Wow, I can't believe no one has commented on this song; it's such an amazing song, lyrically and musically.

Anyway, I think this song is pretty straightforward (for the most part). I think that "Oh great intentions
Covenant with the imitation
Have you no conscience?
I think about it now

Oh God of Progress
Have you degraded or forgot us?
Where have your laws gone?"

sums it up pretty well. I know I'm not articuating myself quite well, especially as lyrics such as this are far easier to understand than the Pavement ones I've been going over recently (you know the Ben Lee song). haha

well, i agree with this guy above me. this song is beautiful, it's full of ups and downs and it's all over the place. not until i read the lyrics did i realize how profound and organic it is. wow. i love this band.

I also love how it's kind of jazzy/classical.

Amazing song from an amazing album and artist. I can't wait too see Sufjan Sept. 10th in Toronto.

I also agree with mwalk. The song, it should be noted, is actually divided into two parts, the second being 'Carl Sandburg visits me in a dream.' I really enjoy how the transition is made from the general to the personal. I also love how Sufjan works in his own quasi-revelatory experiences into his stuff. Bravo.

i love this song it always lifts my mood

I love this song.

It's about the 1893 Worlds Fair (also called the World Columbian Exposition) held in Chicago. Cream of Wheat and the ferris wheel were first introduced there. As for the "what would Frank Lloyd Wright say?" line, he was an architect whose style was a depart from European influences. The exposition consisted of Romanesque, Greek, and Renaissance architecture.

I'm not quite sure of the 2nd part of the song yet. Any ideas?

Carl Sandburd... i have been reading quite a bit of him recently... i love how sufjan describes researching about sandburg ... he said something about Carl Sandburg being unfashionable. it was quite a moment. i really liked how he described it.

I just love the line:

Even in his heart the Devil has to know the water level.

While Carl is asking Sufjan if he's writing from the heart, which Sandburg (as a poet) I believe must have valued, he throws that line in as if to say, "I don't even care if you're the Devil... is it from the heart?" Considering that the next song on the album is John Wayne Gacy, Jr., the question becomes even more poignant as it seems to inspire Sufjan to explore whether he is the Devil or not... beautiful sequencing on the album. I love artists who can work on such a large scale like this.

The first parts of the song are obviously about the famous Worlds Fair in Chicago-when the "white city" part of chicago was built, and can still be seen today in the architecture of the Museum of Science & Industry, Field's Museum, Soldier Field, etc etc. And obviously all the inventions shown at the WF.

The second part is a self-introspective piece stemming from his supposed meeting of the ghost of Carl Sandburg, a great Chicago poet. I'm sure youve all heard of him

Sorry for this lengthy attempt at some meaning.

The two parts of this song for me seem to explore the tension between art and commerce. The first, by examining the 1893 World's Fair, questions whether we have progressed through our creations or actually taken steps back due to our obsessions with consumption. The second part becomes more introspective, as previous posters have mentioned, by looking at artists themselves and how they fit.

For a little background, the World's Fair of 1893 was very influential on American consumerism. The fair was a look back at the 400 years since Columbus's voyage to the New World, and it attempted to show just how far we've come. By imitating the architectural style in Europe, it created the White City, which tried to show Americans that the U.S. could compete with Europe on a cultural level while at the same time celebrate us as a leader in technology and education. It literally was a grand imitation of high style European cities that was meant to be a contrast to the slowly declining American cities with their crime, poverty and violence. The Fair offered scholarly exhibits with great thinkers and educators of the time (Dewey, for instance), but Americans who visited (over 27 million) were more impressed with the Midway, an amusement park with Ferris Wheels, international singers and performers and new products such as Cream of Wheat, Pabst beer, Aunt Jemima syrup and soft drinks. In a sense, the fair ushered in the idea that enjoying oneself was done through the consumption of material goods. Everything in today's culture, from the power of advertising to Disney to amusement parks, can easily be traced back to the World's Columbian Exposition.

In the song, Sufjan mentions in the first line having some motivation to comment on society but when he spots the advertising, he is taken over by it. In the next line, the speaker is calling for, in the midst of great confusion and anxiety, entrepreneurs to lead us to the promised line.

In the next set of lines, to me, he seems to be asking, "Can't our dialogue with each other better connect us rather than advertising and products?" It emphasizes the question by urging us to think on our own ("put it to your head")

In the next set of lines, he specifically refers to products introduced at the fair but then points out in the lines beginning with "Oh Great Intentions.." that these advertisers seem to have no conscience about the ramifications of the kinds of images they create. "Have you degraded us" the speaker asks. Again, the speaker is thinking hard about what image is presented and what consumerism has done.

The reference to Frank Lloyd Wright drives home the point, because his creations were independent of the mainstream architects of his time, that we've forgotten that the true sign of progress is our ability to think on our own and we should constantly work to advance our current thinking not imitate what's already been done.

In Part II, the speaker moves to his own art, mainly his writing, and through his visit with Sandburg, begins to think about how his art should come from his heart, not from what's already been done.

I also agree with previous posters that Sandburg is saying that even if you're intentions depict a dark and terrible world, are you staying true to what's inside of you?

The two parts try to show how all of us need to look within ourselves and think on our own, rather than try to be taken by the loads of advertising and products that come our way.

Sufjan is amazing in the sense that he can write good songs with a decent meaning behind them. Who else incorporates their feelings so eloquently about something like this? He is above and beyond all contemporary singer/song writers.

I adore this song. I absolutely love how he connected the two parts of the song. The instrumental between the songs connects them so smoothly, and adds in such a natural-sounding climax leading to a slower melody. I love the trumpets and violins, not to mention the lyrics. I think i like the second part more because it's more personal. Carl Sandburg was a fabulous poet, and i really like his poem about Chicago.

