Though Stevens had announced plans to make an album for each of the 50 U.S. states, beginning the series with the albums 'Michigan' (2003) and 'Illinois' (2005), he has since then somewhat retracted the statement. "Sufjan Stevens is not going to write a record for each of the 50 states after all" was the original text included on the online liner notes for 'Mews Too: An Asthmatic Kitty Compilation' , a disc released on February 7, 2006. This statement was possibly included as a joke, as the text has since been removed and the current liner notes related to Sufjan Stevens reads: "Sufjan Stevens can fold a fitted-sheet (he once worked as a professional folder in a commercial Laundromat)."
Background
Stevens was born in Detroit, Michigan, and grew up in the city of Petoskey in that same state. He attended Hope College on the west coast of Michigan.
The name Sufjan is an Arabic/Persian name that predates Islam and most famously belonged to Abu Sufyan, a figure from early Islamic history. It has been mentioned in the press that the name was given to Stevens by the leader of Subud, a spiritual sect to which his parents belonged when he was born. Stevens has stated that the name is of Armenian origin and means "comes with a sword," and that it is "a charming militaristic Muslim name." In fact the name is not Armenian, and Armenia is a predominantly Christian country.
Sufjan is also the plural form of Sufi in Persian . Sufi is a practitioner of Sufism .This word is frequently used in the old Persian literature ,specially Sufi poetry .
His brother, marathonist Marzuki Stevens, has trained to compete in the 2008 Olympic trials, and has played on two of Sufjan's albums.
A multi-instrumentalist, Stevens plays the banjo, guitar, drums, and several other instruments, often playing all of these on his albums through the use of multi-tracking. While in school, he studied the oboe and English horn, which he also plays on his albums; he is one of the few musicians in popular music to use these instruments.
Career
Sufjan Stevens began his musical career as a member of Marzuki, a folk-rock band from Holland, Michigan. He also played (and continues to play) various instruments for Danielson Famile. While in school at Hope College, Stevens wrote and recorded his debut solo album, A Sun Came, which he released on Asthmatic Kitty Records, a record label he founded with his step-father in 1999. He later moved to New York City, where he was enrolled in a writing program at the New School for Social Research.
While in New York, Stevens composed and recorded the music for his second album, Enjoy Your Rabbit, a song cycle based around the animals of the Chinese Zodiac that ventured into electronica.
Stevens followed this with the first of his 50 states albums, a collection of folk songs and instrumentals inspired by his home state of Michigan. The result, the expansive Michigan, included odes to cities including Detroit and Flint, the Upper Peninsula, and vacation areas such as Tahquamenon Falls. Melded into the scenic descriptions and characters are his own declarations of faith in God, sorrow, love and the regeneration of Michigan.
Following the release of Michigan, Stevens compiled a collection of songs recorded previously into a side project, the Christian folk album Seven Swans, which was released in March 2004.
Next he released the second in the 50 states projects, entitled Come On Feel The Illinoise!. Among the subjects explored on Come On Feel The Illinoise! are the cities of Chicago, Decatur and Jacksonville, the serial killer John Wayne Gacy, the poet Carl Sandburg, and Mississippi Palisades State Park.
He has contributed to the music of Denison Witmer, Soul Junk, Half-handed Cloud, Brother Danielson, Danielson Famile, Serena Maneesh, Castanets, and Liz Janes. He played piano on for fellow Brooklyn musician's The National's album 2007 Boxer. A cover of "She Is" is included on the album Dream Brother, released in the United States on January 31, 2006.
Sufjan contributed a lot to the sound of the 2001 Liz Janes album Done Gone Fire as he engineered, recorded, produced and arranged it as well as playing many addition instruments.
Sufjan recently recorded with Rosie Thomas and Denison Witmer playing banjo and providing vocals. It is unknown how this record will be released. In April 2006, Pitchfork erroneously announced that Stevens and Thomas were having a baby together, but were forced to print a retraction. Witmer and Thomas later admitted it was an April Fools' prank.
The Fifty States Project
Beginning with Michigan, Stevens announced an intent to write an album for each of the 50 U.S. states, although in interviews he wavers between utter sincerity and self-deprecating irony when describing the idea.
