Chicago (Sufjan Stevens song)

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 Illinois.[3] 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 at a particularly difficult time in my life or driving cross country and being pulled over by the cops just outside Peoria,"[1] and also added that he had seen his first rock show there.[3] 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 the director/writer, circa 1975, but I doubt I would like Woody Allen the person, circa 1975."[1] Stevens also cited the poem "Chicago" by Carl Sandburg as an influence on the track, and had intended to include a track about Saul Bellow on Illinois, but could not find a way to adequately cover the writer.[4]

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 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".[3] One further demo[2] 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.[5]

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.[6]

The track was sampled by Chiddy Bang on their single "All Things Go" as well as featuring a shortened version as the opening theme for the Netflix show The Politician. The song also appears in an episode of the 2022 FX series The Bear.[7] "Chicago" was featured in the 2006 film Little Miss Sunshine and 2014 film Veronica Mars.

Credits adapted from the liner notes of Illinois:

• Julianne Carney – violin
• Tom Eaton, Jeniffer Hoover, Katrina Kerns, Beccy Lock, Tara McDonnell – choir
• Maria Beller Jeffers – cello
• James McAlister – drums
• Craig Montoro – trumpet
• Rob Moose – violin
• Sufjan Stevens – vocals, wurlitzer, bass guitar, vibraphone, piano, sleigh bells, tambourine, shaker, arrangement, production
• Alan Douches – mastering[8]