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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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11-10-2006
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12-03-2006
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12-03-2006
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12-30-2006
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01-17-2007
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01-20-2007
The other line that pretty clearly recalls the New Testament is the line -- “We sold our clothes to the state. I don’t mind. I don’t mind.” In the Bible, Jesus says “Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s, and unto God the things that are God’s.” Caesar stands for the government or state (in some translations, it’s “Give to the Emperor that which is the Emperor’s). The state can have control over the material world -- including the clothes on our backs -- as long as it leaves the spiritual realm to God.
I don’t think one has to believe in the story of the New Testament or agree with the theology in it to find the lyrics valuable.. Rather, I think the song is first and foremost about redemption, about breaking with the past, and about focusing on the spiritual life rather than on materialism. It’s just drawing on specific themes from The New Testament to do this (i.e., the notion that redemption comes from a redeemer and of letting the state have control over the material realm).
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01-20-2007
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02-04-2007
This is one of those songs that simply surrounds you, with the force of the music and the mantra-like words. The 2nd verse start (I drove to New York...) with the violin playing upward scales... It's simply amazing, the perfect example of "less is more".
I think anyone can feel identified with this song, or some parts of it, and that's its best quality.
Beautiful work Sufjan, makes us feel a LOT.
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03-09-2007
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03-22-2007
-First, the nature of Sufjan's "love" and "mistakes" is ambiguous to the point of irrelevancy - or, I think he means that whatever personal meaning we want to give it is appropriate. Since he writes, "I was in love with the place in my mind," I think we can read his love as one for ideas/abstractions instead of (only) a specific person or God.
-The song conveys ambivalence or uncertainty about lived Christianity. Sufjan loves life in this world, he falls in love "again" and later is in love with a place (New York), but he also cries "for freedom from myself and from the land" - itself ambiguous about whether he fully wants or doesn't want, or has or doesn't have, such freedom through Christ.
What I admire about Sufjan Stevens as a Christian musician is that he sees the Gospel in the (our) world and recognizes that faith is complicated by life (i.e., from "Casimir Pulaski Day," "All the glory that the Lord has made / And the complications when I see his face").
-The refrain still confuses me. It's easy to say that "You came to take us, to recreate us" refers to Christ's incarnation and the atonement. But what about, "We had our mindset, you had to find it"? Maybe the "we" and "you" have changed in those lines, since they seem addressed to Sufjan as he tries to figure out how to live among other people and things and the Holy Spirit.
Especially after my first serious breakup (4-year relationship and the guy happens to live in Chicago), but also in general, I like to change the tenses for myself: "I'll fall in love again, I'll make a lot of mistakes, I don't mind." Ultimately I think the song conveys what a blessing from God it is that all things both go and grow.
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04-05-2007
The song starts with "I fell in love again"... and then he drives to Chicago. Love can be baffling, and I think he drives to Chicago to get away and think. For some reason, he feels Chicago is a good place to do some reflection. It is evident that he does a lot of thinking: "in my mind, in my mind" is repeated throughout the song.
"I made a lot of mistakes" - he is thinking about these and regrets them.
For whatever reason, he has very little money. "We sold our clothes to the state" refers to how he probably sells everything he can, just to scratch by. Also, the fact that he slept in parking lots reflects the fact that he is poor.
He cries because he regrets his mistakes, and wants to get away from them. His friend is there for him, which is beautiful in itself.
He then drives to New York. His constant moving might show his restlessness; he is trying to find an answer but can't. He might also be moving around because he feels some unkown entity pulling him to New York; something about the place just calls to him.
Again, he has some strong emotions: "I was in love with the place". This could refer to the "pull" he feels towards New York. It also shows that he feels refreshed and open-minded - the way one feels on the first glorious days of spring when it is sunny and cloudless.
He cries and says "It was for freedom from myself and from the land": he cries because he desperately wants to forgive himself and get away (get freedom) from his thoughts and guilt. "Freedom from the land" refers to how he drives away and feels happy about it - he cries out of happiness and awe and how lovely the world is.
The "You" who "came to take us" could be God, since Sufjan Stevens is religious. But it could also be fate. Fate (or God) takes everyone wherever they go.
Time always goes on, and things of the present become things of the past. "All things go" refers to how everything becomes the past, and nothing lasts forever.
"We had our mindset": I think he is referring to the way he thought back "then". He may have changed his mind, and regrets how his mindset used to be.
"To recreate us": everyone can choose to have a second chance at changing one's mind. It could also refer to Sufjan Stevens hoping that "you" (God) came to recreate him and give him a second chance. This fact adds a hopeful aspect to the song.
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04-21-2007
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04-21-2007
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06-18-2007
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07-17-2007
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08-18-2007
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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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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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01-02-2008
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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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01-23-2008
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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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01-28-2008
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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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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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