Sufjan Stevens - I Want To Be Well Lyrics

lol withdrawals

Is this the most slept on album of all time?

Jon Arbuckle let them sleep.

does anyone know any other songs like this, like with both the music and the lyrics?

sounds like Of Montreal

I thought this song felt more like going through Cabin Fever depressing rampant and downright sporadic.

I would make a music vid out of this. If only I know how to use everything I need.

This makes me so uneasy

One time I was told that the tumors in ribs could tear open my lungs (I did scans I'm fine), and when I got I just quietly listened to this song over and over again

I want to be well
Well I want to be
I'm not fucking around
I'm not... to be
I'm not... to be well
Well I want to be
I want to be well

im not fuckin around

Goddamn this is the soundtrack to my manic depression.

Like I remember the first time I heard this was shortly before I was diagnosed and I just started bawling and I do the same almost every time I hear this song.

This song is a masterpiece!!! 😻 how does one even come up with such a thing

Because it's Sufjan. He's not from this world.... <3

I WANT TO BE WELL TOO

It sounds like pieces of him are being blown off his body. It's as if this song is him actually being torn apart

such a great song and album. I stg sufjan makes me cry like none other

Oh man =/ I was expecting a Ramones cover

i remember listening to this song by myself in my room and just getting lost
i still feel the chills 8 years later

IMNOTFUCCCKINARRROOOUOOUOOUUNNDDDDDD

this tune sounds like the beggining and climax of my anxiety attacks

I'd be glad if the title was "I'm Not Fucking Around" instead.

I made a comment here one year ago. Look for it below. Eventually, I figured out I wasn't so good that time. I was denying I'm gay, I was trying to be another person. Right now, I'm good, I'm gay and I'm fine about it each day more.

Good for you man

just saying, your comment is above, like second at the top

That’s me in like every old comment I made in every Sufjan vid lol.

I'm happy for you <3

i wonder if he's fucking around or not

As I await your arrival with Planetarium to the SF Bay Area, Im going through the diversity of your songbook. When I first heard this song, it was in a different life phase. And now with chronic progressive neurological diseases, every word and the music that breathes life into them, breaks my heart. With a pill or demon, my body is forever changed too. Mr. Stevens, please, I want to be well. Pray for me as you see fit. Any. All. I'm not fucking around...

The way he articulates "I want to be well" as "well, I want to be" makes me wonder if other lines repeated in the song have double meanings as well. Like, "Ordinary people are" could be "people are ordinary", perhaps?

He want's a to be a well. A well is something that has depth. It can be dark and scary, seemingly endless and infinite, but it also gives people nourishment and life. He wants to be something that turns suffering into nourishment of the soul for others. Haha. (pulling this straight from where the sun don't shine).

Brilliant!!

I definitely think “ordinary people are ordinary people” is deliberate, with the tautology almost mimicking what he feels like he has to gain from these “ordinary people”.

Love the double meaning. It’s true on so many levels.

He was just trying to be yoda please just let him be

Musical genius

Is he fucking around? Will we ever find out?

Holywoo Stars and Celebrities: What do they know? Do they know things? Let's find out!!

He is NOT fucking around

He explicitly states that he is in fact NOT fucking around. Use your ears bruh

I love that as "i want to be well is repeating", "im not fucking around" starts to overlay, and then you dont know if hes saying "well i want to be" in terms of "fucking around"

THIS sSHIT IS FUCKIG GOOD MUSIC and ye MAYEIM DRUNK BUT SIFJA NYES GC

sqne tho

Adam Khan fuuc kyes

this is most incredible, in the history of recorded music I don't know what else is at this level

Bon Iver....

which song from him?

Au Kaponei the entire 22, A Million album.

Larry Zwolinski yeah, i guess in terms of purposefulness. when looked at at face value every blip and zap loses its true value: emotion. as a whole Age of Adz has the advantage of being so much more thought out and full - everything is happening always and u rarely get a break from the noise. which constitutes for a more thought provoking and interesting album. however, it tolls at the listenability of the album as there are few tracks i can even listen to if it's not a full play through of the track listing. bon iver crowns that listenability factor as the whole album - while meaning less to the general listener - has a more accessible and easier listen feeling. i just draw similarities from the acoustic artist breaking to electronic digital sound although both have proven capable of success in that regard in the past.

ok i am speaking about this song in particular especially beginning at 2:00

man this song helped me come to terms with going on anti depressants

dude,,,,, same,,,,

Lol I don't take anti depressants anymore I just smoke the marijuanas.

thats one way to do it my guy!

