If you know me, you probably know about the corner I have in my dorm room that is covered in pictures of the risen star that is Timothee Chalamet that is known as "The Timmy Corner." And if you know about "The Timmy Corner", you know that I love Lady Bird, especially Call Me By Your Name, and every movie Timothee has ever had some screen time in. While I was doing my weekly "make myself sad and watch Call Me By Your Name" day, I really listened to how all the music plays part in the movie. I've owned the movie's soundtrack for a little over a year and a half and even spent $40 on the LP because there is something so satisfying about Sufjan Steven's voice on the record as there's the soft white noise that always plays with the music. During my crying session, I really listened to the last song in the movie "Visions of Gideon." While gorgeous musically, it was very difficult to focus on it because Timothee Chalamet is on the screen and I'm just always entranced by his presence. BUT. When I really listened to it, it was without a doubt the most beautiful and most well thought out song in the entire masterpiece that is that movie. Which is why in this essay, I'm going to tell you why this song is the best in the movie.

1. The Symbolism.

So, the Gideon in this song does not refer to Gideon Graves from Scott Pilgrim. I'm sure that's such a surprise to you. Gideon refers to the ancient Prophet from the Book of Joshua. Yes. Another prophet story. Gideon was a prophet and judge who was really cocky and sent 300 hundred men to attack the enemy's camp. But he wasn't just cocky, God said he must do so. And so God gave Gideon visions that he must send these men and thus birthed the name "Visions of Gideon." BUT THAT'S NOT ALL. Elio and Oliver are both Jewish. There's even a moment in the film after Elio has one of the fattest nose bleeds I've ever seen (retweet, because I get nose bleeds all the time), where Oliver sits with Elio. Elio notices Oliver wears a gold Star of David around his neck. As if Elio wasn't already attracted to this graduate student with a fine ass, he now has this connection with him of faith. The story of Gideon is not only a reference to Elio and Oliver's faith, it is also a reference to Elio confronting his sexuality and desire for Oliver. Sufjan Stevens could have picked any prophet, but he picked Gideon for a specific purpose. In a way, Elio received visions that allowed him to know his feelings were willed so. He tried so hard to fight them, but was always finding his way into Oliver's arms (and bed). AND NOW THAT OLIVER IS GONE, ELIO FINDS COMFORT IN HIS VISIONS. And that is how you write a song with symbolism.

2. Lyrical Beauty.

If you don't already know this, Sufjan Steven's is one of the most gifted songwriters of this century. His album "Seven Swans" is always playing on my phone. I first discovered this soul when the Little Miss Sunshine soundtrack came out (check out that movie, super great with baby Abigail Breslin who was nominated for an Oscar at ten years old). What I love most about his skill is his ability to write about biblical stories without sounding preachy. His songs "He Woke Me Up Again" and "The Transfiguration" are both about biblical stories, more so Jesus, and yet neither of them ever cross the line of preachiness. "Visions of Gideon" is another example of such songs. While using a character used in faith, he makes the song versatile and beautiful to listen to. If you're religious? Great. Not religious? Awesome. Need a slow jam? Here it is. Stevens is the only person I can think of who could poop out a song like this. One thing I love about this song is its subtle alliteration. Stevens uses the words "loved" and "last" in the same sentence which makes them stand out as they are the only words in the line that start with "L." Then he later adds "laughter" right next to love. "For love, for laughter, I flew up to your arms." The placement and use of such words are so powerful. The thing I love the most about this song is the switching between the phrases "is it a video" and "visions of Gideon." First of all, I don't know how he found this subtle rhyme of video and Gideon, but he did it. Second, the entire outro of the song switches between the two phrases and is repeated multiple times. "Visions of Gideon" and "is it a video?" What I think this refers to is that Elio, who the song is about, is simply debating if his visions are a video that he can rewind or if he's really seeing such visions.

3. Story Telling

As I mentioned in reason number one, the song is full of symbolism. Because the song is symbolic, that makes its ability for story much more intense than per say a song without symbols. I am a sucker for songs with story rather than just "I'm sad and this is all the emotions I feel," which this song easily could have become. It's the end of the movie and for the last 6 minutes of the movie it is Elio crying in front of a fire place in probably one of the coolest shirts I've ever seen, but that is beside the point, I'll talk more about the scene itself in reason number four why this song is the best in the entirety of the movie. The song tells the story of a biblical character and yet it much more relatable than it appears. Suppose the person listening to the song has no knowledge of Gideon and of the story. The very first lyric of the song is "I have loved you for the last time" (peep that relationship to a particular lyric in "Mystery of Love" in which Sufjan Stevens was nominated for an Academy Award and a Grammy). The power of the words "loved" and "last" already hit hard. The story is already set up. It then continues with talking about videos. The movie takes place "somewhere in northern Italy in 1983." Videos are still a thing. And what are videos known for? The tedious task of rewinding. The narrator of the song asks if their love was a video because they want to rewind and relive their passionate love affair. The narrator repeats that they have loved for the the last time, but instead of asking if it's a video, they say "Visions of Gideon." Again, if someone had no idea who Gideon was or that this man had visions that God gave him, as I had no idea of when I listened to it for the first time, "Visions of Gideon" merely comes across as having visions of someone, which is what we do when we crave someone. We have visions of them. Then we get into some REAL SHIT. Pardon the profanity, I'm just about to get really passionate. This song has direct links to "Mystery of Love" which is a song during Elio and Oliver's happiest moment of their relationship. I just got CHILLS typing about this comparison. "Mystery of Love," arguably the second best song in the movie and then followed by "Futile Devices," "Love My Way," "Words," "Paris Latino," etc. I could write a whole post ranking every song in this movie. But right now, we are talking about the best one. "Mystery of Love" mentions "the first time that you kissed me" and "the first time that you touched me." While "Visions of Gideon" mentions how they have touched, kissed, and loved for the last time so the mystery of love is gone. The story told throughout the story is how we love so hard and we want to rewind those moments. This point ties back into the lyrical beauty in reason number two.

