Sufjan Stevens - Fourth of July (Carrie & Lowell Live)

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  • Опубликовано: 3 июл 2021
  • Happy Fourth of July. We're all gonna die.
  • ВидеоклипыВидеоклипы

Комментарии • 111

  • @valmakesvids3952
    @valmakesvids3952 Год назад +939

    it would take all my might to not break into tears performing this

    • @marcusmphotography
      @marcusmphotography Год назад +34

      i even cried just listening to this 😭

    • @Valeriia-iu5tw
      @Valeriia-iu5tw Год назад +11

      I agree. I think it is impossible not to cry

    • @artor1309
      @artor1309 Год назад +5

      that's why he looks at the backup singers and they raise their voice at certain points

    • @duty7603
      @duty7603 7 месяцев назад

      That’s not why he’s doing that at all, but good on you for making that up.

    • @chuckiepeoples
      @chuckiepeoples 3 месяца назад

      Just picture everyone in the crowd naked. Especially your parents.

  • @michaelhernandez7978
    @michaelhernandez7978 11 месяцев назад +307

    My mother died in front of me naked of a violent drug overdose when I was 16. I am about to turn 24 and I still have not gotten over it, no therapist will help me, I have even been turned away for my baggage.
    I am still mentally 16. I am stuck there and have been for seven and a half grueling years.
    I downloaded some songs for a flight to see my girlfriend, and this was one of them. Never listened to his music before. Now, it is helping me process and feel her love more than any therapist could ever help me do.
    Thank God for music. I've searched so long for a song like this..

    • @geri_duka7
      @geri_duka7 10 месяцев назад +20

      stay strong brother ! she would be so proud of you 🤜🤛

    • @Jonilo123
      @Jonilo123 10 месяцев назад +18

      I`m a 60 year old mamabear. Sorry for your lost and the trauma. Sending you hugs and love. Keep walking. There are better days waiting for you ❤

    • @Insomnia19101
      @Insomnia19101 6 месяцев назад +6

      Stay strong ❤❤ sending love to you

    • @nickcascone4552
      @nickcascone4552 5 месяцев назад +7

      Absolutely process with music, dance and song. What can also really help are IFS therapy and somatic experiencing. These are the trauma therapies I've worked with. I'm sorry for your experience. I hope you find the love within yourself that is still there. Big internet hugs my friend.

    • @kermitTheFrog466
      @kermitTheFrog466 4 месяца назад +3

      Very moving post . Stay strong . This pain can be the key for your future success . You’re not alone , we rooting for you ! You will find the strength

  • @kimmair5912
    @kimmair5912 Год назад +328

    One of the most beautiful songs ever written…

  • @HaggisVitae
    @HaggisVitae Год назад +421

    This whole album got me through the loss of my beloved dad. He was my best friend, partner in silliness, confidant, scientific warrior, skeptic, beautiful soul. Thank you for helping me with this loss, Sufjan Stevens.

    • @Deadcops
      @Deadcops Год назад +13

      I’m so sorry for your loss. He sounds like a beautiful person and just know he will love you until the end of time

