Lyrics for Dear Mr. Supercomputer as interpreted by musicforlife!

Dear Mr. Supercomputer Lyrics
(Sound the horn
Make the bed
Pull the cord
Raise the dead)

Oh my God, I can't believe it
What went wrong?
The human race in its place
Superstition, man's religion
And conditioned mysteries incomplete
And the raven with its haven
Gods ingraven
Girls and boys, Illinois
Springfield with its freak and banter
Strike the cantor
God is dead, God is dead

Oh my God, I can't believe it
What went wrong?
The human race in its place
In religion, superstition
Man's conditioned mysterious incomplete

(Superman, old machines
Kind as that, Energenes
Good as dead, man-machines
Computer, effigy
Sound the horn, make the bed
Pull the cord, raise the dead
In my car, on this street
On this earth, on this feet)

Take it for a patient man I caught it
Patient is the kind that gets you paid
Even if I had, man, I got it
Seems I never had it anyway
Sometimes it may seem your best intentions
Take off with a fever anyway

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
All computers go to heaven
If you think you got the vision
Put it in the conversation
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
All computers go to heaven
If you think you got the vision
Put it in the conversation

I rejoice in what I carry in my heart
It overwelms what a man
Great Emancipation plans
And public transport, clap your hands, Abraham
Oh, religion, superstition
Man's conditioned mysteries incomplete
Oh, the raven with its haven
Gods ingraven
All is dead, all is dead

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dan356
07-22-2006

Rated 0 
I get the feeling that the supercomputer is the narrator.

That's about all I can figure out.

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colourmestunned
07-23-2006

Rated 0 
I LOVE YOU FOR PUTTING UP THESE LYRICS! :D

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musicforlife!
07-28-2006

Rated 0 
This song has a definite nod to the "You Never Give Me Your Money" portion of the Beatles' Abbey Road medley.

"1-2-3-4-5-6-7 All good children go to heaven..."

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zachharrisment
09-03-2006

Rated 0 
This is the funeral dirge for a too world obsessed with technology to see the greater glory. Too often we are blind to God because we have iPod eye patches and Television sunglasses.

Look carefully at the lyrics and you can detect the little culture references. "Pull the chord, raise the dead." This is the tale of a society who sees no more miricles and thinks they have everything figured out on their own.

The final verse is Sufjan's praise to the Lord that he knows he is saved. He brings it back with comparing iot to Abraham Lincon and Illinois.

Brilliant lyrics as always and quite simply an awesome song to listen to.

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CrazyLil Cookie
09-05-2006

Rated 0 
Such an amazing song from one of the greatest musicians of our time...

Zachharrisment - great interpretation... and I agree with you for the most part. Just had some things to add.

There's, of course, the disdain of a world that has lost itself to a Godless machine. No spirituality, just computers... Hence, I felt like this song was from the narrator to Mr. Supercomputer.

"Take it for a patient man I caught it
Patient is the kind that gets you paid
Even if I had, man, I got it
Seems I never had it anyway
Sometimes it may seem your best intentions
Take off with a fever anyway"

Even the narrator himself has found himself getting caught up in the disconnect that exists nowadays between people and eachother. With the advent of PCs in every home and iPods in every hand... it's so easy to get caught up in the fever of "I gotta have this and that." Even though he was trying to avoid it, even with the best intentions; he caught the fever anyway.

"I rejoice in what I carry in my heart
it overwelms what a man"

The narrator's recognition of his own spirituality... and of course, how such feelings can overwhelm a man.

"Great Emancipation plans,
and public transport, clap your hands, Abraham"

This line, to me, sort of asks, "Is this what our Forefathers intended?" They had such great plans, such great ambitions, and look at what we've become... that sort of tone.

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SufjanMyHero
10-02-2006

Rated 0 
Apparantly one of Mr. Stevens' favorites, as well as one of my own.

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musicforlife!
11-20-2006

Rated 0 
The live version is absolutely amazing. He omits most of the lyrics, but the orchestration and new arrangement is genius.

You can find the mp3 here:
http://ryspace.com/index.php/2006/10/02/sufjan-stevens-the-town-hall-september-29th/

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gandhiroot
02-02-2007

Rated 0 
Is the line "God is dead, God is dead" somehow a reference to Nietzsche?

I don't know if Nietzsche ever visited Illinois, but... well that's what I think of (only because I'm taking a course in him now).


Interesting connection, just out of the blue though, Nietzsche was the philosopher mentioned in Little Miss Sunshine....the movie that made Sufjan's "Chicago" more popular.
Sorry, I can't help but get excited by silly coincidences that mean nothing.

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atsang
03-05-2007

Rated 0 
Just fyi, at the University of Illinois, they have one of five supercomputers in the US. http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/AboutUs/

...for those of you who are like, wtf supercomputer?

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SecondDegreeFresh
04-05-2007

Rated 0 
The "God is Dead" could be linked the the "superman" comment. I take this from a philosophical stand point; it is literally a question if a computer that acts human has a soul. I initially misheard the background lyrics as (Some will go some won't go, they will go they will go, no they won't no they won't) or something... it certainly made me think about what makes people different than automatons, or even other animals, and left me with the question: Does rational thought entail possession of a soul?

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yendez
04-13-2007

Rated 0 
Does anyone else realize the irony in the fact that we are dicussing the meaning of this song via the internet?

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takemeliterally
06-03-2008

Rated 0 
Oh, and musicforlife, it's

"all computers go to heaven."

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takemeliterally
06-03-2008

Rated 0 
Nevermind, I see what you were doing there. I retract my comment. XD

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ioannes33
01-16-2009

Rated 0 
The fastest supercomputer in the world is at Argonne National Laboratory near Bolingbrook outside of Chicago. It's called Blue Gene/P and is made by IBM. (source: www.anl.gov/Media_Center/News/2008/news080618.html)

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harrytheblurfan
06-08-2009

Rated 0 
it's funny how much sufjan blasphemes e.g. oh my god. it makes me feel not as bad when i blaspheme, anyway this has no relevance to the song.

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