Duecento anni di musica raccolti in 75 minuti.
Dalla musica classica ottocentesca al modern classical, dal folk tradizionale nord-americano al pop anglosassone, dal jazz al rock & blues, dal gospel bianco al funk orchestrale: tutto insieme in unico album o, meglio, in ogni singola traccia.
22 tracce, la cui descrizione dettagliata, a livello di qualità artistica e di emozioni suscitate nell'ascoltatore, richiederebbe svariati giorni di lavoro e un librettino in allegato. E sarebbe, probabilmente, insufficiente.
Meglio, allora, chiudere gli occhi ed ascoltarlo questo "Illinois". Ed accadrà, così, che si materializzeranno paesaggi e colonne sonore nel corso di un viaggio fantastico.
Filarmoniche con il loro formale ed impeccabile contegno che suonano accanto ad orchestrine di strada col barattolino per le offerte dei passanti. Chopin che porta il pianoforte in campagna e improvvisa un duetto con Neil Young e Will Oldham. Morrissey, Thom Yorke e Morricone che si danno appuntamento per suonare in un saloon. Bill Evans e Benny Goodman che suonano con Jeff Buckley ed Elliott Smith da qualche parte in paradiso.
Cori e orchestrazioni (mai epiche o barocche) intrecciate a momenti più intimi e minimalistici. Una molteplicità di strumenti, stili, sonorità, atmosfere, immagini e, in definitiva, di emozioni.
Capolavoro.
Elenco tracce testi e samples
02 The Black Hawk War, or, How to Demolish an Entire Civilization and Still Feel Good About Yourself in the Morning, or, We Apologize for the Inconvenience but You're Going to Have to Leave Now, or, "I Have Fought the Big Knives and Will Continue to Fight Them Until They Are Off Our Lands!" (02:14)
03 Come On! Feel the Illinoise! Part I: The World's Columbian Exposition, Part II: Carl Sandburg Visits Me in a Dream (06:45)
04 John Wayne Gacy, Jr. (03:19)
His father was a drinker
And his mother cried in bed
Folding John Wayne's t-shirts
When the swing set hit his head
The neighbors, they adored him
For his humor and his conversation
Look underneath the house there
Find the few living things
Rotting fast in their sleep of the dead
Twenty-seven people
Even more
They were boys
With their cars
Summer jobs
Oh my God...
Are you one of them?
He dressed up like a clown for them
With his face paint white and red
And on his best behavior
In a dark room on the bed he kissed them all
He'd kill ten thousand people
With a sleight of his hand
Running far, running fast to the dead
He took off all their clothes for them
He put a cloth
On their lips
Quiet hands
Quiet kiss
On the mouth
And in my best behavior
I am really just like him
Look beneath the floorboards
For the secrets I have hid
05 Jacksonville (05:24)
I’m not afraid of the black man running
He’s got it right, he's got a better life comin'
And I don't care what the Captain said
I fold it right at the top of my head
I lost my sight and the state packs in
I follow my heart and it leads me right to Jackson
(Oh Keller, oh oh oh oh)
She gave us a medal she gave us a map
(Oh Canner Row, oh oh oh)
If seeing is right, then look where you're at
I'm not afraid of Nichol's Park
I ride the train and I ride it after dark
And I'm not afraid to get it right
I turn around and I give it one more try
And I said things that I meant to say
The bandstand chairs and the Dewey Day Parade
I go out to the Golden Age
The spirit is right and the spirit doesn't change
(Oh Keller, oh oh oh oh)
She gave us a mirror, she gave us a map
(Oh Canner Row, oh oh oh)
If seeing is right, then look where you're at
Andrew Jackson! All I'm asking
Show us the wheel, and give us the wine
Raise the Banner, Jackson Hammer!
Everyone goes to the capitol line
Colored Preacher, nice to meet you!
The spirit is here, and the spirit is fine
Education! Ask the nation!