  • @eplamoureux
    @eplamoureux Год назад +106

    My mom was a proud single mom who raised my sister and I all by herself. When the challenges got too much for her, she found relief in beating the shit out of me. I lived in fear all through grade school. It was all the usual instruments. Sometimes a wooden spoon, sometimes a belt, sometimes a broomstick, sometimes a power cord. I remember one time, it was kindling next to the fireplace against my bare bottom. I had to pluck splinters out of the welts in my 9 year old thighs. That one was unique though, one of a kind. For the most part, she stuck to the classics.
    I was also bullied a lot at school. The worst days, I always knew I could count on her to make me feel better. She would pet my head, assure me that I was loved, and make me the most delicious chocolate chip cookies.
    Grade school was a confusing time. I never knew if the days were gonna be good or bad. A beautiful sunny day in the garden could turn to terror. A miserable, rainy day could turn to joy.
    Eventually, I got big enough to stand up for myself. And the next time she swung to hit me, I blocked her hit, struck back with my other hand, and knocked her down. I can still see her crawling confused out of the dirt, her hair flying wildly. A look of rage and fear in her face as I stood over her. The frames of her now-broken glasses awkwardly clinging to her face for dear life.
    She never hit me after that. But she also stopped caressing me after that. I stopped living in fear of her, but when I came to her with the broken heart of failed teenage love, I was left to figure it out on my own.
    I graduated, moved away, and lost touch with her. Fell deep into a bong, surfacing only long enough to flail around at punk shows and skate spots.
    Eventually, we reconnected. Slowly at first, then more and more. She attended my wedding, the birth of my first son.
    As my children grew older, she volunteered to babysit for them. Her rage would resurface. I had to put my foot down. My wife wasn't tolerating mistreatment of our children.
    I said to mom, "I can't let you treat them the way you treated me, the way you hurt me."
    She responded, "What are you talking about? I never abused you."
    I wanted to scream, to shout, "You threw me across my room when I was 7 years old and split my skull open! I needed 13 stitches! We had a CPS investigation and you threatened me with a belt before the caseworker came over!"
    Instead, I just shrugged. And made sure not to allow her to be alone around them. Without ever confronting her.
    You know. Like what a coward would do.
    Meanwhile, the two of us grew closer and closer. She cheered on my successes in work, boasted about what a great marriage I had, what incredibly imaginative and well mannered kids I had. When I drove home on long commutes, I would call her nearly every day, just to discuss current events.
    She once asked me why we got along so much better as adults. I jokingly said, "I don't think we were compatible roommates."
    Her call in September 2021 came out of the blue. She had advanced stomach cancer. She had always been so stubborn about neglecting her healthcare. ("All them doctors are just a buncha pill pushers anyhow"). The cancer had metastasized into her liver and kidneys. She only had a few months to live, and at this point it was just a matter of treating the pain.
    She was able to attend the wedding of my first born son in October 2021. She stayed a few days after, to watch my two youngest boys go trick or treating.
    She went home and began discreetly packing and organizing her entire life's belongings into tidy little stacks in different closets. Always organized, never wanting to be a burden.
    I got the call that she died, on Black Friday. I was packing to go visit her one last time. It felt surreal unpacking the clothes I'd packed for our last visit.
    2020 was an absolute mess. None of us deserved the cruelty and depression of that year. I was determined to make sure Christmas 2021 was a success. So I suppressed my grief for my children. We decorated the tree and the house, we drove around almost every night listening to Bing Crosby and Burl Ives croon all the holiday favorites looking at lights. Our Scout Elf was extra creative and Santa Claus was extra generous.
    And by the time the holidays were behind us, it just felt weird and forced to cave in to the grief. I don't think we're supposed to delay those kinds of feelings. They turn into a mess that just festers away in the bottom of your heart.
    I'd always heard of Sufjan Stevens but had never really explored his catalogue. I found this song about 2 months ago, and I can't stop listening to it. People tell me that its about a song about a man, estranged from a sub-standard mom, who forgave and reconnected with her, before she died of stomach cancer.
    Gee, what's that like...
    I'm obsessed with this song, and its probably not healthy, but it speaks to my very soul.
    "Did you get enough love, my little dove?" - no, mom, I didn't. I know you struggled with being a single parent. I know you struggled with your own grief, losing your husband so early in your marriage. And you were always so caring, when you needed to be.
    But my childhood was scary, and sad, and unfair. And I missed him too, god dammit!
    I should have said more to her. I should have confronted my mom. I should have been braver. Or, maybe forcing her to face the pain she caused, would have been an unfair pain to her. Who knows? Its too late now. There are no great lessons to learn from my confession, other than to keep your hands off of little kids.
    Mr. Sufjan Stevens, I'm so sorry that we share such a common life path. I pray you've been able to find some kind of meaningful love to accompany it like I have. Thank you so much for the 5 minutes of therapy you've blessed us with.

