Death with Dignity - Sufjan Stevens ✦✦✦ (Meaning & Lyrics Explained)

Explained in English

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Now, let's learn some English with music as I explain the lyrics and meaning of the song "Death with Dignity" by Sufjan Stevens.

Lyrics Difficulty: ✦✦✦

INTRO:

(00:23) Why I chose this song; dark music; Sufjan Stevens

(00:47) Introduction to "Death with Dignity"

(02:12) Notes on advanced explanation; music and transcript available at https://explainedinenglish.com/podcast/deathwithdignity.html

VERSE ONE:

(06:00) Spirit of my silence I can hear you but I'm afraid to be near you

(07:13) And I don't know where to begin

VERSE TWO:

(07:45) Somewhere in the desert there's a forest and an acre before us

(09:01) But I don't know where to begin

(09:15) Again I've lost my strength completely. Oh be near me tired old mare with the wind in your hair

VERSE THREE:

(10:54) Amethyst and flowers on the table. Is it real or a fable?

(12:57) Well I suppose a friend is a friend and we all know how this will end

VERSE FOUR:

(14:04) Chimney swift that finds me be my keeper

(15:22) Silhouette of the cedar

(15:58) What is that song you sing for the dead?

(16:34) I see the signal searchlight strike me in the window of my room. Well I got nothin' to prove

VERSE FIVE:

(18:29) I forgive you mother. I can hear you and I long to be near you

(19:56) But every road leads to an end

(20:22) Your apparition passes through me in the willows. Five red hens -- you'll never see us again

OUTRO:

(22:40) Listen to the song and the rest of the album "Carrie and Lowell" at: https://explainedinenglish.com/podcast/deathwithdignity.html

(23:17) Download nine unreleased song explanations at: https://explainedinenglish.com/#albums

Photo of Sufjan Stevens: By Sufjan Stevens playing banjo.jpg: Joe Lencioniderivative work: Antilived - Sufjan Stevens playing banjo.jpg, CC BY-SA 2.5, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1495745