Sufjan Stevens - "To Be Alone With You" (Official Audio)

"To Be Alone With You" from Sufjan Stevens' ‘Seven Swans,' originally released on March 16, 2004.
Deluxe 20th Anniversary Editions (physical and digital) are available now, here: asthmatickitty...
~Video Credits~
Lyric Video by Rena Johnson
Featuring artwork drawn by Marzuki Stevens & animated by Stephen Halker with calligraphy by Laura Normandin
~Lyrics~
I’d swim across Lake Michigan
I’d sell my shoes
I’d give my body to back again
In the rest of room
To be alone with you
You gave your body to the lonely
They took your clothes
You gave up a wife and family
You gave your ghost
To be alone with me
To be alone with me
You went up on a tree
I’ve never met a man who loved me

[@kwizatzhannahrach]

Oh good I almost went to bed happy

[@kristenmarosi8559]

Bahaha😂

[@BioluminescentTree]

I don't get it, to me it's an overwhelmingly positive and serene song. I often see people describing Sufjan's music as sad even when it's not and it reeks of superficiality.

[@yorick22]

@@BioluminescentTree “Sufjan’s music is not sad” carrie and Lowell. enough said.

[@BioluminescentTree]

@@yorick22 Great reading comprehension.

[@yorick22]

@@BioluminescentTree thanks :3

[@goldfishy]

This album broke my heart 20 years ago. It’s still broken.

[@singdancing8]

good art should break one's heart open

[@nesssavaness]

Looks like I'm still up at 4am listening to Sufjan 20 years later.

[@Heyymynameisjbells]

Same

[@Simulacreage]

why is the little swan family animation the sweetest thing I've ever seen

[@ku6665]

This is the first Sulfjan Stevens song I listened to. Such a lovely tune. 💛🫂

[@davidbiddle1525]

Welcome they are the best artist

[@dgmwrong4751]

listen to Carrie and Lowell NOW

[@bonitotv2989]

Same

[@carolinaferreira4346]

Me too! Because of a Pitchfork collection in celebration of Carrie and Lowell's release.

[@Josh-nv3qs]

same heard it on the movie Demolition it stucked with me so i searched the song and that's when i discovered sufjan and the rest is history

[@craw2072]

This song touched me so deeply in college. And listening to it again now, it finds its way back to the tender part of my heart it first found almost 20 years ago.

[@thanathecreator_7555]

One of my favorite artists to listen to when I need to unwind and calm down ❤

[@flowtonowhere]

summer rain with SufjanStevens songs, if this isn’t nice then I don’t know what is

[@keplerwv]

So real. Best way to listen to his music

[@xedrekuchiha3174]

I love Sufjan Stevens so much!!! His music is some of the most beautiful and somber i've ever heard.

[@goldfishy]

Makes you feel like you know him intimately even though you’ve never met him.

[@xedrekuchiha3174]

@@goldfishy That's exactly the feeling!

[@mikefountaini1]

This album is so beautiful and soothing. It gave me peace in my teen years. Thank you, dear Sufjan.

[@rina_loves_ts]

The way this just popped on my feed and I'm in love

[@kaela1111]

This song literally popped into my head less than an hour ago, after many years of not having heard it… and here it is! And with beautiful artwork and animation! 💜💜💜

[@fatim7736]

I really wanna read the story behind every song he writes.

[@Bebushkae]

Thank you Sufjan

[@Katherine-uc4yo]

This song will last until the eternity

[@chloehiggins9961]

holds the hand of my melancholic heart

[@bluestlight88]

absolutely favourite sufjan song

[@DUBaviator]

Brings back memories of my teenage years and watching The O.C.

[@Alec_____]

I love u Suf

[@sannevanbeers]

Undeniably Beautiful❤

[@moodyangel]

Oh wow

[@dreysantillan]

This is the earliest time I've ever been! Been listening to this guy's song for years now

[@catalinamarchant-q8u]

I miss you Sufjan

[@GnomeWagon]

What happened to him?

[@i70v3me]

Please don't die Sulfjan, I love your songs 🫶

[@geraniumblue]

would give anything to tell sufjan how incredible he is

[@heleneramos889]

Beautiness from the start to the end! Je l'ai aimé!

[@thornepereira298]

This is my favorite song of all time!

[@UR.right.]

With me never alone With him often alone Never alone with you Never alone with me

[@joycadet7064]

i love this so much

[@sailorneptune6330]

Beautiful!!!

[@MDF44405]

Todo o seu trabalho é tão bonito e emocionantes que é impossivel nao se apaixonar por ele.

[@trisha3956]

JESUS LOVE YOU❤❤

[@ceejundersiege]

Thank you, Sufjan.

[@mirandai7647]

omgg I love this

[@nyarlathotep616]

Asthmatic kitty. Had their one of three head quarters in my hometown in Wyoming.

[@vonneu]

Algorithm has blessed me with this for sure.

[@tamunso]

I miss you so much, Sufjan. you’re my saviour and I hope you’re doing well

[@astridmaro]

Te quiero mucho sufjan

[@latvians13]

Beautiful ❤

[@healingv1sion]

What a bop

[@johnaldvizzini2274]

I've been covering this song for over a decade and still barely do it justice compared to this.