You gave us our sight and the hearing is fine
Andrew Jackson! All I'm asking
Give us the wheel, and give us the wine
06 A Short Reprise for Mary Todd, Who Went Insane, but for Very Good Reasons (00:47)
07 Decatur, or, Round of Applause for Your Stepmother! (03:03)
Our step mom we did everything to hate her
She took us down to the edge of Decatur
We saw the lion and the kangeroo take her
Down to the river where they caught a wild alligator
Sangamon River it overflowed
It caused a mudslide on the banks of the operator
civil war skeletons in their graves,
They came up clapping in the spirit of the aviator
The sound of the engines and the smell of the grain,
We go riding on the abolition grain train
Steven A. Douglas was a great debater,
But Abraham Lincoln was the great emancipator
Chickenmobile with your rooster tail
I had my fill and I know how bad it feels
Stay awake and watch for the data
No small caterpiller, go congratulate her
Denominator, go Decatur, go Decatur,
It's the great I Am
abominate her, go Decatur, why did we hate her?
It's the great I Am
Denominator, go Decatur, anticipate her
It's the great I Am
Appreciate her, appreciate her,
Stand up and thank her,
Stand up and thank her,
It's the great I Am.
Stand up and thank her,
It's the great I Am.
Stand up and thank her,
It's the great I Am.
Stand up and thank her
09 Chicago (06:04)
I fell in love again
All things go, all things go
Drove to Chicago
All things know, all things know
We sold our clothes to the state
I don't mind, I don't mind
I made a lot of mistakes
In my mind, in my mind
You came to take us
All things go, all things go
To recreate us
All things grow, all things grow
We had our mindset
All things know, all things know
You had to find it
All things go, all things go
I drove to New York
in a van, with my friend
We slept in parking lots
I don't mind, I don't mind
I was in love with the place
In my mind, in my mind
I made a lot of mistakes
In my mind, in my mind
You came to take us
All things go, all things go
To recreate us
All things grow, all things grow
We had our mindset
All things know, all things know
You had to find it
All things go, all things go
If I was crying
In the van, with my friend
It was for freedom
From myself and from the land
I made a lot of mistakes
I made a lot of mistakes
I made a lot of mistakes
I made a lot of mistakes
You came to take us
All things go, all things go
To recreate us
All things grow, all things grow
We had our mindset
All things know, all things know
You had to find it
All things go, all things go
You came to take us
All things go, all things go
To recreate us
All things grow, all things grow
We had our mindset
(I made a lot of mistakes)
All things know, all things know
(I made a lot of mistakes)
You had to find it
(I made a lot of mistakes)
All things go, all things go
(I made a lot of mistakes)
11 To the Workers of the Rockford River Valley Region, I Have an Idea Concerning Your Predicament (01:40)
13 Prairie Fire That Wanders About (02:11)
Peoria! Destroyia!
Infinity! Divinity!
For Lydia! Octavia!
And Jack-of-Trades!
The Cubs! Hooray!
The Opera House
Where Emma sang!
America! Oh will it play?
And Santa Clause!
The Great Parade!
Peoria!
You have it made!
Into the crossfire
faithfully run
Middle America,
one on one
Peoria!
we saddle the fun times
14 A Conjunction of Drones Simulating the Way in Which Sufjan Stevens Has an Existential Crisis in the Great Godfrey Maze (00:19)
Instrumental
16 They Are Night Zombies!! They Are Neighbors!! They Have Come Back From the Dead!! Ahhhh! (05:09)
17 Let's Hear That String Part Again, Because I Don't Think They Heard It All the Way Out in Bushnell (00:40)
19 The Seer's Tower (03:53)
In the tower above the earth,
There is a view that reaches far
Where we see the universe,
I see the fire, I see the end.
Seven miles above the earth,
There is Emmanuel of mothers.
With his sword, with his robe,
He comes dividing man from brothers.
In the tower above the earth, we built it for Emmanuel.
In the powers of the earth, we wait until it rips and rips.
In the tower above the earth, we built it for Emmanuel.
Oh my mother, she betrayed us, but my father loved and bathed us.
Still I go to the deepest grave,
Where I go to sleep alone
20 The Tallest Man, the Broadest Shoulders, Part I: The Great Frontier, Part II: Come to Me Only With Playthings Now (07:02)
21 Riffs and Variations on a Single Note for Jelly Roll, Earl Hines, Louis Armstrong, Baby Dodds, and the King of Swing, to Name a Few (00:46)
22 Out of Egypt, Into the Great Laugh of Mankind, and I Shake the Dirt From My Sandals as I Run (04:21)
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