Sufjan Stevens - Wallowa Lake Monster (Official Audio) 

I feel like no other song has ever captured the level of awe I felt for my mother as a child. I loved and feared her in equal measure, and all I wanted was to be with her. Then as I grew I started to see her illness, and began to understand what was happening more and more. It was kind of like watching the end of some great mythical creature playing out on a scale so much larger than my world seemed able to contain.

SO many people listening to Sufjan and crying- he's the country's honorary grief counselor.

I pity anyone who has never listened to Sufjan.

No greater example of musical flexing than calling a track this good an "outtake"

This dude is unbelievable.

For me, this is the most amazing song Sufjan has ever shared with the world in his beautiful career. I can barely explain what I feel, especially during the last section of the song. It's like I'm smoothly drowning into a peaceful oblivion.

Good God, the last three minutes of this track are unreal. So haunting. I’m taken to another realm.

Subaru Sedans is at it again.

I cry, but smile, but also cry and smile to Surfman's music like a little bitch. Hold me.

The most beautiful voice I ve heard. I adore this artist I don't think I am wrong in saying that he is a beautiful person, I really feel connected with Sufjan. I've attended so many concerts, so found of so many music styles, but when I saw Sufjan on stage both in France where I come from and in Dublin where I live, I really feel he was welcoming us at home. So cosy, funny yet magical atmosphere. It makes me shiver anytime I listen to him,. Sometimes I feel nostalgic in a beautiful way listening to his songs, yet I never feel alone as I have the feeling to be with a spiritual, kindly friend. I feel so happy. I even suffered panic attacks following a trauma for a while, and listening to Sufjan was always the soothing way to chill down. I just wish him the best in his life, he is giving so much to many of us, I wish he realises the impact he has on turning our lives better, isn't it the most beautiful goal to achieve to make someone happy?

The lyrics of this song make me think of a family losing their mother to alcoholism. Additionally, it is sung very beautifully.

WALLOWA LAKE MONSTER (lyrics): As if you know the story of Wallowa Lake Leviathan first hid in the deep where her children sleep She kept them hidden from the plague But have you heard the story of my mother’s fate? She left us in Detroit in the rain with a pillow case Fortune for the paper weight We followed her to Joseph, near the Indian raid She wept among the weeds, hide and seek, for the fallen chief Spathiphyllum on his grave And like the cedar wax wing, she was drunk all day We put her in the sheet, little wreath, candles on the crate As the monster showed its face As she waits for her children in the shade Demogorgon or demigod the ghost parade No oblation will bring her back to our place She stayed within the deep end of Wallowa Lake The undertow refrained with the flame of a feathered snake Charybdis in its shallow grave She gave us one last feature, the fullness of her face In the shade of Hin-mah-too-yah… (Red Napoleon) As the demon took her place As we wait for the waters to reside Her remarkable stoicism and her pride When the dragon submerged we knew she had died

the music of sufjan stevens accompanies me since i'm 16. it touched me deeply and helped me out of some very deep valley's. i'm 30 now, my musical taste has gotten wider, a lot of artists came and went, but sufjan stevens stays. i keep being amazed by his music, old and new and i am grateful to incorporate such beauty into my life.

The Greatest Gift is Sufjan Stevens himself. An angel in our midst, singing to God for all of us.

this song makes me feel nostalgia for things i have not experienced

So sad lyrics. I think the "monster" was the squizophrenia that his mother had. Beautiful song. This b-sides disk is really the greatest gift to people who loves "Carrie & Lowell". Thank you Sufjan.

Why god, why???? Sufjan is so underrated why????? His songs are like poetry. You listen one and next and next and you keep on listening plug in your earphones and you will find yourself in a different zone... Overwhelmed!

Oh how I adore the etherial sounds of Sufjan Stevens!

There's a bit around 00:00 to 6:52 that i ABSOLUTELY love :)

never thought i'd hear a song with the word "demogorgon" in it. what a gem! i don't understand these lyrics but they are beautiful and poetic.

I haven't ever heard anything similar to Sufjan's songs. All are really unique and I love them!!!

This is hypnotic. Just gorgeous.

Is this an outtake? Really? Fuck this dude is unreal!

