Sufjan Stevens - The Transfiguration

[mansonfan128]

damn...I didn´t want my favourites list to be THAT long...

[7FridayGirl109]

Watching all these live videos of Sufjan makes me realise that I wouldn't make it through a whole concert of his without crying.

[sleepless2grace]

@murielglass

Your post, too, brought tears to my eyes (as this song does)... Your story is deeply beautiful. That is a reason I love Sufjan and why I believe in creating art... God is the ultimate Creator and is so profoundly beautiful... And as we show a tiny glimpse of it, He touches people... *sigh of joy :)

[murielglass]

i used to be an atheist too and i felt the same way about this album, there was something in it that was never found in other music i listened to. then God started calling me (and i think he used this album to do part of that), and showed me he was real (in that warmth that envelopes you and moves you to tears). after that i realized that's what it was in Sufjan's music, God's love and peace flowing through it. now i understand this music in a whole new level.

[termite4734]

This is such a totally rockin' song. I love this one and "The trees of the field clap their hands", from Seven Swans.

He slows down the vibration to the point where you have to slow down too, to pick up on it, then you touch the vibration of the whole universe, it feels like. This is like prozac for the soul. I love it.

Also I love the live version of "Come thou fount..." sometimes tears come to my eyes when I listen; my wife thinks I'm a little odd, but thankfully she tolerates my habit.

[umhewow]

@termite4734 You are the man. I enjoy all the songs you mentioned! Come thou fount has brought tears to my eyes too, and I feel like i'm a rough person generally

[waremi51]

sufjan is not atheist. he goes to a presbyterian church in nyc.

[elara55]

llllllllllllove the hoooorn arrangement in this song. sigh

[DharmaSimone]

I'm not religious and I never have been, but this is what I imagine religion to sound like. A warmth that would envelope you whole and be so beautiful it could move you to tears.

[Joe1burroughs]

you are not to far off, God loves you and wants you to know him, in a relationship, if you will ascept his son.

[DharmaSimone]

Unfortunately, I can not. I have all the respect in the world for those who can, but I simply can not.

[zimbloggy]

@DharmaSimone you always can.

[murielglass]

@DharmaSimone that's what Jesus is :)

[almostblue22]

@DharmaSimone

Ask God to show himself to you, and then ask him to bring you and him closer.

[SufjanStevensWannabe]

Sufjan can do so much with a major scale. I think its fair to say he makes it a MAGIC scale!

[pamcakeghosty]

I would have SHIT MY PANTS.

[bmq1286]

ahhhh amazing.

[3000jews]

he needs to go on tour. soon.

i have to see him before i die.

[desertezz]

I think this may be my all time favorite song

[jvanv09]

mine too. i absolutely love all of his songs but i think i love this one the best.

[Sirpip]

ok, ill buy 30

[Sirpip]

I cannot stop listening to this song. Sufjan, please go on tour and stop by Eire. I will buy 15 tickets.

[BlueSkyes9112006]

Oh I love this song! It's soooo awesome. Plus I've been looking for a person who would say his name. I've not known quite how to say it for going on two years now as I depend on a text to speech screen reading program and the two programs I've used said it two diff. ways. I had desided to take my MacBook's way of saying Sufjan and turns out it was correct :-)

[sungis]

This song illustrates the Transfiguration so beautifully... ah, honestly, this song makes me feel closer to the Son of God.

[Threeballer97]

I wanna be a part of the Magical Chinese Butterfly Brigade.

[bouk98765]

come on!feel the unbelievable creativity of sufjan stevens!

[techercat]

beautiful.

[happyarmfriend]

You can hear the tune of "Chicago" in the purely instrumental parts of the song. Excellent work. Sufjan does it again!

[TheGirlYouDoNotKnow]

ive come to the conclusion that sufjan stevens is a genius.

[jimsterx3]

this is awesome. I love the wings

[FromAnonymous]

I think it's so funny that half of us are atheists and we love this song haha...honestly Seven Swans is one of his best albums I think. The thing is...regardless of whether or not you believe it, the stuff in the Bible will always be so epic, mysterious, and moving. That's what Sufjan understands...and he has an amazing ability to capture that in his songs.

[ognywogny]

Be careful Anonymous,

Linger and dawdle a little too long gazing upon infinite beauty and you may find yourself captured. Then who knows where it leads.

[cifravideo]

@FromAnonymous I've got a friend who says he's an atheist too. I say you're atheits on your minds but not on your souls :) the mind knows we're all gonna die but the soul can never feel it nor accept it.

[SlappyGee]

@FromAnonymous Every atheist I'm friends with agrees with you about that... which I just don't understand because they claim he's just full of wishful thinking about God and stuff. If that's true, how are you so moved by his music? after all, theyare just sound waves...

[TheOldGunslinger]

@SlappyGee Brilliant point. I think I'll write that one down. :)

[banana14k]

anyone know what kind of banjo he plays?

[banana14k]

anybody know what kind of banjo he plays?

[CircaSurvive26]

so glorious.

[MissKatface]

this song evokes the memories of me walking in the dark in October, a cigarette burning between my eager fingers. This song would play as I walked through the moonlit park. I feel so happy and so sad too when i hear this song.

[wakanah]

my sister in law's.

it's not the words in particular that got to me it was the way the sound of his voice was mixed with the rythym of the music, thats the only thing i listen to when i listen to music is how everything sounds when its all mixed together and this was a relaxing sound, it reminded me of being a child for some reason.

[JustinRegan]

so true. i feel like a child too when i hear this song.

