mindthatknowsitself:

I could probably get more out of this if I could look through all of Royal Robertson’s stuff.   Note I’ve fixed some incorrect lyrics from the source site for these.

Well I have known you
For just a little while
But I feel I’ve known you
I feel I’ve seen you
When the Earth was split in fives

“You” here is Royal Robertson.

The album insert booklet includes a Robertson painting showing the Earth being zapped by lasers n whatnot with the words The Day the Earth was Split in Four written on one of the lasers or something.  A voice bubble coming out of Hades is  Adell, Royals ex-wife,  lamenting her fate…

Another caption on the painting says:

“The Giant Right Hand of DIOS Strikes out on sins, crazy whores +(?) divorcée wives like EVE.

(Nice work, Adell, gettin’ us all killed.)

This is clear example of Royal’s confusion of adultery with Apocalypse that Sufjan has mentioned on tour.

Sufjan says when the Earth was split in fives, not four.  It’s a stretch, but I earlier speculated that Impossible Soul’s five movements were five moods, aspects, “personalities.” Also I detected a prominent African American sounding voice during the “boy we can do much more together.”    Could these two be tied?    Is it a particular Apocalyptic vision Sufjan had?

We know Impossible Soul was conceived over four years.  Could it have been reworked later to fit this new idea he had for the song?    It’s clear that he was profoundly moved by the artwork.  

Take pretty much any of the personal songs on Illinois and you see that they’re projections of his life onto the geography and character of the state.  Sufjan’s real life friend who died probably did not die on the first of March, on the holiday. (And if a bird hit the window, it probably wasn’t the state bird of Illinois). I wonder if he hasn’t projected his life a bit onto the life of Royal Robertson.

Still, I’ve read several pieces where Sufjan has alluded to visions and UFO sightings.   Seven Swans (the song) appears to be a vision.  During the making of Illinois, Sufjan said he heard German immigrant voices from the past while he was recording late one night in a church.

So when Sufjan says the Earth split in five, maybe had a similar vision, psychic break, whatever.  

And in your words, I
Should let it out, I
Would see it die
But I’m a watcher
I see it watch her

Sufjan introduces a new character, “it.”  At first blush “it” is madness or prophecy.

Later…

And all reflections
I see your method,
I see it all,
And what about you?
And what about me?
Are we the lost of lost?
Don’t speak too soon,
Don’t be fruit o’ loom,
Don’t Excite yourself

The don’t be fruit o’ loom and don’t excite yourself seems to be Sufjan telling himself not to get carried away with the comparison between himself and Royal.

There’s this tension between Sufjan’s desire to believe in Royal’s visions (perhaps misinterpreted) and rational minded belief that Royal was mentally ill.

Update: 

The lyrics for Get Real, Get Right illuminate matters more.  I’ll look at that song directly later.    Sufjan believes that Royal was driven to distraction by real signs of the coming Apocalypse.  He sees them as well, but does not misinterpret them as Royal does.    

BTW, this is not a wholly uncommon belief system, i.e., that “insane” people can tune to a sort of different frequency than the rest of us and get glimpses of things beyond time, etc.  I’m somewhat sympathetic to it, having read things reported during DMT experiments.

For what you see is
Not fantasy,
It’s not what it gets, but gives
This is the Age of Adz
Eternal living

In all reflections
I see it mentioned
I see it all

So Sufjan has seen the same kinds of things.  It’s not fantasy, but a gift.  Hence the powerful reaction.  

The gorgeous mess of
Your face impressed us
Imposed in all its art
This is the Age of Adz
Eternal living

When it dies, when it dies
It rots
And when it lives, and when it lives
It gives it all it gots
This is the Age of Adz
Eternal living

Here’s the character of It again.  Royal’s face is in the art that his madness/gift created.

In a recent interview, Sufjan said his mom was schizophrenic and a creative person…an artist.   Again, he seems to be tacitly admitting he’s a bit of a loon, although in other interviews he specifically says he’s not mentally ill.

Also he says later, ‘It lives in all of us”… We’re all slightly insane?  Well, I’ve seen a UFO land, but that’s reality…plus it was only that one time. 

Concerning the UFO from Illinois is pretty explicit about UFOs—at least that particular sighting—being tied to Prophecy.

Rest of the lyrics.  I may pick this up later.  

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(via mindthatknowsitself-deactivated)