I did not expect this to come out. Nor did I expect it to be of this scope and beauty. An absolute contrast to other carrie and lowell songs. It sounds as if I'm deep in the sea, admiring the beauty of the dragon from below. Thank you, Mr Subaru

the part from about 1:50 is so purely beautiful I can't help closing my eyes whenever I hear it

How is Sufjan actually allowed to do this???

honestly, this reminds me of my own mother quite a lot. she was not abusive, but prone to common fits of anger where, in the worst case scenario, she would hit and scream at me. she is an incredibly strong woman, the strongest i have ever known, but has her own issues and trauma that got the best of her at times. the mix of admiration, love and paralysing fear that i felt for her has been captured perfectly here, almost concerningly so. alas, i’ll probably never clear the air with my mom over how she treated me, but she will always be my mother and i will always love her (for better or for worse).

this is literally just a sonic fusion of age of adz and carrie and lowell lol

There are sad days, and there are days Suf releases new music. These days are also sad, but in a good way. Thank you, Sadjan Stevens.

Daddy Suf blessing us once again 🙏🏼👏🏼🙏🏼👏🏼

I wish I had the words to describe just how moving and transcendent this song is. Sufjan Stevens is an absolute genius of a composer, and I am so happy to have found his music 💖💖💖💖💖💖

I swear everytime I listen this song, it always gives me chills. It's so different from anything I have ever heard, and the lyrics.. The story is terrifying and perfectly portrayed

more proof that carrie & lowell could've been his "oregon" album

I see sufjan i click and then i listen then i cry then i replay then i cry then i replay then i die

As with basically everything Sufjan has produced, the best words to describe this song still do not convey the absolute majesty that it encompasses. Bravo! I adore this track!

i love this song, it's fucking great and plus its so bizarre to hear a song themed around a so little known corner of the world i grew up in. i can almost feel it when he says hes driving out to joseph and it brings back memories of my mother too

Like a continuation of Carrie and Lowell with added brass and strings... And the lyrics too, just wow

Dear Sufjan: you are never allowed to leave us. Signed, your affectionate co-dependent sycophant.

OMG,,I HEARD THIS ON COLLEGE RADIO ,,AND KNOW ONE KNEW WHAT IT WAS CALLED ,,SO I COPIED THE PARTIAL LYRICS OF"SHE STAYED WITHIN THE DEEP END OF WALLOWA LAKE:: OMG I FINALLY FOUND THIS !!,,SORRY ABOUT THE CAPS.

His voice whispering those beautiful words into my ears in the darkness of my bedroom with that music! Holding my tears (sad/joyful) until he says "no oblation will bring her back to our place". God bless you Sufjan!

"And like the cedar waxwing, she was drunk all day" is such a haunting lyric. Perfect.

my mother is trapped in her way.she wrestles with the past as she watches me grow. when i’m with her it’s fine, but when we’re separate I can see clear. as time has passes i realize I can not live like this and she can not live any other way. love from what i see true is to admire. love to her is to be attached. even that means we’re attached, trapped in her cage.

Every line is a f**kin masterpiece

When the singing starts at 3:52 it reminds me of the angels voices or vibrations/humming we will hear in Heaven. Even the horns/trumpets. Ahhhhh.... ❤❤

I’ve spent many hours on the shore of Wallowa Lake and I love this song. I wonder if many people in Joseph have heard this song.

This gem an outtake? Insane. This should have def been on the main album...what a beautiful, intense, sad, intimate & personal track!

I imagine this song is a memory of him and his brother's last time seeing their biological mother. They were brought to the lake town by some guardian figure to have a supervised visit with the mom. But the mom was drugged up or drunk or both and the mother turns into the monster when the visit becomes a train wreck and her leaving them that day is the monster going into the lake. There's enough imagery in the lyrics that make me think this and it's sad. I say this on the first day my girlfriend of a year is right this moment having her first unsupervised visit with her 12 yo daughter at my house while I'm at work. My girlfriend lost custody for a really poor choice to use drugs to escape her problems at the time. Fast forward to today and things are a lot better. But this song hits home of how her daughter might of felt as her and her brother experienced losing their mom to drugs back then.

Its crazy how many people come back to this everyday... this song is masterpiece!!!

