Chicago (Sufjan Stevens song)
Encyclopedia
"Chicago" is a track from Sufjan Stevens
2005 concept album
Illinois
, released on Asthmatic Kitty
. The song tells the semi-autobiographical story of a young man on a road trip, and his youthful idealism. The track is Stevens' signature song, and he usually ends his live shows with a version of this song. The song has been recorded in four different versions by Stevens himself, the versions not on Illinois being included on the collection The Avalanche. The track has also been sampled by Chiddy Bang
on their single "All Things Go".
. However this track is one of the most autobiographical on the album. Sufjan Stevens states in interviews around the release, that, "I've had quite a few exceptional and traumatic experiences in Illinois, a few times when visiting Chicago at a particularly difficult time in my life or driving cross country and being pulled over by the cops just outside of Peoria
," and that he saw his first rock show there. However, he self deprecatingly qualifies the story of the song as only being partly true, stating, "The writer is the inventor, the designer, the creative force behind a body of work. The author is the actual man or woman, in reality, in society, in person. I like Woody Allen
the director/writer, circa 1975, but I doubt I would like Woody Allen the person, circa 1975." Stevens also cited the poem "Chicago" by Saul Bellow
as an influence on the track, and had intended to include a track about Bellow on Illinois, but could not find a way to adequately cover the writer.
version of the original track, and the particularly strange "Multiple Personality Disorder Version", of which Stevens stated, "James, my drummer was in town, and we decided it would be kind of fun to deconstruct the song".
Sufjan Stevens
Sufjan Stevens is an American singer-songwriter and musician born in Detroit, Michigan. Stevens first began releasing his music on Asthmatic Kitty, a label co-founded with his stepfather, beginning with the 1999 release, A Sun Came...
2005 concept album
Concept album
In music, a concept album is an album that is "unified by a theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, narrative, or lyrical." Commonly, concept albums tend to incorporate preconceived musical or lyrical ideas rather than being improvised or composed in the studio, with all songs contributing...
Illinois
Illinois (album)
Illinois is a 2005 concept album by American indie folk songwriter Sufjan Stevens. His fifth studio album, Illinois features songs referencing places, events, and persons related to the U.S. state of Illinois...
, released on Asthmatic Kitty
Asthmatic Kitty
Asthmatic Kitty is an American independent record label founded in 1999 by a community of musicians from Holland, Michigan led by musician Sufjan Stevens and his stepfather Lowell Brams. Some were Holland natives, and others had come to attend local colleges and universities...
. The song tells the semi-autobiographical story of a young man on a road trip, and his youthful idealism. The track is Stevens' signature song, and he usually ends his live shows with a version of this song. The song has been recorded in four different versions by Stevens himself, the versions not on Illinois being included on the collection The Avalanche. The track has also been sampled by Chiddy Bang
Chiddy Bang
Chiddy Bang is an American alternative hip hop band from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The group consists of Chidera "Chiddy" Anamege and Noah "Xaphoon Jones" Beresin. The duo was introduced through former band member Zachary Sewall in late 2008 during their freshman year at Drexel University, in...
on their single "All Things Go".
Production
In the process of making the second album in his ambitious Fifty States Project, which involved recording an album for each of the states of America, Stevens had committed a large amount of time to researching the people and history of IllinoisIllinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
. However this track is one of the most autobiographical on the album. Sufjan Stevens states in interviews around the release, that, "I've had quite a few exceptional and traumatic experiences in Illinois, a few times when visiting Chicago at a particularly difficult time in my life or driving cross country and being pulled over by the cops just outside of Peoria
Peoria
-United States:* Peoria, Arizona** Peoria Unified School District**Peoria Sports Complex**Peoria High School* Peoria, Illinois** Peoria County, Illinois** Roman Catholic Diocese of Peoria* Peoria, Franklin County, Indiana* Peoria, Miami County, Indiana...
," and that he saw his first rock show there. However, he self deprecatingly qualifies the story of the song as only being partly true, stating, "The writer is the inventor, the designer, the creative force behind a body of work. The author is the actual man or woman, in reality, in society, in person. I like Woody Allen
Woody Allen
Woody Allen is an American screenwriter, director, actor, comedian, jazz musician, author, and playwright. Allen's films draw heavily on literature, sexuality, philosophy, psychology, Jewish identity, and the history of cinema...
the director/writer, circa 1975, but I doubt I would like Woody Allen the person, circa 1975." Stevens also cited the poem "Chicago" by Saul Bellow
Saul Bellow
Saul Bellow was a Canadian-born Jewish American writer. For his literary contributions, Bellow was awarded the Pulitzer Prize, the Nobel Prize for Literature, and the National Medal of Arts...
as an influence on the track, and had intended to include a track about Bellow on Illinois, but could not find a way to adequately cover the writer.
Alternate versions
The year after the track was released on Illinois, three further versions were included on the outtakes album, The Avalanche: Outtakes and Extras from the Illinois Album, these being an acoustic version, the "Adult Contemporary Easy Listening Version", which is a loungeLounge music
Lounge music is a retrospective description of music popular in the 1950s and 1960s. It is a type of mood music meant to evoke in the listeners the feeling of being in a place — a jungle, an island paradise, outer space, et cetera — other than where they are listening to it...
version of the original track, and the particularly strange "Multiple Personality Disorder Version", of which Stevens stated, "James, my drummer was in town, and we decided it would be kind of fun to deconstruct the song".
Reception
The track was well received as the centerpiece of the acclaimed album, Illinois. Allmusic described the track as having "An expansiveness that radiates with the ballast of history and the promise of new beginnings.", and the track was included as one of the Pitchfork 500 most important tracks since punk broke.Personnel
For original version:- Julianne Carney – violinViolinThe violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
- Tom Eaton – choir
- Jeniffer Hoover – choir
- Maria Beller Jeffers – celloCelloThe cello is a bowed string instrument with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is a member of the violin family of musical instruments, which also includes the violin, viola, and double bass. Old forms of the instrument in the Baroque era are baryton and viol .A person who plays a cello is...
- Katrina Kerns – choir
- Beccy Lock – choir
- James McAlister – drums
- Tara McDonnell – choir
- Craig Montoro – trumpet
- Rob Moose – violin
- Sufjan Stevens – arrangement, production, banjo, bass guitar, composition, engineering, glockenspiel, guitar, organ, shaker, tambourine, vocals
- Alan Douches – mastering
In other media
- The track was featured in the Oscar-winning film Little Miss SunshineLittle Miss SunshineLittle Miss Sunshine is a 2006 American comedy-drama film. The road movie's plot follows a family's trip to a children's beauty pageant.Little Miss Sunshine was the directorial film debut of the husband-wife team of Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris. The screenplay was written by first-time writer...
and its soundtrack album. - The vibraphoneVibraphoneThe vibraphone, sometimes called the vibraharp or simply the vibes, is a musical instrument in the struck idiophone subfamily of the percussion family....
line from the start of the song and the chorus were sampled in Chiddy BangChiddy BangChiddy Bang is an American alternative hip hop band from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The group consists of Chidera "Chiddy" Anamege and Noah "Xaphoon Jones" Beresin. The duo was introduced through former band member Zachary Sewall in late 2008 during their freshman year at Drexel University, in...
's 2009 single "All Things Go".