4. Visuals in the Movie

Alright. While a song can stand on its own, visuals can sure help ignite a deeper feeling inside. So, let me lay out the scene for you. If you haven't seen this beautiful film, go watch it because I can't even begin to describe with words the raw beauty this scene carries. So. Elio enters his house in, like I said, the coolest shirt I've ever seen. I don't know where they got that shirt or that print, but I want it on every piece of clothing I have. It's December, so it's around time for Hanukkah. Elio's hair has grown out a little, lost a little of its tight curls because they've grown longer and he's got headphones on because its the 80's and headphones were still cool. Headphones were the airpods of today. The phone rings and who is it? It's ya boy, Oliver. The last time Elio saw Oliver was after Oliver dramatically left him at the train station and basically reached into Elio's chest and ripped out his heart and put it in his backpack. Elio talks to Oliver on the phone and ya boy reveals he's getting married. Elio then whispers into the phone his name three times, as he had every time he called Oliver by his name, "Elio, Elio, Elio..." and then Oliver drags out his own name. "Oliver..." Just when you think that hurts enough Oliver shoves his hand through the phone and pushes Elio in the gut and says, "I remember everything." So, that really hurts. All this leads up to the introduction of "Visions of Gideon." Elio hangs up the phone and sits in front of the fire place. And then starts to cry silently. The movie is technically over because there are credits rolling, and yet Elio is still on the screen crying as this song echoes his feelings. The song itself is so raw that the scene that goes with it must also match it. Lil' Timmy T exhibits skill beyond his 22 years of age. He literally just sits in front of the fire place and is crying like I did when Zayn left One Direction in the middle of tour. What I find so powerful about this visual that accompanies the song is that he doesn't move once. He just sits and stares at the fire place and not once does any part of him move. He never lifts his hand up to wipe his tears or tries to stop them or gets mad at himself for crying. He just lets it be. The song accompanies his tears.

5. Orchestrations.

What I tend to notice first about music is orchestrations. Whenever someone writes music, they don't just write it to sound pretty. There's usually some representation with it. Sufjan Stevens is much too smart of a composer to just make music that sounds pretty. This song was written specifically for the movie, unlike "Futile Devices" and "Love My Way." Since it was written specifically for this movie, Stevens had to take into consideration what the movie stood for. At the end of the day, the movie stands for love. It doesn't matter if it was a gay love story, the movie at its heart is about love. The song is very slow and drawn out for a reason. He didn't just sit down and say, "I'm gonna write a slow song about Gideon from the Book of Joshua." If he had, that's true talent and that man should be given an award. What I love most about the orchestrations is you can listen to this song without lyrics and you can still have emotions provoked. The music itself still provokes emotion of loss and sadness with little hope. That is true talent.

6. The Song + the Movie as a Whole

While I can pick apart this song and talk about each of the pieces individually, what makes this song the best in the film is how all the pieces add up. Songs can make or break a scene in the movie. And example of songs that usually break a movie moment are songs in montages. I'm a big fan of montages in movies, but sometimes songs are not used appropriately. Call Me By Your Name is so smart in all of its music choices. "Visions of Gideon" as a song already fits the aesthetic the movie is trying to create. When you add a song that already checks all the boxes, the scene you add that song to will be enhanced. I'm 100% certain if they took "Visions of Gideon" out of the last scene of the movie, I would still love it because Timmy. But, the ending I feel wouldn't affect it's audience as much. I also don't think the audience would stay through the credits. It would just be this cute noodle boy crying. And that most likely would make the audience uncomfortable. He would start crying for a minute, the credits would roll, and people would say "deuces" and leave. Try it. Mute the last scene and experience how you feel. Unless you're me who's head over heels in love with Mousier Chalamet, you will probably either turn off the film, walk away, or turn the sound back on. Once the song is added, the emotion comes through and reaches its audience. Seeing someone cry can make you sad, but as a society, we are very connected to music. "Visions of Gideon" echoes what Elio is feeling and isn't just tears. It's everything that goes on in his head, so we can empathize with this boy who just loved all he could and got burned. It makes it more relatable. Not everyone falls in love with a hot graduate student in Italy and parents let them leave together and they call each other by their name. But everyone has felt pain and love. The song is those feelings. All we see is Elio crying, but what we hear and experience is his truth and his pain.

If you made it this far, congrats! You now have all the tools you need to argue with people about why this is the best song in the movie. You also have cool fun facts to tell people. Tell people the story of Gideon, you'll sound really cool I promise.

While I believe this is the best song in the movie, that doesn't mean the other music isn't phenomenal. All the music plays a part in this film. This is the only film that has classical piano tracks on it's soundtrack that I listen to. I'm not a classical music person, but damn, the music used in this movie all evokes emotion. Not all movie soundtracks do that, but this one does. And "Visions of Gideon" is such a powerful finale to a powerful film.