind clearly reflects the ideal place in ones mind. This may be too literal/personal but I think the general theme is universely identifiable, especially from the perspective of outside looking in.
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01-11-2009
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01-03-2009
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11-18-2008
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09-29-2008
in almost every song, sufjan talks about his past, his feelings about his own actions and the actions of those he's known... and his standpoint in view of God. he's very spiritual, and it surfaces in nearly every title... when he says "you came to take us, to recreate us" he's talking about Christ. he's got pain and mixed feelings. needed to run away for i while. i feel him!
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09-23-2008
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04-09-2008
he fell in love with me again(I live in chicago)
we sold our clothes to the state, because we won't need clothes anymore in paradise, no shame.
h emade a lot of mistakes, until he knew i came to take him and recreate him.
it's all about me folks, he loves me.
i'm his friend in the van, we slept together in parking lots.
he loves me!
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04-05-2008
i think about it literally everyday when i think about him. it's so sad, but i absolutely love it.
thank you, sufjan
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03-21-2008
p.s I was totally surprised when I heard the instrumental version of this song in the begining of "Little miss sunshine". When you think what this song is about, that is about the change that accurs while travelling, it's indeed a great idea to put this play this song.
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02-21-2008
it's about moving forward, but at the same time dealing with the past.
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01-28-2008
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01-28-2008
'I made a lot of mistakes
In my mind, in my mind ' i think this part is showing that his mistakes are not really mistakes, and that he did not fully have the blame.
If I was crying
In the van, with my friend
It was for freedom
From myself and from the land
for me that means that he is finnaly realising that he doesn't want to to be part of the land, the place where he has always been, this earth, where he made so many mistakes. i think it means that he is crying out, not neccesarily crying. it depicts a group realisation (with my friend) that they are tied down to the earth and crave a freedom from society, rules, the need for physical succes.
We sold our clothes to the state
I don't mind, I don't mind
I made a lot of mistakes
In my mind, in my mind
i think that this shows the willingness to part from physical things to gain that better understanding of himself.
as i said this is just me, and it is reflective of personal experiances and desires.
may i also say that myopinionisafact on the first page, with his drug induced meaning of abortion. I LOVE you that was killer funny. i like died when i read that. but your right, it makes sence if you ignore common sence xp
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01-23-2008
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01-19-2008
Ya know how most kids in high school are obsessed with leaving home or getting out of state, just being somewhere else? I think him driving to Chicago, and then New York is like saying, it doesnt matter where we are or where we go. (it was for freedom, from myself and from the land)
Couple that with giving your clothes to the state, and id say Mr. Stevens is saying earthly possessions and where you are doesnt matter, we need to abandon earthly...stuff, and surrender our whole being to God's love, or a woman's love, or a man's love, or whatever.
Finally, it doesnt matter! the warth and depth of this song is so amazing that you can just emerse yourself in it and love it whatever it means.
08-10-2009
Chicago is a great city, but I'm betting Sufjan, being from Michigan, has been there many times and is familiar with it. So I like that he takes the van to New York City on a perhaps impromptu road trip with his friend. And when they get there, even though they are sleeping in parking lots, and are basically homeless, near clothesless refugees, he "was in love with the place / in my mind."
That's because New York captures the imagination in a vastly different way from Chicago. There's the idea that you can come to New York City and recreate yourself. Artistic, creative, and intellectual freedom is celebrated. Totally different from Chicago - "Hog Butcher for the World... City of Big Shoulders" (Carl Sandberg) and again, the Casimir Pulaski song has a couple of references to shoulders.
You probably have a preconceived idea of New York in your mind, from movies and books and tv. Think: Salinger, Gatsby, Poe, Dylan Thomas, Damon Runyon, Henry James, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Woody Allen. On and on really. People who come here are usually already in love with an idea of New York not rooted in their own personal experience with the place.
So when he talks about crying for freedom from himself "and from the land" I think he is relieved to be out of the land-locked familiar Midwest and in the New York City of his imagination, a harbor city surrounded by water that looks out to the world.
And a nonjudgemental city that welcomes refugees of all manner. ("Give me your tired, your poor, / Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, / The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. / Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!")
I love that he cries for freedom "from" himself, it's taken me a while to get into that concept. I still hear it freedom "for" myself. Which is just my own trip where I'm very independent and libertarian and individualist I guess. But the "freedom from my self" is key to what Sufjan's about: his quest for spiritual transcendence from the material world, and getting through his own past, faults, and mistakes, his old mindsets, and probably from his sometimes-ambivalence toward his own Christian faith.
And the ambivalence is gorgeous. He doesn't say he WAS crying. He says IF he was crying... which to me means he asks us to see him vulnerable, crying, in a strange city, practically clothesless, homeless, in a van, in a parking lot -- a pitiful scene really -- and then he asks us to suspend our pity and believe that at that moment he's crying in JOY!! for finally getting to where exactly he needed to be on his own particular spiritual journey - true FREEDOM! Beautiful.
I love the meditative, repetitive "all things go" which seems like a Buddhist nod.
Simply gorgeous song.
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01-02-2008
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11-19-2007
even though he has made a lot of mistakes, he "recreates" himself and "grows". one of my favorite lyrics is "it was for freedom/ from myself and from the land," showing that he is separating himself from physical trivialities to rise above spiritually, really, even, separating from himself to find the ultimate solitude and peace.
in the end, all things go to the "oversoul," a concept i don't take as religious, but rather intellectually and thoughtfully. the repetition emphasizes the importance of mind and individual perception.
on another note, i used to think it was "all things go/ to the creator" instead of "to recreate us," haha.
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11-10-2007
"I fell in love again, all things go". Obviously the song is about falling in love again and the regret of a past relationship.
i don't think this is about regretting a past relationship. why does every mention of love have to refer to romantic love? why do you forget about everyday love? why does love have to be sexual???
BLAH.
that's pretty much all i have to add. the rest of the comments cover quite a lot of good stuff...except could someone settle this armenian thing? i'm confused.
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