Stevens spent the second half of 2004 researching and writing material for the second of these projects, this time focusing his efforts on Illinois. As with Michigan, Stevens used the state of Illinois as a leaping-off point for his more personal explorations of faith, family, love, and location.
The widely acclaimed Illinois was the highest rated album of 2005 on the Metacritic review aggregator site, based on glowing reviews from Pitchfork, The Onion A/V Club, Spin, Billboard, Entertainment Weekly, Rolling Stone, The New York Times, and The Guardian. The 2006 PLUG Independent Music Awards awarded Stevens with the Album Of The Year, Best Album Art/Packaging, and Male Artist Of The Year. Pitchfork Media and Paste Magazine named Come On Feel The Illinoise! as the editors' choice for best album of 2005 and Stevens received the 2005 Pantheon prize, awarded to albums selling 500,000 copies or fewer, for Come On Feel The Illinoise!. In April of 2006, Stevens announced that 21 pieces of music he had culled from the Come On Feel The Illinoise! recording sessions would be incorporated into a new album, called The Avalanche. The album was released on July 11, 2006.
While there were other projects rumored to be released following 2005's Illinois, by 2009 and his live album The BQE, he was seemingly finished with the project, calling it "Such a joke", and accepting that the project was too massive and too cliché to ever reach an end.
Religious themes
Many of Stevens' songs have religious and spiritual allusions, but his album Seven Swans has the most direct religious references. Stevens has expressed that he is Christian, but does not overtly advertise this aspect of himself in his music. Stevens has also stated that he does not try to make music "with a message", or music for the sake of preaching. "I don't think music media is the real forum for theological discussions," says Stevens. "I think I've said things and sung about things that probably weren't appropriate for this kind of forum. And I just feel like it's not my work or my place to be making claims and statements, because I often think it's misunderstood."
The songs 'Abraham', 'Seven Swans', 'To Be Alone With You', 'We Won't Need Legs To Stand' and 'The Transfiguration' directly address Christianity on the album Seven Swans. In 'Abraham', Sufjan recounts the Old Testament story in the Book of Genesis when Abraham, ordered by God as a test of faith, leads his son, Isaac, up a mountain and prepares to kill him, as commanded (but before God sends an angel to intervene). The lyrics of 'The Transfiguration' follow the Biblical accounts of Jesus' Transfiguration in Matthew 17:1-8, Mark 9: 1-8, and Luke 9:28-36.
Michigan and Come On Feel The Illinoise! are packed with Christian references and metaphors. Michigan contains "Sleeping Bear, Sault Saint Marie", which implores "Oh Lamb of God! Tell us Your perfect design and give us the rod" ("Lamb of God" being a Biblical name for Jesus Christ). The song "Oh God, Where Are You Now?" asks God to "hold me now", to "save somehow", searching for God in the midst of personal turmoil. "There's no other man who could save the dead," the song states. The album closer, 'Vito's Ordination Song', was apparently originally written for Sufjan's friend Vito Aiuto, and its lyrics allude directly to Psalm 139 ("I always knew you. In your mother's arms, I have called your name", "I've made a crown for you"). The song speaks of "When the bridegroom comes" - the New Testament speaks of Jesus Christ as being the Bridegroom and the Church His Bride, finally being united together at the End of Time.
Come On Feel The Illinoise! features the song 'Chicago' with its refrain of "You came to take us, to recreate us", and 'Decatur' has the chorus of "It's the great I Am" ("I Am" being the name the Lord reveals Himself by to Moses in Exodus 3:14). "Casimir Pulaski Day" speaks of "All the glory that the Lord has made" in the midst of personal pain and loss. "The Predatory Wasp of the Palisades Is Out To Get Us!" has the lyrics: "Lamb of God, we sound the horn. Hallelujah!" One instrumental passage has the title of "In This Temple as in the Hearts of Man for Whom He Saved the Earth". "The Seer's Tower" speaks of Emanuel, "With His sword, with His robe He comes dividing man from brothers" (an interesting side note is that "Sufjan" actually means "comes with a sword"). Indeed, the vast majority of songs of Come On Feel The Illinoise! contain lyric lines which can be readily identified as having a basis in Stevens' faith in Christ.
