A Cover Of "Rake" By Sufjan Stevens

Yes, yet another Sufjan cover. I had had this cover saved up, and like much of Sufjan's work, this song means so much to me. While I do not play guitar, it was fairly easy to pick up.

While so simple, I find innate depth in these words. There is something so curious about Stevens comparing his lover to both a rock and a rake. At first, the correlation seems dim between the two, but as one fan suggested, "'you are the rock, you are the rake' meant that as the rake you helped me grow and live, but you were also a rock and you broke me." There does seem to be some sense of growth within the song, yet there is pain during this growing process. While perhaps the rake removed what was surface level, the rock was much deeper, and there was something immovable about it. But what breaks us, will hopefully allow us to grow.

This song speaks fondly, yet longingly towards the past, as expressed in the lines, "I never felt so safe / A line I once told her." There is something very distant about these phrases, as the weightiness of his words has been lost, over time. I as well find sorrow in the lines, "She turned into a cave / Where it turned colder." Something about his loved one turned distant and dark over time; she seemed to close in on herself, growing colder.

While I would love to dive deeper into the meaning of Sufjan's work, I do find so much to be connected to within this song, and I hope you do, as well.