    • @jmk888
      @jmk888  Год назад +9

      I'm very happy you found this song. I'm sure the rest of Carrie & Lowell and Sufjan's catalogue would bring great comfort to you. Reading your words about regretting not saying more reminded me so much of another song from this album, "Should Have Known Better." You can find a live version on RUclips from this very show.
      While his lyrics can be beautifully flowery and poetic, I think his most powerful words are usually the simplest.
      "I should have known better
      Nothing can be changed
      The past is still the past
      The bridge to nowhere
      I should have wrote a letter
      Explaining what I feel, that empty feeling
      Don’t back down, concentrate on seeing
      The breakers in the bar, the neighbor’s greeting
      My brother had a daughter
      The beauty that she brings, illumination"

    • @rachelkenny5995
      @rachelkenny5995 Год назад +4

      Thank you for sharing your story with us, it is very beautifully written. I am so sorry for your pain and so glad you've found some comfort in this song.

    • @Pipsqueek3
      @Pipsqueek3 8 месяцев назад +5

      This is so beautifully written, I would love to see it published somewhere so it could reach more people. Are you a writer?

    • @eplamoureux
      @eplamoureux 8 месяцев назад +2

      @audreywarnez
      Thanks Audrey. The only thing I write is code. I wrote an instruction manual for fathers once, but couldn't find a publisher.
      So I post stuff in quiet little corners of the internet. Its a hobby.

    • @Stoffendous
      @Stoffendous 7 месяцев назад +1

      As a father of a kid of 1 and a kid of 7 years old your story was gutwrenching to read. So sorry how you were treated as a child. Children are so pure, innocent and full of love/life...

  • @Delipup
    @Delipup Год назад +377

    This version of the song, I would do anything to hear it live like this once in my life. 💙

    • @briankimballkay
      @briankimballkay Год назад +27

      A friend and I saw it live in Oakland, California a few years ago. The sounds toward the end of the song - the "we're all gonna die" section - was so loud and throbbing, an almost terrifying crescendo- it felt like my chest was going to break. My friend later said it was "the most apocalyptic moment of my life." A few weeks later his own father would die, nearly in his arms. The song is such a compelling and forceful reminder of our own mortality, and is a musical version (to me) of the great book The Denial of Death, by Ernest Becker. Sufjan's Christian faith brings some resolution to this (a faith I share), but this song stands along as both chilling and powerful, IMO. Probably one of the most powerful concert moments of my life.

  • @Amell_Ariessa
    @Amell_Ariessa Год назад +59

    The way I'd cry if i hear this live 💀

    • @trxsh12
      @trxsh12 11 месяцев назад +1

      Fr

  • @fluffythechicken8264
    @fluffythechicken8264 8 месяцев назад +61

    The ending of this performance hit me so hard. I didn't expect it at all, but the way he turns this sad and melancholic song into a celebration of life is so fascinating. All the lights, it almost feels like a disco, yes, we ARE going to die, but that's the beauty. What would it all mean if it wasn't so short and precious?

    • @mari02492
      @mari02492 5 месяцев назад

      What's the lyric towards the end? I couldnt catch it

    • @vahdz09
      @vahdz09 5 месяцев назад

      ⁠we are all gonna die… but I’m still alive

  • @User-ft6dc
    @User-ft6dc Год назад +111

    Imagine you're not familiar with Sufjan Stevens and your friend takes you to this concert. At the end of that song you're lookin' around the room all paranoid like "hey wtf is he talkin' about bro..."

  • @marie-louise9019
    @marie-louise9019 Год назад +133

    (Sufjan talks, in his imagination, to his mother who just died.)
    The evil, it spread like a fever ahead.
    It was night when you died, my firefly.
    What could I have said to raise you from the dead?
    Oh, could I be the sky on the Fourth of July?
    (His imagined and idealized mother responds here. Schizophrenic, manic-depressive and alcoholic, she abandoned Sufjan and his two older brothers, when he was just one year old.)
    Well, you do enough talk, my little hawk.
    Why do you cry?
    Tell me, what did you learn from the Tillamook burn
    or the Fourth of July?
    (Sufjan)
    We're all gonna die.
    Sitting at the bed with the halo at your head,
    Was it all a disguise, like Junior High?
    Where everything was fiction, future, and prediction.
    Now, where am I, my fading supply?
    (his imagined mother)
    Did you get enough love, my little dove?
    Why do you cry?
    And I'm sorry I left, but it was for the best,
    though it never felt right.
    (Sufjan)
    My little Versailles.
    The hospital asked should the body be cast
    before I say goodbye, my star in the sky.
    Such a funny thought to wrap you up in a cloth!
    Do you find it all right, my dragonfly?
    (his imagined mother)
    Shall we look at the moon, my little loon?
    Why do you cry?
    Make the most of your life, while it is rife,
    while it is light.
    Well, you do enough talk, my little hawk.
    Why do you cry?
    Tell me, what did you learn from the Tillamook burn
    or the Fourth of July?
    (Sufjan)
    We're all gonna die. (Sufjan invites us to live more consciously, knowing that death is coming.)