Sufjan's second, electronic album, Enjoy Your Rabbit, contains a song cycle based on of the animals of the Chinese Zodiac, culminating with the song "Year of our Lord". Stevens released the original, Christian-themed song "God'll Ne'er Let You Down" on the "To Spirit Back the Mews" compilation on Asthmatic Kitty. The officially unreleased Christmas albums Sufjan Stevens made and then compiled into Songs for Christmas feature suitably Christmas and Christian themed music, both originals and covers of hymns and traditional songs.
Trivia
On Snow Patrol's 2006 album Eyes Open there is a reference to Sufjan and the song "Chicago" in the song "Hands Open" - "Put Sufjan Stevens on and we'll play your favorite song/"Chicago" bursts to life and your sweet smile remembers you."
Sufjan has twice been featured on the FOX television show "The OC". "To Be Alone With You" and "For The Widows In Paradise, For The Fatherless In Ypsilanti" can be heard on episodes 202 and 315, respectively.
Sufjan Stevens' music has appeared twice on the Showtime dark comedy "Weeds". "All The Trees Of The Field Will Clap Their Hands" appears on S1E02 over the end credits, and "Holland" appears near the end of S2E10.
Two of Sufjan's songs appear on the soundtrack to "Little Miss Sunshine": "Chicago" and "No Man's Land"
The song "John Wayne Gacy, Jr." appears on the 3rd season of the tv show "Nip/Tuck".
Several songs can be heard on the movie "Driving Lessons"
You can also hear snippets in between CSI shows on 5US
In the TV show "Austin City Limits", he mentioned that when he was a kid, he and his best friend saw something in the sky which they couldn't figure out. They thought it was a spaceship or UFO first, then an eagle or a dragon. Finally they realized it was a giant wasp. He wrote the song "The Predatory Wasp of the Palisades is Out to Get Us!" about the incident and mentioned that the reason they (the band) all have wings on stage is to overcome his fear of flying things.
The song "Redford (For Yia-Yia & Pappou)" is heard in the 2012 "World of Red Bull" television commercial. he is quoted as saying "selling out never looked so good." and "somebody had to pay for all of that Christmas confetti." referring to his recent Christmas album and supporting tour.
In 2017 Stevens wrote two Original Songs to be featured in the gay drama film “Call me by your Name”, entitled “Mystery of Love” and “Visions of Gideon”. He also made a reworked version of his Song “Futile Devices” which is also featured on the soundtrack.
Website:http://sufjan.com
A Running Start
Sufjan Stevens Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Head first, my hands inside my t-shirt, as we run away
So now we have a running start
My body moves in mystic ways
I cross my arms to shield my heart
As everything turns into waves
I see the light upon the lake
A pair of eyes, a gentle breeze
Forgotten tales, a wild beast
I know, I know the time has come
To ask you for a kiss
Don't go, my lovely pantomime
Receive of me my only wish
If I align myself with Pisces in a funny way
Can you, my lover, kiss my bracelet
And my shoulder blades
We've always had a running start
I jump between the trampolines
You throw your arms around my heart
As if to say you're all I need
The winter pines, the lonely drake
The light beneath the frozen lake
A pair of eyes, a gentle breeze
Forgotten tales, a wild beast
I know, I know the time has come
To ask you for a kiss
Don't go, my lovely pantomime
Receive of me my only wish
The lyrics of "A Running Start" by Sufjan Stevens depict a whimsical and dreamlike scene of escapism and romance. The singer sets the scene on a fire escape, imagining themselves in a state of tranquility. They describe themselves with their hands inside their t-shirt, symbolizing a sense of vulnerability and innocence. As they run away from their troubles, they feel a newfound sense of liberation and movement.
The lyrics then transition to vivid imagery, where the singer sees the beauty of nature reflected in the light upon the lake, the silver moon, and the water snake. They also mention a pair of eyes and a gentle breeze, which contribute to the ethereal atmosphere. These elements combine with forgotten tales and a wild beast, hinting at a sense of adventure and mystery.