[wakanah]

it's kind of sounds like backround music to a cartoon where the charactor goes into a different world and has all these adventures and what not *shrugs* if that makes any sense ^_^

[Flyingsheep]

Any idea if a live version of this song (like this one) is on any CD? I want the live version so bad.

[wakanah]

you guys don't get it, i'm not athiest but im not sure what i am all i know is for the love of me i did not and still do not like any christian gospel praise the lord music *sighs*' cept this one haha, i was at work and i was out by myself, did'nt get any help sent out busiest damn day of my life people asking for help and i was ready to explode,so when i went to break i put of what i thought was my cd and this song played and i spent two weeks trying to find this song and now im content ^_^.

[ruthg10]

Lucky find, any idea whose CD was it?

[strandedmusicians]

The chord changes and instrumentation are perfect for evoking the emotions that Jesus and the disciples must have felt during the Transfiguration (and to a lesser extent, the way we feel when we realize there is something difficult yet important that we will have to face in our lives.) I wish I could have seen this show live.

[UffieOfCourse20]

I am atheist, too, but this song is so awesome!!

[nubbs]

you know, it would have made a lot more sense for moses and elijah to have appeared when jesus was on the cross, or when he was in jerusalem or something.

[almostvanilla]

I am an atheist but I LOVE THIS SONG!

[Hakon275]

Quite interesting music. Experimental and nicely arranged. This one s particularly nice

[lukey340]

what a peculiar contention my good sir

[vangelicmonk]

I love this song.

[3000jews]

i can't decide what to say. he's that good.

[DarknessHowls]

Ahh, he needs to release a Live album. O.o

[Clayterman]

does anyone know where i can find sufjan stevens tour dates? i live in NC and would really really like to see him live

[fulvio1978]

d'you know why you're americans are lucky?

because you can see sufjan play whenever you want.

he's the greatest.

fulvio - rome

[roffels]

He doesn't tour all that often, honestly.

[fulvio1978]

surely more than italy!!! hehe

bye

[HeteroBoy]

@fulvio1978 Know why we aren't so lucky? We're too effing big for any of us to actually be lucky enough to have him grace our town.. :/

[xchriso]

why is there no sufjan dvd out on the market? love it!

[bpauls123]

I love this version. I wish he would put some of these recordings on an album!

[Clayterman]

this is really, really good. the more i hear of sufjan the more impressed i am

[podbod25]

this version is so much better than the one on the album. although the one of the album is still amazing. so this one is superbly amazing.

[CgyRunner]

That's the great thing about him. He sounds so much better live.

[petestandingalone]

SO GOOOOD

[Evanlr20]

lost in the cloud, what a powerful image

[muzacInmyBlood]

dont like sweatpants. the crotch always wears out too fast. haha.

[amyelisabeth26]

Don't worry about the sweatpants. Listen, don't look.

[ashleycraig]

meet the new Charles Wesley

[hullseysan]

this is my altime favourite sufjan song and seeing him play live only makes me mad because it seems hes never gonna come to Australia so i will miss out on seeing him live...this song is amazing im near tears any time i hear it....it makes me feel ok, no matter what mood im in....it seriously is mazing....please come to australia PLEASE

[solcoldplay33]

This video gives me the chills...an impecable performance of an amazing song...Sufjan really knows what he's doing...really wonderfull

[actrinh]

I really don't like how he wears sweatpants all the time.

It is very distracting, and makes me feel dirty.

Sidenote: I hope he starts on California's album soon.

[bluesrunthegame]

That was fabulous. I'm finding it difficult to breathe.

[teaandcakeordeath]

have no fear! we draw near! i'm an atheist but am still moved powerfully by this song

[roffels]

I'm with you. Strange how that works.

[brenden7]

That's the power of God. :)

[proposals]

My thoughts exactly. Amazing.

[blink56k]

"i'm an atheist but am still moved powerfully"

maybe, when he "draws closer", you may not be... <3

[BesosnotBombs]

Join you guys there!!!

Agree with you 100%

It's just how tremendously talented he is, he can evoke emotion even if he were talking about tax deficits and HMO's!

[cifravideo]

@teaandcakeordeath I've got a friend who says he's an atheist too. I say you're atheits on your minds but not on your souls :)

[penkacik]

@teaandcakeordeath ha maybe there is something to this christianity thing?

[Iplayabanjo]

i saw the concert in chicago, good lord, holy shit, and gadzooks i say, this is a good quality, thank you

[Bandits58]

I love the way Sufjan adapts his songs for his concerts. It gives a sort of added value to seeing him live.

[teaandcakeordeath]

nice video skills...better than most. this song is so peaceful, even if im not religious

[fireindresden252]

One of Sufjan's best songs.

[acaretta]

I was at this concert!  It was absolutely the best concert I have ever seen!!!!

[rafael28]

this guy seriously knows how to write gorgeous melodies

[ankerous88]

Awesome! Cool bed head too!

[southpawedjones]

man, he's amazing! God gave him some crazy talent.

[orlandofriend]

gwow.

[velcrotrainer]

i think it's so sweet that he rocks back and forth to make his wings flap...

amazing song. great video. thank you!

[IggyNapster]

@velcrotrainer I was thinking the same thing when I watched this, too! ^_^

[TheRumpledAcademic]

Brilliant.

[bluesphee]

This video kicks ass! Thanks for sharing it. This was such a great concert!

[bullseyes]

Meeh...

[MilwaukeeMark]

I just got mega chills watching this one... great video to remind me of what an amazing show this was. Thanks for posting!

[joeth]

Me too. Kick ass video!!

[SRack013]

I was there!!! Great song and video.