In regards to the meaning of this song:
Before a live performance on the EP Five Stories Falling, Geoff states “It’s about the last time I went to visit my grandmother in Columbus, and I saw that she was dying and it was the last time I was going to see her. It is about realizing how young you are, but how quickly you can go.”
That’s the thing about Geoff and his sublime poetry, you think it’s about one thing, but really it’s about something entirely different. But the lyrics are still universal and omnipresent, ubiquitous, even. So relatable. That’s one thing I love about this band. I also love their live performances, raw energy and Geoff’s beautiful, imperfectly perfect vocals. His voice soothes my aching soul.
To bare it down to be in flight, to bare it down to be in flight
It wasn't about me it was only a stone in my shoe
Then worries came to perch on us
Impatience and a painted bus
I kept you close to me close to my ear
We set out once with folded shirts, with hairy chest and well rehearsed
I want it all, I want it all for myself
I'll set it right between your eyes
Your shoulder blades, your running knife
I want it all, I want it all for myself
Improving all the time, I am
Improving as I kiss the hem
I promise I won't be a trouble at all
For I'm okay, I'm in the red
Impressions of the unmade bed
You cradled close to me, close to my ear
We set out once forget our shirts with hairy chests and well rehearsed
I want it all I want it all for myself
Out in the earth I smell of you
Of bathing boy, amazing you
I want it all, I want it all for myself
It wasn't about me it was only a stone in my shoe
Then worries came to perch on us
Impatience and a painted bus
I kept you close to me close to my ear
We set out once with folded shirts, with hairy chest and well rehearsed
I want it all, I want it all for myself
I'll set it right between your eyes
Your shoulder blades, your running knife
I want it all, I want it all for myself
Improving all the time, I am
Improving as I kiss the hem
I promise I won't be a trouble at all
For I'm okay, I'm in the red
Impressions of the unmade bed
You cradled close to me, close to my ear
We set out once forget our shirts with hairy chests and well rehearsed
I want it all I want it all for myself
Out in the earth I smell of you
Of bathing boy, amazing you
I want it all, I want it all for myself
Lyrics submitted by strykerchick
All for Myself Lyrics as written by Sufjan Stevens
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
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I think your first comment is closer to being accurate. The singer/song writers state "Millions of eyes can see, yet why am i so blind!? When the someone else is me, its unkind its unkind". I believe hes referring to the girl toying with him and using him. He wants something deeper with her, thats why he allows himself to be as a puppet (even though for her fun and games) as long as it makes her happy. But he knows deep down that she doesnt really want to be serious with him and thats what makes him.
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Same ideas expressed in Fitter, Happier are expressed in this song. We're told to strive for some sort of ideal life, which includes getting a good job, being kind to everyone, finding a partner, getting married, having a couple kids, living in a quiet neighborhood in a nice big house, etc. But in Fitter, Happier the narrator(?) realizes that it's incredibly robotic to live this life. People are being used by those in power "like a pig in a cage on antibiotics"--being pacified with things like new phones and cool gadgets and houses while being sucked dry. On No Surprises, the narrator is realizing how this life is killing him slowly. In the video, his helmet is slowly filling up with water, drowning him. But he's so complacent with it. This is a good summary of the song. This boring, "perfect" life foisted upon us by some higher powers (not spiritual, but political, economic, etc. politicians and businessmen, perhaps) is not the way to live. But there is seemingly no way out but death. He'd rather die peacefully right now than live in this cage. While our lives are often shielded, we're in our own protective bubbles, or protective helmets like the one Thom wears, if we look a little harder we can see all the corruption, lies, manipulation, etc. that is going on in the world, often run by huge yet nearly invisible organizations, corporations, and 'leaders'. It's a very hopeless song because it reflects real life.
It seems like a song about understanding his own homosexuality to me. Just look at the entire last phrase.
"We set out once forget our shirts with hairy chests and well rehearsed I want it all I want it all for myself Out in the earth I smell of you Of bathing boy, amazing you I want it all, I want it all for myself "
I agree with adonnellyr. A glaring difference between this album and his past works is the straightforwardness of it all. Yes there's the whole Royal Roberston inspiration sprinkled throughout but there's also certainly more "Sufjan" infused into all of these songs.
Excuse me from looking into this song through a slight homosexual lens (as I've excused those who look at his songs from heteronormative or exclusively Christian lenses) but this song is incredibly homoerotic. There are undeniably two men present within this song. Two men. Not one man and God or Jesus or what have you. Two men. It is a love song and "I want it all for myself" is simply a statement of that love, longing, and acceptance.
One of the best songs on the album!
I may be way off with this one, but I think the lyrics, "We set out once with folded shirts, with hairy chests, and well-rehearsed," might reference the time when Illinois took off and Sufjan was suddenly famous, a reluctant indie "it-boy". He went from playing tiny clubs during the first leg of the tour, to selling out large seated theaters and playing with a 15-piece band. The "hairy chests" reference (which always makes me laugh) might refer to a strange feeling of power. The line "I want it all for myself" made me think of the inevitable ego-trip that would come with fame. He seems to be apologizing to someone ("Improving as I kiss the hem") that got hurt along the way.
Your interpretation is sweet.
This song seems to break away from all the failed attempts at expression through language and incommunicative, ineffectual dialogue that recur earlier in the album. Instead, this song is incredibly sensual: the stone in the shoe, the cradling of a loved one, the smell of each other lingering... I think this marks a transition in Sufjan, from his hyper-metaphorical earlier albums to his recent, sparse lyrics.
This is my favorite on The Age of Adz. and Carolyn Stern can suck it.
Who's Carolyn Stern? DOnt kill me. Haha
Carolyn Stern is my friend who doesn't like The Age of Adz very much. That post was a way to praise the album, and spite her at the same time.
Carolyn Stern is my friend who doesn't like The Age of Adz very much. That post was a way to praise the album, and spite her at the same time.
This is my favorite on The Age of Adz. and Carolyn Stern can suck it.
Slight and epic at the same time. beautiful.
Just a couple changes, I think it's the wrong bare, I think he's talking about bear, to endure. And the other tiny change in shoulder blade, not shoulder blades.
To bear it down to be in flight, to bear it down to be in flight It wasn't about me it was only a stone in my shoe Then worries came to perch on us Impatience and a painted bust I kept you close to me close to my ear
We set out once with folded shirts, with hairy chests and well rehearsed I want it all, I want it all for myself I'll set it right between your eyes Your shoulder blade, your running knife I want it all, I want it all for myself
Improving all the time, I am Improving as I kiss the hem I promise I won't be a trouble at all For I'm okay, I'm in the red Impressions of the unmade bed You cradled close to me, close to my ear
We set out once forget our shirts with hairy chests and well rehearsed I want it all I want it all for myself Out in the earth I smell of you Of bathing boy, amazing you I want it all, I want it all for myself
I was wondering which 'bare' it might be, lol. Thanks!
I have a somewhat off the mark thought on this song considering Sufjan's recent penchant for referencing popular music (as opposed to state histories, or religious allegory)as seen in "All Delighted People", which has more than enough matching imagery to S&G's "The Sound of Silence"... This song may be a parallel song (or parallel universe) to Queen's "I want it all". The line about hairy chests instantly makes me think Freddie Mercury. Any opinions on this?