Sufjan Stevens - The Tallest Man, The Broadest Shoulders Lyrics

tall and broad shouldered how i like my men

The ending part of this song is one of my favourite things I’ve ever heard in music ever
If I had to rate this song, I’d give it an 11/8 ;)

We are a group of music lovers nerding out over our favorite songs that fall under a new theme each day. Come show us what you got! Today’s theme is “Tall”.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/SupercordsMusicClub/

[Part I: "The Great Frontier"]

I count the days the Great Frontier
Forgiving, faced the seventh year
I stand in awe of gratefulness
I can and call forgetfulness

And when I, and when I call
The Patient, the Patient fall
The Spirit, the Carpenter
Invites us to be with her

What have we become America?
Soldiers on the Great Frontier!
Carpenter and Soldier, one on one
It's the battle, volunteer!

Run from yourself, from your friends, from ya--
Run for your life, for your friends, for ya--
American, merica, meri--
Oh Illinois, Illinois, Illi--

The prairie, the frontier, the perfect farm, it's from here
The fortress, the faker, the cornerstone, the baker
The dancer, the fisher, audition and the disher
The boxer, the fetcher, the ghweing gum, dream catcher

I count the days the Great Frontier
Forgiving, faced the seventh year
I stand and strain to make ends meet
Five Spirits on the Grand Marquee

And when I, and when I call
The Patient, the Patient fall
The Spirit, the Carpenter
Invites us to be with her

There was a man at the wall
He was grateful for us all
I saw the Wise Woman sing
She wasn't asking anything
She wasn't asking anything
How she made the nations sing!

What have we become America?
Soldiers on the Great Frontier!

Run from yourself,
from your friends, from ya--
Run for your life,
for your friends, for ya--
American, merica, meri--
Oh Illinois, Illinois, Illi--

The mattress, the floozies, the actress at the movies
The lantern, the lotion, the wind that wakes the ocean
The Standard Edition, the architect's rendition
The fashion, the fevers, the house we got at Sears

[Part II: "Come to Me Only With Playthings Now"]

Oh Great Fire of Great Disaster
Oh Great Heaven, oh Great Master
Oh Great Goat, the curse you gave us
Oh Great Ghost, protect and save us
Oh Great River, green with envy
Oh Jane Addams, spirit send thee
Oh Great Trumpet and the singers
(Given what you lost are you better off?)
Oh Great Goodman, King of Swingers
(Given what you had, has it made you mad?)
Oh Great Bears and Bulls, Joe Jackson
(Celebrate the few. Celebrate the new.)
Oh Great Illinois
(It can only start with you)

Whenever I hear an unusual time signature I can't really detect it, but I felt something was strange in this song.

I love the easter eggs in this song. The time signature is 11/8, because the tallest man (Robert Waldow, the Giant of Illinois) was 8 feet 11 inches tall

are you sure that's why? I mean, did he say in an interview or something that that's why?

He's amazing. Like every brilliant person, maybe he aspired to too much, wanting to make a record dedicated to every state, but if he ever does, I'd be privileged to have listened to them all.

All these songs remind me of my friends from the great lakes

sounds like The Sims music when you open the town view

I'm drinking cranberry tea.

This makes me so happy

Gosh, the piano part at the beginning could be easily a theme for the Peanuts. I hope I am not the only one who thaught about that :)

that short segment starting at 2:45 is so goshdang beautiful

I'm going to be honest, I don't know what the time signature is for this song. I'm not going to try and sound smart by offering a guess.

It's 22/8. If you really want to know, I have a music theory term paper from 2007 saying as much. But group it as 3+3+2+2+3+3+2+2+2 -- this will work most of the time, and when it doesn't, it switches to straight 5/4 or 10/8.

The conductor would go home, and let Sufjan handle this one himself!

This was me when I was 17-18. Sufjan is a genius, and this song consciously and ironically shat on music theory.

Yes but it's really 22/8 if you want to make that point: 3+3+2+2+3+3+2+2+2... two dotted quarters, two normal quarters, two dotted quarters, THREE normal quarters. Even more importantly, it's not the only 22/8 of this type out there, Pat Metheny Group have been here a few times, as have Anekdoten and KGLW, if you want to get into obscure international prog. But it's hard to ignore that the main rhythm in this song is in 22 more than it's in 11 or 5+6.