I'M NOT FUCKING AROUND

im eventually at this point in my life too... ahhh I wish I was never here... though I don't know if it's inevitability and eventually everyone will have to go through it and I don't know how much it affects everyone individual... I also don't know if I can escape from it or not... but unfortunately im at this point.. I want to be well and I can't listen to that song without tearing up and relating so strong with it. I'm sure if I wasn't at the state which I am now I wouldn't feel or understand anything about this song but (un)fortunately I do... I hope I'll get through with it. Thank you Steven for the song... it says everything I am not brave enough to say

You'll get through it. I did it and I never thought I could (I thought in suicide, so you know I'm not lying). When you find your way out (you must tread your way in, first), let me know. =)

David Jung thank you 😀 I'm on my way!

Good luck Friend

Delicious

The second half of the song reminds me of Myxomatosis by Radiohead.

y is this so gud bros :^)

+TomatoOtters Because u listen to Candy Claws <3

cus of suberus little voice

OH MY GOD, it talks so much to me. It's like me when I was starting to suffer from depression. I used to think that everybody was ordinary except for me - because they only wanted to hang out with their friends, get a job and get married. Then I realized that there's not problem in being ordinary. I mean, I was thinking bad stuff about people being ordinary because of my issues/problems, because I wasn't able to have friends and live at all. When he sings "Extraordinary people are, ordinary people are, ordinary people are" I feel he's realizing just like me that ordinary people are extraordinary, that one thing doesn't excludes another. Sufjan Stevens you're a genius! S2

+berk bayrak says the guy being an ass on the internet

+David Jung ....? I was trying to support you

well, now I was an ass on the internet. I beg your pardon =)

[I misunderstood who you were talking to]

this is fun, misunderstandings and songs that express depression, is nice you feel like that with a song

Wow thanks mate this hit me

this song is

of montreal + radiohead

No, this song is Sufjan Stevens.

yes the radiohead influence is clear in this track. i love it <3

I know this comment is from 2 years ago, but just wanted to say, some of "of Montreal"s music is influenced by sufjan. Kevin Barnes said so himself.

I'm so sick of people making Radiohead comparisons. Radiohead is overrated af

He sounds like Tom Yorke here for sure vocal wise at least

pure money!

This song sounds like the law of hypnotic rhythm.

to me this song is about recovery, and for me recovery was fighting addiction in the worst way, but to anyone else it means fighting monotony, fighting what we all battle with, ordinary is scary

Same. This is a great song / album to show recovering addicts. On a related but contrary note, Carrie and Lowell should probably come with a warning notice for people with depression. Although I love it, finding that album and learning of my father's imminent death simultaneously was one of the single hardest times of my life.

Does 'I'm Not Fucking Around' refer to his desire to be free from illness, or is he trying to convince a partner he's remained loyal. When he say he 'wants to be well' is he referring to disease or a personality trait? nicely ambiguous lyrics.

It's more literal. The title and main verse refer to his actual fight with a serious immune system virus he had during the album conception. And for me, "I'm not fucking around" is his reply to fans and critics who were wondering if he was playing a big joke on us when he released this album, so bizzarely and different compared to anything he's ever done. Yes, its nuts and no, he is dead serious.

Hmm, good interpretation.

He wants to be well

"do yourself some good or do yourself a death (from ordinary causes).... I want to be well."

I love how this has the ratcheting momentum of a late-period Radiohead song with the underlying warmth one usually expects of Sufjan. A great match. 

It made my think about that too!

"Photographic ordinary people are everywhere." How fitting in this Age of Adz, and in this Tube of You.

this song reminds me of my thoughts when i had psychotic depression , i was sure i was going to die , and for some reason this describes the exact feeling

@pwebsers  Damn, you have good taste in music. Radiohead and Sufjan Stevens are and always will be among the best music acts in history.

I want to be well. I'm not fu*king around. SERIOUSLY!

Well, i want to be.

There's a plant for that, Cannabis Sativa/Indica.

Thank you for clarifying to us all why people swear in songs.

Comments are stupid.

This is a modern-day Davidic Psalm as passionate, pained, and beautiful as the originals

Well, I want to be!

I love this song. This should be the end to the amazing album "Age of Adz" if it weren't for the crazy Impossible Soul!

Just to clarify for some of you, Sufjan suffered from a virus that affects the nervous system from 2009 to 2010. He stated in interviews that this album was his way of coping with his disease. Note the lack of strings because it's easier to arrange on a drum machine. He swears throughout the end of the strong because, even as a Christian, sometimes you get frustrated and just want your prayers answered. I applaud him for capturing that moment.

(facepalm) It's not a band, it's an artist...

I LOVE THIS SONG, SUCH AN UNDERRATED BAND

2:34-3:20

Well I want to be...

Sometimes at night, I repeat I want to be well, I want to be well, over and over again. :)

I want to be well...

Hahaha so true. I listened to this last night riding my moped as fast as I could just screaming "I'm not fucking around." MAJOR CHILLS!