[@rainybear1902]

i was listening to this song this evening and realized how different it feels since i first listened back in school and then i thought about it and started to read and now i feel angry and am going to go fall asleep in a field

[@NewWaveFilms]

Perfect

[@stanluvscats]

sobbing

[@b_3735]

To be alone with me you went up on a tree❤️🙏🙌

[@naluvle]

i love listening top sufjan stevens

[@milenaaydin]

Bir tüy kadar hafif hissediyorum. Özgürümmmmm

[@nomorepikachu]

Oldie but goldie ❤️‍🩹

[@zahhrab0]

You already my favorite 💗

[@prod.Mxrcyz]

This is amazing ❤🔥

[@ojasshrivastava2948]

Nice

[@sillyxwx]

Thank you

[@BANannacox]

So in love

[@Ms.coconut928]

❤❤❤ to be alone when me on the tree 😊

[@Yaralu0]

It feels so familiar when i hear this song.. and it feels like i had so much memories with it😰

[@yorick22]

ah, time for the classic Sufjan pastime of “is this song gay or just about Jesus”

[@shadowman3592]

Maybe Jesus was gay 🤷🏻‍♀️

[@beetaylor3529]

Yes.

[@cstpa1]

the first time i saw sufjan it was 2007 in grand rapids and he sang this song

[@gali2580]

💖💖💖

[@yasifneedsalife]

i discovered sufjan almost a year ago, and i gotta say, i've never seen or heard an artist like him. the lyrics, the aesthetics, the melodies.. he's a pure genius, and i wish i had discovered him earlier

[@Peter-rp3zs]

Angelic

[@heyitsandrewcraft]

♥

[@aidajuma8852]

just realized to be alone with me you went up on that tree [refrencing the story of Zacchaeus in the bible]

[@sdv917]

Listening to the proceeding verse about giving your body to the lowly, they took your clothes, giving your ghost to be alone with me (you went up on a tree) sounds more like a crucifixion reference.

[@faigler]

@@sdv917 Yeah, I've always thought of it as referencing crucifixion

[@lyswantsmusic574]

And just like that...😭😭

[@jigsawjiggie5]

Esta canción se siente como si quisiera decirme que el mañana va a ser mejor de lo que el terrible hoy fue 🤙🗿

[@christinelikeschrysanthemums]

🎶💕🙏🏻

[@isabelescalantebadillo915]

teamo

[@straykids-yd2eb]

🎉

[@CookehJC_42]

❤🎉💔

[@M15Guys]

I love this so much .... I hope its not about religion .... x

[@geraniumblue]

let me hold your hand when i say this . . .

[@faigler]

Many of his songs reference religion, but to balance out @claraclonk a little, I think they're sometimes double references. I mean. He IS an openly queer songwriter. Most people didn't get that for a REALLY, RIDICULOUSLY long time, but. It's pretty overt. But yeah, there is religion IN the song. Whether there's anyone else he's being alone with/being alone with him? That's for Sufjan to know and us to...interpret, honestly, pretty much any way we want. Once a song's in the world it's not just the songwriter's.

[@M15Guys]

@@faigler Thanks - he’s a gay man not queer though x

[@faigler]

@@M15Guys I'm using it as an umbrella term since I have no idea what Sufjan Stevens' specific gender attractions or preference about labels are. It wasn't meant to be exclusive of gay men.

[@M15Guys]

@@faiglerNo worries - It’s unbelievable how we use this gay slur as a generalisation though - imagine if we used the N word for people of colour in the same way xx

[@priszilla7928]

Is this it, did I finally find midwest emo

[@godoyander]

Beautiful… but they messed up the very last line 🥲

[@Darknight_70]

🩵

[@DeborahPace-v5f]

Davis Ronald Lewis Ronald Harris Mark

[@MelanieMills-c1v]

Young Anthony Hall Elizabeth Martinez Jessica

[@KasugaiSeika]

Love your voice

[@MichaelHicks-d7s]

Taylor Karen Garcia Jeffrey Thompson Sarah

[@AaronBate-g1r]

Moore George Martin Ronald Young Matthew

[@beefannin]

what

[@Jijigmama]

early❤

[@ethereal759]

I love you so much your music means so much to me ever since I listened to Futile Devices I’ve been obsessed 💓

[@malihamumtaj3388]

It is 4th of July And i had to play all of his songs again

[@lacymckee5738]

I love this! But why do the lyrics say "I've never met" instead "I've never known" in the last line?

[@nomorepikachu]

Might be that „met“ was the original lyric, but in the studio he spontaneously sang it differently and they never changed it in the text. „Known“ sounds better imo. :)

[@Yukencio]

One of my favorite albums of all time 💚

[@rainpuppies]

Thank you for your music Sufjan

[@bibidibabidiboo]

Thank you The OC for introducing me to this brilliant artist.

[@SylviaElliott-c6v]

Hernandez Deborah Miller David Rodriguez Eric

[@spray7679]

All the songs from this CD are absolutely haunting. It is like a meditation for me. I always come back to these songs. "You gave your body to the lonely" Isaiah 53:12 (NIV): "Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors."

[@Zeugnimodms]

The deluxe addition hit Spotify as well!

[@Occultinforment]

Sooo good, never found a song that so accurately exactly describes my feelings towards a girl I love or like more than this song

[@moumita_d99]

now that's a unique way of putting together a music video in an official audio. 🌊🌊

[@shavonn7013]

노래가 심심한 것 같다가도, 안 시끄러워서 좋은 듯 합니다. 그리고 저 그림이 나를 너무 마음 편하게 해요.

[@jigsawjiggie5]

Esta canción se siente como si quisiera decirme que el mañana va a ser mejor de lo que el terrible hoy fue 🤙🗿

[@avonixxinova]

I’m so stoked I found this today looked at the date and said happy birthday brother. ❤

[@Juniojosph]

O maior

[@supertavio2]

O maioral

[@nemo2327]

Yay

[@garywallace9773]

It’s about Jesus

[@plexus]

❤❤❤

[@BtwnTheBars.]

😌🎶

[@norzakiahabdmajid5975]

🤩👍👍👍❣️

[@thanhat365]

wait what

[@keytoawesomeness]

beautiful song but i am so annoyed that those swans don't have a flying animation, it's an animation of them standing and flapping their wings made to look like it's flying