 This video is brought to you by CuriosityStream. Go to curiositystream.com slash polyphonic and enter the offer code polyphonic to get 30 days for free. What is it that gives a place meaning? You might say the history, the culture, or even the geography, but I think it's something more than that. I think that places become meaningful because of how people experience all of these things. And I think that's the power of Sufjan Stevens Illinois. That double album is an ambitious project linked together by one concept, the state of Illinois. In it, Sufjan Stevens weaves beautiful stories about the culture, history, and geography of the region. But what makes the album really stand out is how he relates these subjects to his own experience and the human experience as a whole. Let's take a closer look. Illinois is a massive strange album of 22 songs ranging in length from six seconds to seven minutes. And honestly, analyzing them all would be an exercise in futility given their depth and breadth. So in this video, I'm going to look at four songs that have rung most true to me and that help contextualize how to listen to the entire album. The first I want to look at might be the darkest song on the album, John Wayne Gacy Jr. That song is a take on one of the darkest chapters in Illinois history, the titular serial killer John Wayne Gacy. Gacy sexually assaulted and murdered at least 33 young boys and men between 1972 and 1978 and became one of America's most notorious serial killers. The first half of the song tells this story over a haunting melody. And while Stevens could have simply sung of what a tragedy this was and ended there, he didn't. Stevens wanted to find more meaning in John Wayne Gacy. He wanted it to be more than just a tragedy and a waste of lives. So at the end of the song, Stevens does something few would feel comfortable doing on such a public stage. He reaches out and empathizes with John Wayne Gacy Jr. Stevens asks himself the question, how different is he from Gacy? In doing so, Stevens is forcing all of us to confront ourselves and to ask if we really are who we think we are, good people free of sin. He suggests that with some reflection, you'll realize that you have your own ghosts that you've buried. With this song, Stevens shifts your experience of a modern tragedy and forces you to question and learn from it. And this helps give direction to the rest of the album. When Sufjan sings about the people, places and events of Illinois, he doesn't want you just to take them at face value. He wants you to ask what they mean to you. And five songs after John Wayne Gacy, we get a song about one of the places in the state that is most meaningful to Stevens, Chicago. When Stevens was growing up in Detroit, Chicago was a beacon for him. It was a sign of escape of a bigger world. It was the place where he and his friends would drive to see concerts and seek out beauty. And that's what the song is about, the quest for beauty and truth and the mistakes you might make along the way. The lyrics are met with optimistic strings, the feeling of being young and being part of something. And as much as the song is about the destination of Chicago, it's about the journey too. The land helped Stevens find freedom from himself and his baggage, helped him grow and learn. Chicago is a distillation of youth and hope and change. And while we may not all feel this way about Chicago as a city, we all feel this way about somewhere, about some time. By showing us what Chicago means to him, Stevens is helping us reflect on our own personal history and the mistakes we've made that have come to pass. It's a beautiful song that teaches us to appreciate the cities that we visit for the meaning they provide to people, for the symbol that a big city can be. But this song about the optimism of youth is followed by a melancholic take on youth, Casimir Pulaski Day. The title of that song is a reference to a state holiday in Illinois, a day that holds special meaning to Stevens. It is on that holiday that Stevens lost one of his best friends as a teenager to bone cancer. This song details her death and the ensuing crisis of faith that it brought on for Stevens. Stevens' Christian faith can be seen all over his music, especially in Illinois, but in this song it's cast into doubt. A young Stevens has to face mortality as we all do at some point in life and has to ask why these things happen. It's a challenge to his belief in a benevolent loving God, and so Stevens gives new context to something unique to Illinois, Casimir Pulaski Day. These small moments are what make Illinois such a raw album. They're autobiographical snippets that can often hurt to hear, and by telling these stories, Sufian forces you to think about your surroundings. At any given time, in any given place, there are a thousand small stories going on, like the ones that Stevens sings. And that brings us to the last song we'll look at in this video, The Tallest Man, The Broadest Shoulders. The third last song on the album, this song is an echo of the third track, Come and Feel the Illinois. Like that track, it's split into two parts, and is also filled with references to Carl Sandberg. Sandberg was a poet from Illinois who, much like Stevens, captured life in Chicago in his art. The first half of the song looks at Chicago as a starting point of the American frontier. It looks at how Illinois provided a new start for many people, but struggles with the realization that this came at the expense of the indigenous population. As the song grows, it pushes forward in time, and the second half of the song is a slew of Illinois references. These are the dozens of small stories and icons, the things that the people of Illinois use to define themselves and find meanings in their life. This song are two instrumental pieces, so this song ends with the last word spoken on the album, O Great Illinois. Behind a chorus powerfully sings, it can only start with you. Illinois shows us that one state can mean a lot of different things to a lot of different people, and that's what makes it so powerful. And this video is only really brushing the surface. Do yourself a favor and give Illinois a deep listen. Pick out the small nuances and the dozens of threads that run through, giving us new perspectives and new thoughts on life. In Illinois, Sufjan Stevens shows us why this place is so important to him, and in doing so, he helps us find meaning in our own lives and in the places surrounding us. One of the major threads throughout Illinois is the role that it served as a gateway to the American frontier. That's an important historical era that I never really appreciated until doing a deep dive on Sufjan Stevens, so after finishing this video, I went over to CuriosityStream to see if I could learn more, and sure enough, I found Howard Means Short Documentary pioneering the American frontier, which showed the challenges of frontier life and how it created the American identity. And that's just one of a number of great documentaries that CuriosityStream has on American history. From there, I went to Lincoln's Last Night, a documentary about another great figure in Illinois history. More than just history though, CuriosityStream offers 2,000 documentary titles on all kinds of different subjects. CuriosityStream is a subscription streaming service that addresses our lifelong quest to learn, explore, and understand. It's honestly such a great platform. Lately, I've been using it to watch documentaries at the gym and increase my productivity. 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