"Even in his heart the Devil has to know the water level."

What an incredible line! Anyway, I think other posters have covered the meaning pretty well. But the music itself is amazing! Does anyone else hear the influence of Styx/Kansas in that middle instrumental part. Does anyone else hear a lot of Zappa in much of his music? I've been seriously listening to music for 40 years, and the Illinois and Michigan albums just stunned me. Less than 20 years ago, music of this caliber would have only been made in a handful of high-priced recording studios. Here, the string quartet was recorded "at Marla's apartment", and the organ at the "New Jerusalem Rec Center in Clarksdale, NJ". What a world, what a world.

this is an amazing song. its like an essay but in wonderous musical form.

One of my favorites. It's got a great, extremely unique sound, and the lyrics are so contemplative and questioning.

Thanks to Bluepags03 for the great historical background, by the way.

the only part of this song that has not been anazlyed, as far as I can see, is the "I was hypnotized, I was asked, to improvise, on the attitude and regret of a thousand centuries of death." Which I think is the most important line in the song. I think it is talking about how man first started using agriculture 10,000 years ago, and as a result, the earth has been dying ever since.

What I get from
"I was hypnotized, I was asked, to improvise, on the attitude and regret of a thousand centuries of death."

Is ever since the start of man, things have and havent stopped dying, then become extinct. We've been losing species of living things for as long life has been on Earth. I think he wants to change our ways of destroying life. Thats my opinion and is up for debate.

I always like singing this song, because it reminds me of like a theatre song, almost, and i would LOVE to be a stage actress but i get to nervous singing and talking infront of lots of people :) And this song is just BAM!!! Awesome :)

I love the first part... so much energy, bouncy energy. I'm from Chicago, and it always makes me think of those fast-motion shots of the El Trains racing around the loop while cars and people go about their lives... what a dynamic, busy, uplifting song for a dynamic, busy, uplifting city.

I agree strongly with the first poster. I can't believe there aren't more comments on this song, because I think it's the most important song on the album. I can't do nearly as good a job explaining the first part as some of the above posters, but what I would add is that the first half of this song is very reminiscent of the work Sufjan did on Michigan, cataloguing Flint or Detroit. And as Stupid_name put it, he does a good job of describing Chicago with the music and the lyrics. (Even if they're clearly about the World's Fair: much of Chicago still has the World's Fair feeling.)

The second-part of the song is the revelatory part, though, and not just because the switch from the initial 3-3-2 pattern to a straight 4 is the most progressive music on the album. Especially now that Sufjan has released Avalanche, it's possible to glimpse how large this project was when he was compiling it. And the second part of this song is Sufjan's reminder to himself that, in the middle of all this research and all these melodies, it's the personal touches that make the music powerful. On a broader level, it's a call out to the poet in all of us to follow our intuition, and expose our inner selves to truly create great art. And given that the songs that follow clearly embrace this vision ("Casimir Pulaski", "Chicago", "Pittsfield", "McClure", "Predatory Wasp" to name only a few stellar examples) the second part of "Come on Feel the Illinoise" is Sufjan Stevens laying his songwriting method bare for the listener. It's the closest we get on the album to a glimpse into his creative process.

I'm certainly not the first to say this, but many have observed that Stevens' albums aren't quite emo and aren't quite historic. You don't get the sense that Stevens is going to come to your house and lay up sobbing with you, and the history is at best pointillistic and often simply name-dropping. Ultimately, though, Stevens technique is to reflect on his own personal history through the history of the states he is describing. In this song, he as much as admits to the technique, and far from being a drawback I think this technique is what makes his albums so compelling. The history allows him to approach difficult and emotional issues without the navel-gazing that has ruined many an indie emo band. The honest personal emotion makes his music powerful. The two together are much more than the sum of the parts, and in the second section of this song, Sufjan clearly recognizes and celebrates this.

6:45 of pure, unmatched BLISS

while there has been many a reference to sufjan's religious beliefs, it never ceases to amaze me that this album was ranked #1 for 2005 by pitchfork and praised by other secular, "hipster" entities. just wondering what people make of the references to "God" and the "devil" in less obviously religiously-based songs such as this one. to me, all of part II is unquestionably spiritual, if not specifically christian. i ask because i would rank sufjan as one of my favorite artists, yet am decidedly anti-religion and an agnostic, if not an athiest. if i allow myself to think about it, i am really turned off by the idea of listening to a "christian" artist-- not because i think his beliefs are being shoved down my throat (far from it) but rather because i feel like by simply listening, i am buying into something i don't believe in. i mean, don't listen to really catchy, beautiful songs about other things that go against my core beliefs, why should i make an exception for sufjan? i suppose one could argue that i could (or should) ignore the meaning of the lyrics, but i find that difficult to impossible. although i respect stevens's beliefs and mean this as no slight against christianity as a religion, i am curious to hear what other non-christians and/or athiest/agnostic sufjan fans think about this...?

Kaymac- although I don't agree with you, I do understand what you mean about buying into something you don't believe. I DO believe in GOD, but I don't necessarily believe in practicing a religion. I think my relationship with God is very personal.
That aside-
This is one of those songs that always leaves an impression. I'm glad, because I think people really need to hear it. Not for any reason except for the fact that Sufjan is absolutely brilliant and the style of this song especially is perfect.

"Even in his heart the Devil has to know the water level."

Everyone has to know the way it is.
Genius.

I don't think you need to agree with what is being sung in order to enjoy or appreciate it. That said, I don't believe this song to be decidedly Christian. It seems to me to mainly be dealing with much more general real world issues.