    • @arhamsajid9386
      @arhamsajid9386 Год назад +16

      Thanks for this. It made me understand the song better and I actually got lost in the lyrics. And the music and sound effects. Gosh, he is so talented!

    • @nizamettinavcar1943
      @nizamettinavcar1943 11 месяцев назад

      Thank you

    • @ACLC00
      @ACLC00 5 месяцев назад

      The my little Versailles quote still belongs to the mother she always calls him by different bird names.

  • @makokitsune6487
    @makokitsune6487 Год назад +63

    I could not possibly perform this. I would break into tears at the very start and the rest would be a bunch of voice-cracks and sobs.

  • @-lines-8256
    @-lines-8256 Год назад +138

    lost my mom after a long-term hospital stay similar to sufjan and this song has been instrumental in helping me continue to go on. this live version sent me to tears immediately, without a doubt the best performance ive ever seen.

    • @Zeta9966
      @Zeta9966 Год назад +2

      My dad died in August of last year. A year to the day after the last time I saw him and begged him to stop drinking and get healthy, before I moved 2500 miles away. I wasn't there when he collapsed at home. I wasn't there when he was in the hospital. He only lived two days until the withdrawal took him.
      I hold a lot of resentment for him. The fact that I feel like he chose a vice over his family and only son. Just let it be everyone else's problem. But I also know that addiction is an insidious monster that can warp even the most strong and rational people.
      And yeah... we could be dead in the next 30 seconds... every day is a gift.

  • @salvadarius4739
    @salvadarius4739 Год назад +48

    There's something so comforting about this. Tragic, for sure -- especially for those who've lost loved ones like myself. But there's something almost comforting in the inevitably of death; it is coming, and will happe to all of us. Life is, in many ways, like a weird vacation from our own nonexistence, and sooner or later our vacation ends. Things go back to how they were. And that's sad, but, especially when thinking of the death of a loved one, incredibly comforting to me. Our loved ones are never all that far away from us, in that aspect. Just waiting for us to come back from our own little vacation. I don't know if that sounds silly, but I suppose that's just how my mind works. Beautiful song, and I wish everyone here, especially anyone who's grieving, the best. Take care of yourselves

    • @panikeerder
      @panikeerder 10 месяцев назад

      Beautiful take.

    • @juli3836
      @juli3836 3 месяца назад

      "a weird vacation from our own nonexistence" you put all my thoughts into a sentence so eloquently!

  • @Engelhafen
    @Engelhafen Год назад +48

    Sufjan I hope you feel the love everyone has for you

  • @oregontribal1
    @oregontribal1 Год назад +24

    I found this song referenced in an online book that quoted the song "did you get enough love my little dove? Why do you cry?" The name of the book is "Landon: my killer lover."

  • @amandavaldegas7500
    @amandavaldegas7500 Год назад +57

    This song is the only song that can make me cry in the first 10 seconds. The raw emotion and meaning behind this song is truly heart breaking. ❤️❤️

    • @Zeta9966
      @Zeta9966 Год назад +1

      The only other song that comes close is the split tracks Wings For Marie/10,000 Days by Tool. I've never really heard anything else encapsulate the feeling of watching someone die in a dark hospital/bedroom like this song and those tracks do.
      Wings For Marie in particular is rough especially when you understand the background of it. His mother had a stroke when she was very young, which left her bound to a wheelchair, and severely disabled for the rest of her life... which was 27.... long... years....
      The whole time, despite her lot, she remained strong in her Christian faith and was a beautiful woman that really lived by the goodness that most Christians fake. The others at her church would talk about her behind her back and it left a strong impression on Maynard. He couldn't understand how his mother could remain faithful when, in his eyes, the being she prays to is exactly who robbed her of her life... and how he felt that the church had turned their back on her.
      But when she was in her final days, he came to terms with it, and that's what those two tracks are about. If you haven't heard them, I'd recommend it. You can tell how protective and loyal he was to his mother...

