The serial killer fascination! I think I might know what has been causing it!
Sufjan Stevens’ Illinois might be to blame…
There’s a song on the album, the fourth one ‘John Wayne Gacy, Jr.’ is about a serial killer from Illinois. The CD is in my car at the moment, but it’s a very soft, folky album at times and the words aren’t always fully audible, especially during peak hour traffic. On Tuesday evening, I’d turned up the car stereo seeing as the traffic was shocking, and it’d wile away the time.
The words - I heard the words to that particular song very, very clearly for the first time. It was horrifying. It sounds like a sad, thoughtful song:
His father was a drinker
And his mother cried in bed
Folding John Wayne’s T shirts
When the swing set hit his headThe neighbors they adored him
For his humor and his conversation
Look underneath the house there
Find the few living things rotting fast
[...]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 took off all their clothes for them
He put a cloth on their lips, quiet hands,
Quiet kiss on the mouth
[...]
[Please don't use the lyrics above for anything untoward - they are directly quoted from the CD liner notes of Sufjan Stevens' Illinois and are provided here in a literary context/quotation]
Naturally, I ran to the Wikipedia entry on John Wayne Gacy, Jr. to see if this person were fiction or fact.
Turns out that Stevens’ album is cram-packed with references to the state of Illinois - historical events and people, places, habits, anecdotes. Literature person’s dream, really.
And to think he plans to write an album for each state in the US?! Good luck buddy, though I doubt he’ll need it. Critics have been raving about this album, and it’s only the second in the series (the first being his native state Michigan). Kind of a cool way to learn about each of the states though.
