History Music / Illinois

* NoodleImplements: "To the Workers of the Rock River Valley Region: I Have an Idea Concerning Your Predicament, and It Involves an Inner Tube, Bath Mats, and 21 Able-bodied Men." (The vinyl version, specifically; the name on the CD version omits everything after "Predicament.")
** An alternative vinyl release of the album has the alternate title "To the Workers of the Rock River Valley Region, I Have an Idea Concerning Your Predicament, and It Involves Tube Socks, a Paper Airplane, and Twenty-two Able-bodied Men." The pre-release track list had the song title as "To the Workers of the Rockford River Valley Region, I Have an Idea Concerning Your Predicament, and It Involves Shoe String, a Lavender Garland, and Twelve Strong Women." Still no indication of what the idea is in any of these, though.

* NotSoDifferentRemark: Sufjan ends "John Wayne Gacy, Jr." by stating this of himself and Gacy. According to him, seeing the same questioning of the direct source of Gacy's horrific behavior recur in his research led him to the conclusion that human nature is more complex than pure cause-and-effect, and that all people have the capacity to murder. (It could also have been influenced by Sufjan's Christian faith and its belief in the inherent sinfulness in every person.) To this end, he found himself empathetic with Gacy's nature, as disturbing as it was for him to admit.
-->''And in my best behavior,''\\
''I am really just like him.''\\
''Look beneath the floorboards''\\
''for the secrets I have hid.''

* BigOMG: Sufjan does one in "John Wayne Gacy, Jr." after noting how Gacy killed 27 teenage boys and young men (actually somewhere over 33). Especially interesting is how it isn't traditionally yelled but softly and beautifully cooed.

** After noting how many young boys he killed, Sufjan asks "Are you one of them?", a question possibly posed towards Gacy himself, since he was abused as a child in the same way that he abused his victims, and therefore perpetuated a {{vicious cycle}}.

* FlyoverCountry: PlayedWith, [[{{Deconstruction}} Deconstructed]], and [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]]. The eponymous state (or at least the large chunk of it that isn't UsefulNotes/{{Chicago}}) is often portrayed this way in pop culture. By choosing to focus on such a supposedly boring state full of EverytownAmerica-type locales, Sufjan is able to dig deep into the surprisingly fascinating history and culture and make some bigger points about America itself.

* NotSoDifferentRemark: Sufjan ends "John Wayne Gacy, Jr." by stating this of himself and John. According to him, seeing the same questioning of the direct source of Gacy's horrific behavior recur in his research led him to the conclusion that human nature is more complex than pure cause-and-effect, and that all people have the capacity to murder. It's also a reference to Stevens' own Christian faith and its belief in the inherent sinfulness in every person. To this end, he found himself uncomfortably empathetic with Gacy's nature.

** After noting how many young boys he killed, Sufjan asks "Are you one of them?", a question possibly posed towards John himself, since he was abused as a child in the same way that he abuses his victims and is therefore caught in a vicious cycle.

* RepurposedPopSong: "Chicago" got a lot of play; it was used in the ''Film/LittleMissSunshine'' trailers and several TV shows in quick succession.

* StealthPun: In "The Predatory Wasp..." Sufjan confesses "I can't explain the state that I'm in." In the context of the song he's referring to his emotional confusion, but many listeners have noted that the whole album is in fact an attempt to "explain" a different kind of state.
* SympathyForTheDevil: "John Wayne Gacy, Jr." is a song that tells the story of a serial killer and rapist not in a demonizing light, but one that's emotive and pitying. Sufjan even ends the song by claiming that he and Gacy are, at the end of the day, not so different.
--> ''And in my best behavior, I am really just like him.''

** Songs on the album mention UsefulNotes/AbrahamLincoln and his wife Mary Todd Lincoln; politician Stephen A. Douglas; Helen Keller; serial killer John Wayne Gacy, Jr.; black preacher A.W. Jackson; social activist Jane Addams; musician Benny Goodman; baseball player Joe Jackson; as well as the [[UsefulNotes/MLBTeams Chicago Cubs]] and their associated goat curse.

''Illinois'', or ''[[LongTitle Sufjan Stevens Invites You to: Come On Feel the Illinoise]]'' ([[EitherOrTitle as the album cover would have it]]), is the fifth studio LP by American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Music/SufjanStevens. Released on July 4, 2005 to immediate acclaim, ''Illinois'' firmly established Stevens as the indie star and critical darling he has remained to this day.

* BiggerIsBetter: ''Illinois'' is probably Sufjan's most maximalist LP, as demonstrated by everything from the [[LongTitle Long Titles]] and big concept to the 22-song track count and hour-plus run time to the symphonic orchestration.

* {{Instrumentals}}: About half the tracks on the album, though most of them are little more than segues between the longer, non-instrumental songs (not to mention a pretense for more Illinois references, hence the [[LongTitle Long Titles]]).

* LongTitle: Most of the tracks on the album have them, including ''all'' of the blink-and-you'll-miss-it instrumental interludes.

