"Chicago" ("Go! CHICAGO! Go! Yeah!" on the vinyl edition) is a track from

Sufjan Stevens Sufjan Stevens ( ; born July 1, 1975) is an American singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. He has released nine solo studio albums and multiple collaborative albums with other artists. Stevens has received Grammy and Academy Award nomi ...

2005

concept album A concept album is an album whose tracks hold a larger purpose or meaning collectively than they do individually. This is typically achieved through a single central narrative or theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, or lyrical. Som ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

'', released on

Asthmatic Kitty Asthmatic Kitty is an American independent record label founded in 1999 by a community of musicians from Holland, Michigan led by Sufjan Stevens and his stepfather Lowell Brams. Some were Holland natives, and others had come to attend local coll ...

. The song tells the semi-autobiographical story of a young man on a road trip, and his youthful idealism. The track is one of Stevens' most popular songs, and he usually ends his live shows with a version of this song. The song has been recorded in five different versions by Stevens himself, the versions not on ''Illinois'' being included on the collection '' The Avalanche'', and one demo released digitally on Stevens' website, later released as a 12" single bundled with the ''Illinois: Special 10th Anniversary Blue Marvel Edition''.

Production

In the process of making the second album in his ambitious Fifty States Project, which involved recording an album for each of the states of America, Stevens had committed a large amount of time to researching the people and history of

. However this track is one of the most autobiographical on the album. Sufjan Stevens stated the following in an interview around the release: "I've had quite a few exceptional and traumatic experiences in Illinois, a few times when visiting

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

at a particularly difficult time in my life or driving cross country and being pulled over by the cops just outside Peoria," and also added that he had seen his first rock show there. However, he qualified the story of the song as only being partly true, stating, "The writer is the inventor, the designer, the creative force behind a body of work. The author is the actual man or woman, in reality, in society, in person. I like

Woody Allen Heywood "Woody" Allen (born Allan Stewart Konigsberg; November 30, 1935) is an American film director, writer, actor, and comedian whose career spans more than six decades and multiple Academy Award-winning films. He began his career writing ...

the director/writer, circa 1975, but I doubt I would like Woody Allen the person, circa 1975." Stevens also cited the poem "

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

" by

Carl Sandburg Carl August Sandburg (January 6, 1878 – July 22, 1967) was an American poet, biographer, journalist, and editor. He won three Pulitzer Prizes: two for his poetry and one for his biography of Abraham Lincoln. During his lifetime, Sandburg ...

as an influence on the track, and had intended to include a track about

Saul Bellow Saul Bellow (born Solomon Bellows; 10 July 1915 – 5 April 2005) was a Canadian-born American writer. For his literary work, Bellow was awarded the Pulitzer Prize, the Nobel Prize for Literature, and the National Medal of Arts. He is the only wr ...

on ''Illinois'', but could not find a way to adequately cover the writer.

Alternate versions

The year after the track was released on ''Illinois'', three further versions were included on the outtakes album, '' The Avalanche: Outtakes and Extras from the Illinois Album'', these being an acoustic version, the "Adult Contemporary Easy Listening Version", which is a

baroque pop Baroque pop (sometimes called baroque rock) is a fusion genre that combines rock music with particular elements of classical music. It emerged in the mid 1960s as artists pursued a majestic, orchestral sound and is identifiable for its appropria ...

version of the original track, and a "Multiple Personality Disorder Version", of which Stevens stated: "James, my drummer was in town, and we decided it would be kind of fun to deconstruct the song". One further demo version was recorded during the album recording sessions in 2004 and released digitally on Stevens' homepage on February 25, 2016. It was released as a 12" bundled with the ''Illinois: Special 10th Anniversary Blue Marvel Edition'' on April 1, 2016.

Reception

The track was well received as the centerpiece of the acclaimed album ''Illinois''. Allmusic described the track as having "an expansiveness that radiates with the ballast of history and the promise of new beginnings," and the track was included as one of the Pitchfork 500 most important tracks since punk broke.

In other media

The track was sampled by

Chiddy Bang Chidera Anamege, now known by his stage name Chiddy Bang, is an American rapper from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Prior to its breakup, Chiddy Bang was an American hip hop duo consisting of Anamege, under the stage name Chiddy, and Noah Beresin, ...

on their single "All Things Go" as well as featuring a shortened version as the opening theme for the

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...

show ''

The Politician ''The Politician'' is a Caroline era stage play, a tragedy written by James Shirley, and first published in 1655. Publication ''The Politician,'' along with another Shirley play, '' The Gentleman of Venice,'' was published by the bookseller Hu ...

''. The song also appears in an episode of the 2022 FX series '' The Bear''. "Chicago" was featured the 2006 film ''

Little Miss Sunshine ''Little Miss Sunshine'' is a 2006 American tragicomedy road film and the feature film directorial debut of the husband–wife team of Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris. The screenplay was written by first-time writer Michael Arndt. The film sta ...

'' and 2014 film ''Veronica Mars''.

Personnel

For original version: *Julianne Carney –

violin The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...

*Tom Eaton, Jeniffer Hoover, Katrina Kerns, Beccy Lock, Tara McDonnell – choir *Maria Beller Jeffers –

cello The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a Bow (music), bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), t ...

*James McAlister – drums *Craig Montoro – trumpet *

Rob Moose Rob Moose (born 1982) is an American multi-instrumentalist, arranger, producer, conductor, and orchestrator. He primarily plays the violin, viola, and guitar. Early life and education Moose was born in 1982. He was raised in Windsor, Connect ...

– violin *Sufjan Stevens – vocals, wurlitzer, bass guitar, vibraphone, piano, sleigh bells, tambourine, shaker, arrangement, production *Alan Douches – mastering

References

{{authority control 2005 songs Songs about Chicago Sufjan Stevens songs Songs based on actual events Song recordings produced by Sufjan Stevens Songs written by Sufjan Stevens