I'd be curious to see the paper! I kinda agree with you. Personally I just think of it as 11/8, with the music working in 2 measure phrases, which kinda supports what you are saying, but I wouldn't group it in 22/8 on paper...it just seems ridiculous, but your argument(rhythmic groupings) makes total sense. But I mean, in the end, who really gives a shit! lol the music is awesome! sufjan is a genius fo sho!

This song is fucking gay
Sincerely,
-open minded scholarly individual

You have so much fail, it cannot even be measured by modern devices.

nice try

Your comment made me laugh. I guess the other people who replied can't take a joke. You know, if you appreciate good music, you should be able to appreciate a good joke. Otherwise, you're just a fanboy really.

And it's awesome exactly for that reason haha <3

i kno this comment was 2 years ago but u right

I swear this makes me think of those old Charlie Brown/Snoopy cartoons....

definitely awesome use of time signatures, however playful.  This is epic.

I was listening to this on the bus and I was struggling to find out what time signature this was. Then it hit me: 10/8 and 12/8! (Some of it later switches to straight 10/8) 10/8 is actually very similar to Bane's theme in The Dark Knight Rises.

the movie Driving Lessons with Rupert Grint brought me here

@Seung Hyun Park
you don't need to be a chef to know a shit sandwich tastes of shit

@imjohnfreeman  I meant I didn't want to judge his ability. I got mouth and I can taste any shit like this a Shit sandwich movie.  

@Seung Hyun Park
it's a toasted shit sandwich

@imjohnfreeman yeah  you're such a beautiful 

@Seung Hyun Park
thanks, long live north korea

Lovely 11/8

The end of this song give me chills it's so beautiful.

influenced by Jake Holmes watch?v=BawDjOmTvdQ

It's actually a mixed meter, between 5/8 and 6/8
The eight always has the beat, so you know it's X/8 instead of X/4

Christopher Bachmann could just be played in double time and the quarter note gets the beat. Just a thought. It really just depends on how Sufjan wrote it out

it's definitely mixed meter... 5/8 and 6/8
The eight always has the beat.

or even 5/8 6/8

Considering the repetition I think it would better suited to call it a bar of 5/4 and one of 6/4

5 beats per measure... im pretty sure dude

really? sweet.

I've loved this album for quite some time now. It doesn't grow old, it grows younger! Like a fresh little flower that's always willing to give you a push to ride the train and ride it after night!

This song was recorded in honor of Robert Pershing Wadlow (February 22, 1918 – July 15, 1940); the tallest person in history.

Quirky, artistic, supremely enjoyable - as a complete album, it seems. WOW!

When I go walking and this song starts playing I always feel like I'm in this awesome musical and that people, suddenly are going to start dancing, jumping and singing

AWESOME MOVIE!!! XD

thats wiener sauce scott

It's not even 5/4 to 7/4 it's 5/4 to like bleedin' 9/4 or something isn't it? Blimey.

There's nothing wrong with 11/4 or 11/8; they're used as often as the alternating time-signatures. But it's clearly a two-bar phrase. Thus, 5/8 followed by 6/8, or 5/4 followed by 6/4. This would be a pretty fast tempo, but the song feels pretty fast, and it's not as fast as some old classical waltzes or old swing numbers (sometimes 4/4 with a crotchet beat of 200+!).

That 5/8 - 7/8 variation in the middle of the song blows me away every time!

11/8 bud. :)

all of those are plausible. It could also be 11/8; it all depends on how he wrote it out. It's all up to Sufjan

Ian Mustard I'm guessing it's 11/8 seeing as the world's tallest man is 8 foot 11 inches

So.. you don't cry when you hear this? ...I think that's a normal reaction.

I don't know why but this song always fails to bring me to tears. #nataattractive #romulusisnycity

Sounds like tUnE-yArDs- Bizness

nice, a bar of 5 and a bar of 6 i thought. still cool.

Oh my god, i'm not the only one who noticed the time signature. 1:52 i thought was 8/4 which i thought was weird

@scottchupp 5/4 then 6/4 (or two measures of 3/4), really, but 11/4 works. Hahaha

hmmm....sounds sexy

One of my favorite sufjan songs... And I know em all by heart !!

Perfect for a long car trip with friends!
Adele, Laura, Sonja, Elissa, Kiong-yu, Ondreg, Mika, Anita, Eva... Iceland...
I already miss you! :D

From album Chicago? Might want to change that.

I absolutely love the crazy time signature. The drum fill around 3:30 perfectly captures that.

this is a nice song!

they don't make them like this anymore..

Phenomenomly beautiful from 4m40s

Nice... I heard this in Driving Lessosn...so Great

such a great song!