* ExcitedShowTitle[=/=]PunctuatedForEmphasis: Used frequently. The most excessive one is "They Are Night Zombies!! They Are Neighbors!! They Have Come Back from the Dead!! Ahhhh!"

# "One Last 'Woo-Hoo!' for the Pullman" (0:06)

Stevens originally intended for ''Illinois'' to be a two-disc DistinctDoubleAlbum, but eventually scrapped the idea. He released ''The Avalanche: Outtakes and Extras from the Illinois Album'' (a 21-track companion compilation) the following year.

* AbortedArc: ''Illinois'' proved to be the second and final installment of the so-called "Fifty States Project," and Sufjan claimed later that he never really intended to complete it (though there is some evidence to suggest that ''Carrie & Lowell'' may have originally been conceived as an UsefulNotes/{{Oregon}}-based followup).

* LocationSong: Pretty much all of them.
* LonelyPianoPiece: "The Seer’s Tower" is a desolate-sounding, piano-led piece concerning both the apocalypse and parental abandonment.

* CrappyHolidays: "Casimir Pulaski Day" is both a darker and more quirky than usual twist on this trope, concerning the death of the narrator's love interest during the eponymous state holiday (which honors a Polish [[UsefulNotes/TheAmericanRevolution Revolutionary War]] hero).

* AlbumTitleDrop: Many times, reasonably enough.
* AllTakeAndNoGive: God Himself, according to "Casimir Pulaski Day."

* BaroquePop: A classic of the genre.

* BiggerIsBetter: ''Illinois'' is easily Sufjan's most maximalist album (aside from maybe his Christmas material), as demonstrated by everything from the [[LongTitle Long Titles]] and big concept to the track count and hour-plus run time to the symphonic orchestration.

* CrappyHolidays: "Casimir Pulaski Day"

-->''All the glory when He took our place\\
But He took my shoulders and He shook my face\\
And He takes and He takes and He takes...''

* GriefSong: "Casimir Pulaski Day"

* LonelyPianoPiece: "The Seer’s Tower."

* LoveNostalgiaSong: "The Predatory Wasp of the Palisades..."

* MurderBallad: "John Wayne Gacy, Jr."

* PsychoStrings: "They Are Night Zombies!..."

* AlternateAlbumCover: The first pressing included Franchise/{{Superman}} mid-flight on the cover art--but Sufjan and his label neglected to get permission from Creator/DCComics, as they mistakenly thought Superman was already in the public domain. [[ScrewedByTheLawyers To avoid a lawsuit,]] they covered Superman with a sticker of balloons on most of the unsold first-issue copies--and they edited the art itself for the reissues, replacing Supes either with a patch of empty sky, or the same balloons from the sticker. (Copies of the album with Superman are now rare collector's items.) Then the 10th anniversary vinyl reissue introduced yet another variant with a different comic book hero, Blue Marvel, reenacting Superman's pose.

''Illinois'', or ''[[LongTitle Sufjan Stevens Invites You to: Come On Feel the Illinoise]]'' ([[EitherOrTitle as the album cover would have it]]), is the fourth studio LP by American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Music/SufjanStevens. Released on July 4, 2005 to immediate acclaim, ''Illinois'' firmly established Stevens as the indie star and critical darling he has remained to this day.

# '''"Come On! Feel the Illinoise! (Part I: The World's Columbian Exposition - Part II: Carl Sandburg Visits Me in a Dream)"''' (6:45)

# '''"Chicago"''' (6:04)

# '''"The Man of Metropolis Steals Our Hearts"''' (6:17)

# "Riffs and Variations on a Single Note for Jelly Roll, Earl Hines, Louis Armstrong, Baby Dodds, and the King Of Swing, to Name a Few" (0:46)

* ExcitedShowTitle / PunctuatedForEmphasis: Used frequently. The most excessive one is "They Are Night Zombies!! They Are Neighbors!! They Have Come Back from the Dead!! Ahhhh!"

* AbortedArc: ''Illinois'' proved to be the second and final installment of the so-called "Fifty States Project," and Sufjan claimed later that he never really intended to complete it (though there is some evidence to suggest that ''Carrie & Lowell'' may have originally been conceived as an Oregon-based followup).

* AlternateAlbumCover: The first pressing included Franchise/{{Superman}} mid-flight on the cover art--but Sufjan and his label neglected to get permission from DC Comics, as they mistakenly thought Superman was already in the public domain. [[ScrewedByTheLawyers To avoid a lawsuit,]] they covered Superman with a sticker of balloons on most of the unsold first-issue copies--and they edited the art itself for the reissues, replacing Supes either with a patch of empty sky, or the same balloons from the sticker. (Copies of the album with Superman are now rare collector's items.) Then the 10th anniversary vinyl reissue introduced yet another variant with a different comic book hero, Blue Marvel, reenacting Superman's pose.

* DrivenToSuicide: Implied to be the case for the father of the IllGirl from "Casimir Pulaski Day" ("...and he drove his car into the Navy Yard").

* IllGirl: The LoveInterest in "Casimir Pulaski Day".

* {{Pun}}: "The Predatory Wasp of the Palisades..." includes the line "I can't explain the ''state'' that I'm in."