The Handsome Family - Giant Of Illinois

From the CD - Through The Trees

The giant of Illinois
Died from a blister on his toe
After walking all day through the first winter's snow

Throwing bits of stale bread to the last speckled doves
He never even felt his shoe full of blood

Delirious with pain, his bedroom walls began to glow
And he felt himself soaring up through falling snow
And the sky was a woman's arms
The sky was a woman's arms

A boy with a club foot
Had sat next to him in school
Once upon a summer's day they went wandering through the woods

They spotted a sleeping swan
On the banks of a muddy stream
And they stormed it with rocks till it collapsed in the reeds

They lay out on a green lawn full of chocolate and lemonade
But under the blue bowl the giant was afraid
Because the sky was a woman's arms
The sky was a woman's arms

Category:

Music

Tags:

• The Handsome Family
• Giant Of Illinois
• through the trees
• Robert Wadlow

[Legend813a]

but the blister was on his ankle...

and it was summer in Manistee Michigan...

[terr0rkitten]

MMMm, it's just a song! I suppose you could take it up with the Handsome Family although I doubt if they will re-record it for historical accuracy!

[LuckyJim1]

Love this song, great job with the video too. Much appreciated all these videos that you put up here.

[Ostirala]

robert the tallest man of the world descendient the goliat

[GAKRAC]

@PenguinJockey his dad was 6ft tall

[PenguinJockey]

@GAKRAC I don't believe anyone else in his family was unusually tall. Could be mistaken, though.

[MrMoviemaverick]

amazing focus, on minute details!!! Check out the atmosphere and the hints under the surface that take you away from here and now, to feel the sense of the thing and maybe connect at a deeper level to what it is to be human, irrespective of height or where the blister was that caused the pain. We all got our own blisters......................­..

[bipolarbearhug]

wow...

[scottdekatch]

and half of it is also based on "Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer," or so Rennie told me back in '03 ... they're riffing on a concept, not biographing something specific.

[GAKRAC]

even if this guy didnt have gigantism he still would have been extremely tall. im guessing he would have been around 7ft tall without the gigantism

[thejollylama1]

historically accurate or not...the pain and beauty trancends

[scottdekatch]

The boy withe the club foot part was taken from "Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer." Or so Rennie told me in 2003 ...