The singer acknowledges that the time has come to ask their lover for a kiss, emphasizing the urgency and longing. They refer to their lover as a "lovely pantomime," suggesting that their relationship may be seen as a performance or act. The singer implores their lover not to go and expresses their desire for their only wish to be granted.
In the second verse, the singer aligns themselves with Pisces, a zodiac sign associated with sensitivity and imagination. They ask their lover to physically touch their bracelet and shoulder blades, seeking a deeper connection. The running start mentioned earlier is reiterated, signifying the energy and momentum in their relationship. They describe how they bounce between trampolines, symbolizing their playful and fluctuating emotions. The singer expresses their lover's embrace as a declaration that they are everything they need.
The lyrics continue to paint a serene winter landscape, including references to winter pines, a lonely drake, and the hidden light beneath the frozen lake. These additional natural elements add a layer of enchantment to the scene. The singer reiterates their desire for a kiss and renews their plea for their lover to stay, once again emphasizing the importance of their connection.
Overall, "A Running Start" presents a poetic and introspective exploration of love, escapism, and the beauty found in nature.
Line by Line Meaning
If I imagine myself peaceful on the fire escape
In my mind, I envision finding tranquility and solace on the fire escape
Head first, my hands inside my t-shirt, as we run away
With enthusiasm, I dive into the unknown, shielding myself and embarking on a journey together
So now we have a running start
We begin with momentum and advantage in our endeavor
My body moves in mystic ways
I am filled with inexplicable and enchanting movements
I cross my arms to shield my heart
I protect my vulnerable emotions and safeguard my innermost feelings
As everything turns into waves
The world around me transforms into undulating patterns and fluctuations
I see the light upon the lake
I perceive the luminosity reflecting upon the surface of the lake
The silver moon, the water snake
I observe the radiant moon and the graceful movement of the water snake
A pair of eyes, a gentle breeze
I encounter penetrating gazes and a soothing, delicate wind
Forgotten tales, a wild beast
Remnants of forgotten stories and a untamed creature occupy my thoughts
I know, I know the time has come
Deep within, I am aware that the opportune moment has arrived
To ask you for a kiss
To request from you a tender and intimate gesture
Don't go, my lovely pantomime
Please stay, my enchanting performer of gestures and expressions
Receive of me my only wish
Accept from me the singular desire that defines me
If I align myself with Pisces in a funny way
In a peculiar manner, I connect myself with the zodiac sign Pisces
Can you, my lover, kiss my bracelet
My beloved, can you bestow a tender kiss upon my bracelet
And my shoulder blades
And also upon my shoulder blades
We've always had a running start
Since the beginning, we have always initiated our endeavors with advantage
I jump between the trampolines
I leap between the trampolines, experiencing moments of weightlessness
You throw your arms around my heart
You embrace my heart with affection and devotion
As if to say you're all I need
Expressing through actions that you are my sole necessity
The winter pines, the lonely drake
The wintry pine trees and the forlorn male duck
The light beneath the frozen lake
The illumination emanating from beneath the ice-covered lake
A pair of eyes, a gentle breeze
A gaze from a pair of eyes and a soft, soothing wind
Forgotten tales, a wild beast
Disregarded stories and a untamed creature captivate my thoughts once again
I know, I know the time has come
I am certain, without a doubt, that the moment is here
To ask you for a kiss
To beseech you for an affectionate kiss
Don't go, my lovely pantomime
Please do not depart, my delightful performer of gestures and expressions
Receive of me my only wish
Accept from me the sole desire that defines who I am
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management
Written by: Sufjan Stevens
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
lcs
soof-yawn!!!
A. Nester
Thank you
Potatoo
Ahhhh
soufian BRR
I have the same name and the way it s written for me is different but the same sounds
Burnin' Sherman
Illinois is a masterpiece.
thegoldenhero
This is probably my favorite album from him
crlsyiu
great video! one little tip tho, his name is pronounced suf-yan. keep up the great work tho!
Ruben Ruiz
I advise every new listener start with Illinois, undoubtably his masterpiece
Burnin' Sherman
Beginners mind may have actually surpassed it as a personal favorite for me. Put it on while reading last week, and my god, it hit like an opiate straight into my brain through the ear canals.
Brandon Shaw
Yes