Tuesday, July 25, 2006

all things go

Does anyone else get the occasional addiction to songs?

It's been awhile since this has happened to me, but I woke up this morning (after two snoozes) to the most miraculous song on the clock radio. Instead of shutting it off I let it play, and as it unfolded, I realized it had to be Sufjan, and I also realized that I'd only listened to Illinois a little bit, very casually, last fall, even though all signs pointed to my loving this album. So I fired up iTunes, hit play on "Chicago"... and I haven't been able to stop. All day. I've listened to the whole album since, really listened (which is good, since I'm seeing him in September), and while it's not entirely so miraculous as this song, I finally get it.

Plus, I have to admit, after almost a year of living here, I'm starting to feel a little proprietary toward Chicago. Susan Werner played a song this past weekend about staying on "your side of town," rattling off such landmarks as Grand Avenue, the river, the pier, the lake, the brownstones, and even though she didn't say "Chicago," I knew what she was singing about. She apparantly lives here now, which surprises me a little because I feel like I should've seen her in concert by now. Anyway, I've become attached to Chicago, so the fact that this song (in whatever opaque way) pays homage to the city that I now call home is icing on an already outstanding six minutes of music. I may be a little late in embracing you wholeheartedly, Sufjan, but I'm here now. I always liked the idea of you, really, but now I have more than ephemera to go on.

And, Chicagoans, if your own clock radio isn't set to WXRT, it should be. I've woken up to Driver 8, Busting Up a Starbucks, Penny Lane (if it's a Sunday and they're doing Breakfast with the Beatles), etc, and I swear it makes my whole day better when the first aural assault of the morning is something I'm inclined to enjoy.

3 comments:

frillgirl said...

Love love love love love Sufjan:

I'd swim across lake Michigan
I'd sell my shoes
I'd give my body to be back again
In the rest of the room

To be alone with you
To be alone with you
To be alone with you
To be alone with you

You gave your body to the lonely
They took your clothes
You gave up a wife and a family
You gave your goals

To be alone with me
To be alone with me
To be alone with me
You went up on a tree

To be alone with me you went up on the tree

I'll never know the man who loved me

My boyfriend "gave" him to me last summer. Love, love, love him, almost as much as Iron & Wine.

Justin Rimbo said...

Hooray! Welcome to the club. I'm surprised that you didn't get into Sufjan sooner . . . but let's be honest -- the album really has very little to do with the state of Illinois or any cities therein. Don't ask me what it's about . . . human condition? All I know is that the last few lines in "John Wayne Gacy, Jr." knock the wind out of me.

Anonymous said...

everyone in chicago should wake up to xrt because lin brehmer is my secret pretend english major radio boyfriend. *swoon*