This month, I’m jumping into the #APlaceInTheSong challenge from @JukeboxJohnny2. Great songs have that special ability to describe places in a way that makes us feel like we’re right there. Each day, I’ll pick a track that I think accomplishes that feat.
In my mind, there may not be a more contemplative album on life and death than Sufjan Stevens’ Carrie & Lowell and there may not ever be one in the future. The theme. The lyrics. The melodies. The production. Everything is working together so poignantly to help us know Sufjan’s mother and her second husband. It’s their life and their memories presented track by track like we’re flipping through an old photo album – and midway we stumble upon “Fourth of July”.
The ethereal quality in the song feels like the foggy cloud that we can’t shed from these moments even if we tried. It seems to be more beneficial to embrace the cloud – and even use it as a new lens from which to remember the moment even after it passes. To close out the song, Sufjan repeats one line “We’re all gonna die” several times as if it’s the only thing his family learned. But I would argue that the making of “Fourth of July” and the entire Carrie & Lowell album taught him much, much more about his family and himself.
“The hospital asked should the body be cast
Before I say goodbye, my star in the sky.”