Carl Sandburg Visits Me In A Dream: Explained, Kind Of

I would first like to start off by explaining the meaning behind my blog title. Often times, I'm reading music blogs and I have no idea how the hell they get their names.

I first must tell you that I am a huge Sufjan Stevens fan. I have been listening to him for about a year now, and I find the lyrical and musical quality of his music to be amazing (amazing will be referred to as chamazing at times). He really is one of the great songwriters of our time-if you don't believe me, you can go and pick up a copy of PASTE magazine (they ranked him number 43 out of 100 I believe).

I fell in love with Sufjan's most recent release, Illinois, which, if you don't have it yet, you should most definitely get it. Sufjan (who claims that his name is Armenian for "the man with a sword") is an identified Christian who explores a great deal of religious imagery in his work. However, it isn't over-bearing or blatant in any way. Stevens remains vehement in not revealing the meaning behind many of his songs, insisting that the listener derive his/her own meaning. In my point of view, Stevens explores the difficulties of religion, the excitement of exploration, and the character of America (with a little social critique) among other themes.

In addition to his epic titles-see track titles for the albums Michigan and Illinois-Sufjan also is a multi-talented musician who loves using trumpets and banjos in his songs. His most recent release, "Illinois", was originally slated to be a double album, but the idea was scrapped earlier on. And with the mini success of Illinois, Sufjan has decided to release the second half of the original album, which is called The Avalanche. It is going to come out some time in June (details will be forthcoming). Go and buy it!

But I have digressed. My blog is named after a song on the Illinois album, entitled, "Come On! Feel The Illinoise!: Part I: The World's Columbian Exposition/Part II: Carl Sandburg Visits Me In A Dream". The song is about entrepeneuralism in America as represented by the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893 that was held in Chicago. The products that he names in the song all debuted at the Exposition (he did his research-4 months worth!). The song talks about-in my opinion-materialism among Americans, and then it swithces midway into a song about Carl Sandburg, the great Chicago poet. Sufjan asks himself (or Sandburg asks him), "Are you writing from the heart?", as if to say that he is trying to be true to himself, to be independent of everyone else around him. The song is so incredibly deep on so many levels and that's why he is the 43rd best songwriter. And so, my blog is named after this song because the thoughts and artists that will appear in this blog will be driven by independent thinking and creativity.

See lyrics to Come On! Feel The Illinoise!: Part I: The World's Columbian Exposition/Part II: Carl Sandburg Visits Me In A Dream

Listen to Come On! Feel The Illinoise!: Part I: The World's Columbian Exposition/Part II: Carl Sandburg Visits Me In A Dream.

Buy the album.