Guevara
Alfonso Guevara
Ms. Ellis
English 1301
11 January 2019
Casimir Pulaski Day
Sufjan Steven, one of the first few indie artists, has had numerous hits over the past decade. Some of his songs like “Futile Devices” and “Visions of Gideon” are some of his more popular songs, but one of his most important songs has always been “Casimir Pulaski Day.” “Casimir Pulaski Day” was released in 2005 in the album “Illinois, and it was a totally different change of pace from his usual songs, which resulted in some mixed opinions. However, this song not only sounded different from Steven’s usual work, but it told a story about the artist himself and a close friend of his.
The opening lyrics of the song go “Goldenrod and the 4H stone; The things I brought you; When I found out you had cancer of the bone.” Based on these lyrics, this states that Steven brought these things to his friend when he found out that his friend had bone cancer. Skip ahead a few lines to where to where it says “All the glory that the Lord has made; And the complications you could do without; When I kissed you on the mouth.” There are two important things to look at in these lines. First, the complications that it is referring to is of course the bone cancer that his friend has, and secondly, the line “When I kissed you on the mouth,” may indicate that the artist and his friend may have had more that just a platonic relationship.
The next few lines in the song go “Tuesday night at the Bible study; We lift our hands and pray over your body; But nothing ever happens,” it gives us more information on what else was done after his friend was diagnosed with bone cancer. Looking at the lines from other parts of the song “All the glory that the Lord has made” and “Pray over your body,” we can see how involved the artist was with his religion and what he himself believed in. Not many of his previous songs nor do his m...