I bet god played Sufjan Stevens during creation

Sufjan Stevens is an expert goose bump inducer

genius... this creation is incredible it speaks from Sufjan's soul

For 10 years i have been a massive Radiohead fan; I loved their music above all else, and while I love other artists (including Sufjan), they were my favorite. Their greatest album is Kid A, which represented a huge departure in sound for them and is a masterpiece that explores the innermost cavities of the human mind. No other album came close.
That is, until Sufjan Stevens created The Age of Adz.
Now that you understand how much I love Kid a, you realize how big a deal saying that is to me.

yeah, it's called schizophrenia. See a doc. Seriously. I wish you well.

kinda reminds me of Job.

Clearly you have nothing to do better with your life then going around cutting people down on comments. You must be such a great person. It must be nice to have just enough time away from your fulfilling life to insult people on the internet. How exactly are you the bigger person in all of this. I'm sorry you're angry but there's no reason to take it out on other people like this.

Clearly you must, you took time out of your busy day to respond to my comment.

I'm glad you are taking me so literally. The best thing about comments on youtube is that you can say what you want. And that what exactly are you doing by responding to my comment. So you have every right but If anything sounds like a cry for attention it's you getting angry and getting offended about something I posted about myself. Everyone has a need to be noticed and the internet is a place where people can be honest. So honestly why don't you shut the fuck up I don't care what you think

First off, you are READING. You are not listening. I am communicating to you through a chat box, not through some audible medium. Second, all too many people attempt to leave some wise/reflective/insightful comment on youtube videos. Sadly, 17 other people who lack the ability to sort through the bull shit liked that comment. Fact of the matter is too many people, not unlike yourself, have this NEED to be noticed. It comes across as needy, like you are uncomfortable with simply being normal.

Thank you so much

Please tell me how you know everything about my life and why you have to demean other people to make yourself feel good. I'm listening

That comment was fucking beautiful

you sound like someone who wants attention. I can create a backstory behind some youtube comment filled with complete bull shit too if you would like?

@daedley: you're not alone, friend.

iam crying

plesae hurt me more

You're not fucking around, then?

Hm...

Well, if you change your mind, just call me.

damn hottie.

I completely agree. I remember going through times of remorse or regret and listening to this song while driving.

This song is like an auditory representation of some immaculately beautiful fever dream.

Shut up idiot

I knew that it was coming until it hit me like a truck. My god, he isn't fucking around.

I remember the first time I heard this song. Sufjan singing "I'm not fucking around" in 5/4 time took me by surprise. All the articles about the new album were like "Sufjan Stevens: Not Fucking Around"

I have a rare chemical condition of the brain that can lead me to the brink of insanity sometimes. It's like a roller coaster of headaches and crazy mental states that are constantly changing. To this day I haven't found a song that perfectly describes what I go through all of the time. The lyrics paint such a vivid picture of my condition. That's the beauty of all forms of art. It can perfectly describe how we're feeling better than we ever could ourselves. 'I want to be well'

This song is the first song to truly speak to me in a long fucking while; everything, especially the lyrics, is immaculate.

sufjan stevens has never been hotter than when he says "I'm not fucking around"

@homologeo Indeed it does. All of his music, but especially Age of Adz, to me at least, because it struck home with me pretty hard. I started listening to it when my ex decided to break up after 4 years in a relationship only to get with someone else. The complexity of meaning and the music itself is what makes me want to invest in music more when I'm listening to it in the end.

@Moose1223 I'm so glad others have noticed the existential cry happening with the "well, I want to be" line. I think that Sufjan was obviously aware of a double meaning, and I think that's a major theme we see in all of Sufjan's music: Words and phrases can be understood and felt in an infinite amount of ways. "Depression" or "sin" - this song characterizes immense suffering.

@HardRhyma Personally I always thought it was about depression instead of sin; the constant reference to 'ordinary' as opposed to 'not fucking around' reminds me of what an existential crisis modernity actually is, since everyone's feeling depressed anyway; depression is often referred to as a 'demon' and it does 'prey upon the lonely'; add the fact that 'I want to be well' can also be heard as 'well, I want to be', simply 'being', existing, etc -- it adds up to life as a struggle.

!!! Hearing Sufjan curse is like cannonballing into a pool for the first time.

@HardRhyma Actually, he's saying "Illness likes to prey upon the lonely, prey upon the lonely. When it bites, I would rather be dead, I would rather give up." He suffered from a strange neurological illness while making this album, so I mostly interpret this song as him becoming frustrated at being unable to overcome the virus or whatever it was.

I take this song as a struggle with sin, which manifests itself into illness. He "wants to be well" and this seems to be the key stanza: "Illness likes to prey upon the lonely, prey upon the lonely, Wave goodbye, I would rather be, but I would rather be fine." Nevertheless, or should I say inevitably, sin comes, and he deals with the repercussions. The song winds down into whirlwind at the realization of what he's become: "But from within I see an unholy change." It ends screaming against sin

14 people are fucking around.

his vocals have never sounded more thom yorke. and i like it.