    • @OverJam52
      @OverJam52 11 месяцев назад

      ⁠@@Zeta9966 I thought exactly about that album when I heard this song. So funny someone should mention it here. Glad to see other people can enjoy Sufjan Stevens and Tool at the same time ;-)

  • @laylaevadestaxes788
    @laylaevadestaxes788 Год назад +23

    this is one of the most heart breaking live performances ever… keep it up sufjan

  • @Mila-mk1fz
    @Mila-mk1fz 2 года назад +62

    this song is so sad but i love it

  • @lillywhitlow4639
    @lillywhitlow4639 Год назад +19

    always will forever hold this song in my heart, sometimes i find it too hard to listen to. takes me back to the heartbreak of my first love. “and im sorry i left but it was for the best though it never felt right”.

  • @lydiatheblondie6554
    @lydiatheblondie6554 Год назад +20

    I would do anything to see this live…anything

  • @alooncnej4696
    @alooncnej4696 Год назад +10

    His best album and my favorite song, so much feelings

  • @MK-it7wk
    @MK-it7wk Год назад +19

    I want to see Sufjan live once before I die or he retires.
    I’m from Ireland but will literally fly to another continent if he tours again.

    • @whyisntitpossible404
      @whyisntitpossible404 11 месяцев назад +1

      I live in England. Let's do it

    • @MK-it7wk
      @MK-it7wk 11 месяцев назад +1

      @@whyisntitpossible404 still waiting for tour dates haha. Praying!

  • @solarispramoedya2441
    @solarispramoedya2441 11 месяцев назад +6

    I get goosebumps every time I watch the live performance of sufjan

  • @carolina_jp
    @carolina_jp 10 месяцев назад +3

    I don't think I'd survive hearing this livr

  • @tomashajek1909
    @tomashajek1909 Месяц назад +1

    So beautiful. Georgeous music and lyrics ❤

  • @karlitasan
    @karlitasan 4 месяца назад +4

    I hope he is doing OK. I hope he knows he is so loved.

  • @rofyrain
    @rofyrain 2 года назад +35

    you look happy when I’m not with you

    • @sweetcheese360
      @sweetcheese360 Год назад

      Why you'd attack like that😞

    • @artor1309
      @artor1309 Год назад

      this is a song about someone mother and you make it about your stupid crush, please grow up.

  • @Enelim4
    @Enelim4 10 месяцев назад +5

    Fourth of july sempre será uma obra prima

  • @thomass30
    @thomass30 Год назад +4

    Beautiful, thank you.

  • @imvu5317
    @imvu5317 Год назад +8

    It's so so beautiful

  • @billpayne5365
    @billpayne5365 Год назад +14

    Amo essa música
    Muito obrigado, por ter postado esse vídeo!😔🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍

  • @seagreentangerine2065
    @seagreentangerine2065 Год назад +9

    This is live, it's absolutely seamless 🙏🏻💓

  • @Nachoidess
    @Nachoidess Год назад +3

    We will all see them someday, we will be together again.

  • @graceraven8118
    @graceraven8118 5 месяцев назад +2

    This song gives me hope. There is an end.

  • @Creepy_German
    @Creepy_German Год назад +2

    This is the most beautiful and saddest song ive ever heard.

  • @kawaiizee1492
    @kawaiizee1492 Месяц назад

    You can tell it took him alot to perform this ...❤❤❤

  • @mawaalt
    @mawaalt Год назад

    Beautiful

  • @chiblackjesus
    @chiblackjesus 6 месяцев назад +1

    Was listening to a random playlist and this song came up. I ignored it most part of the song thinking it's just like any other slow sad song.
    Then I heard that "my little Versailles" part and knew right away there was more to this song so I restarted it and I was right
    🥹🥹❣️❣️❣️

  • @allysyoutube
    @allysyoutube 11 месяцев назад +3

    Happy fourth ❤

  • @user-jj8pp2xx9l
    @user-jj8pp2xx9l Месяц назад +1

    One of my save song forever 🧎‍♀️

  • @emirkan4438
    @emirkan4438 11 месяцев назад +5

    INJECT THIS SONG IN MY VEIMS I WANNA CRY TILL MORNING

  • @specter5472
    @specter5472 Год назад +4

    This is one of the best live performances I have ever heard

  • @melset
    @melset Год назад +1

    bunu görmek hayatımın şansı

  • @Whatsheisthinking
    @Whatsheisthinking 4 месяца назад

    More please.

  • @jnk1682
    @jnk1682 2 года назад +12

    He looks fine

  • @grerorychaugrerory
    @grerorychaugrerory Год назад +2

    The world is harsh life is sad everything will pass and smiling is the best things 😅

  • @elitan4122
    @elitan4122 Год назад +3

    It reminds me my friend that i lost

  • @Zeta9966
    @Zeta9966 Год назад +1

    Why does this song come up after every music video I watch on here, it’s not fair lol

  • @anhvan378
    @anhvan378 3 месяца назад

    It's not related any sad story but i used to learn Englis, i love this language so bad but now i switch to Chinese, whenever i listen to this song it's remind me, it's give all of gud memories, all of sorrows i had been through..... Hope i can fluently Chinese in early time to back to my lovely English.

  • @awol666playmaker
    @awol666playmaker 6 месяцев назад

    Ohh ok here we go 😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢

  • @z0rex13
    @z0rex13 7 месяцев назад +1

    oh em gee

  • @RYoda717
    @RYoda717 Год назад

  • @AyokoNaMagDrugs
    @AyokoNaMagDrugs 10 месяцев назад

    imissyou mahal:(

  • @aethro
    @aethro 2 месяца назад

    this song is so sad even the camera is tearing up at certain points

  • @DannyPoet
    @DannyPoet 11 месяцев назад

    fs makes me cry its ....

  • @cutlip98
    @cutlip98 Год назад +1

    Devastating song

  • @kirstyleigh87
    @kirstyleigh87 Год назад

    Hey my cat died in her sleep and I will never forget that.

  • @VictorRodriguez-wt9xq
    @VictorRodriguez-wt9xq 9 месяцев назад +2

    There is a live version of this song I can't find, it was the best. They were dressed in colours and the crowd singed along. Anyone knows what Im talking about?

    • @jmk888
      @jmk888  9 месяцев назад +2

      Probably from the 2016 tour. Maybe Sasquatch, Outside Lands, or Pitchfork. They should all be on RUclips.

    • @VictorRodriguez-wt9xq
      @VictorRodriguez-wt9xq 9 месяцев назад +3

      @@jmk888 haha thanks for being so quick! It is Outside Lands!

  • @user-ml4nz1os4v
    @user-ml4nz1os4v 8 месяцев назад

    2:16 its heaven

  • @Sharafurious
    @Sharafurious 11 месяцев назад +2

    We're all gonna die.

  • @user-ml4nz1os4v
    @user-ml4nz1os4v 8 месяцев назад

    this song is so dark, my my

  • @sibel7_
    @sibel7_ 2 месяца назад

    yoruldum yoruldum yoruldum çok yorgunum

  • @blwlmnswg
    @blwlmnswg 6 месяцев назад

    damn ur strong af

  • @atharvshiradvade8062
    @atharvshiradvade8062 3 месяца назад

    His mother 😢

  • @vkxun
    @vkxun Год назад +13

    cry

  • @DaDa-yx8jw
    @DaDa-yx8jw Год назад

    I like you💋

  • @pookspeak9529
    @pookspeak9529 5 месяцев назад

    nobody understands, I am gutted and miss her.

  • @Zeta9966
    @Zeta9966 Год назад +2

    This song destroys me.