Such a sublime song. I remember listening to it for days when I was living on the coast of Washington a few years back. I kept thinking of my mother and her own struggle with addiction, alcoholism, bipolar disorder, and incarceration for years at a time. But also her immense strength, stoicism, and even being part native. Generational Trauma. My mom got in trouble again recently after having relapsed about 4 years ago. So I've been revisiting this song. And (yet) another friend died of cancer this week. - a lady who was a profoundly good person. Fuck Cancer ! It has been a tough week! Glad this song for companionship and catharsis ! Thank you ☺️

I don’t mean to be mean-but songs about Stevens mother just drive me out of my mind how amazing they are. They are mysterious, melancholic, but full of hope at the same time.

I'm used to sad songs, really. But Soof has the power of making me cry. It's so beautiful and at the same time so sad! I get destroyed with his music, but I can't stop listening to it

That verse melody is quite something...

I've been listening to Sufjan for 10 years, it never gets old.. always leaves me speechless, calm, and let's me forget about my troubles for some moments. This is so so so beautiful. Thank you for sharing your mind with us.

This song gives me the chills in a good way. It's a freaking masterpiece

I'm not crying, you are.

hearing sufjan sing about places in Oregon always imbues his music with a nostalgic feel for me. very special, thank you sufjan.

A very relatable song, which to me is a story of realizing as a child that your parents may have a side that is like a monster, the shift in perception can be sad and difficult

Alcoholism and dealing with it as a child. The most beautiful sad composition about said subject I can imagine hearing.

sufjan stevens you're killing me

Edit : apparently there are two grave sites for Chief Joseph, one in Washington state - one in Oregon. I live near Nespelem. I live about 5o miles from Wallowa Lake, Nespelem, and Chief Joseph's Grave. I am really excited to visit myself. I am part native (though I am embarrassed to say it because I look totally white , and every white person says they are part native 🤣) - I don't think my ancestry is Nez Perce. But Chief Joseph has always been my favorite Chief since grade school and kind of a personal inspiration. - bought a spathiphyllum plant a year ago for my Home because of this song and to always remember Chief Joseph and his people, as well as their ongoing struggle. Everything comes together in a Sufjan Stevens song! There is a little bit of everything in everything Else. Nespelem was evacuated this week because of a wildfire encroaching on the community where Chief Joseph ( "Him-mah-too-yah") lived his last days and was buried. And of course ongoing Revelations about Residential schools which is Gut Wrenching. 😔 Love and Peace to all Along The Way, wow what a ride ! I see healing in this world. I am optimistic. Being part of that Process is the place to be. A Happy place to help Carry The Stone. ✌️

I'm still waiting for MYSTERY OF LOVE

Why is this the best song I have heard in such a long time? Love all you do Sufjan! I love how much you sing about my home state

I got goosebumps. Definitely, a work of art! Kudos, Stevens!

That last line and the transition into that soundscape perfectly reflects how I felt when my mother took her last breath. That sound. That's what that moment feels like.

Meditated to this song. Saw a dark lake on an illuminated night sky and white aurora and a girl with white night gown being amazed ♥️

Stunned by the beauty of this song

Beautiful song Sufjan, thank you, thank you again

Gorgeous song. A complete work of art. Can't stop listening.

What a lyricist. Up there with Elliott Smith, Vic Chesnutt, Dylan,. Neil Young, Patti Smith, P.J Harvey and Aldous Harding. I'm sure there are a million more i don't know. Great sound too

I don't know how he managed to make me cry with all his songs.

I can not listen to this man’s music without always wanting to cry😢. So powerful! The production is excellent!

As if you know the story of Wallowa Lake Leviathan first hid in the deep where her children sleep She kept them hidden from the plague But have you heard the story of my mother's fate? She left us in Detroit in the rain with a pillowcase Fortune for the paperweight We followed her to Joseph, near the Indian raid She wept among the weeds, hide and seek, for the fallen chief Spathiphyllum on his grave And like the cedar waxwing, she was drunk all day We put her in the sheet, little wreath, candles on the crate As the monster showed its face As she waits for her children in the shade Demogorgon or demigod the ghost parade No oblation will bring her back to our place She stayed within the deep end of Wallowa Lake The undertow refrained with the flame of a feathered snake Charybdis in its shallow grave She gave us one last feature, the fullness of her face In the shade of "Hin-mah-too-yah" (Red Napoleon) As the demon took her place As we wait for the waters to reside Her remarkable stoicism and her pride When the dragon submerged we knew she had died

the last half of this song sounds like dying

Tears are running down my cheeks.

never herd anything like it. i cried.

Carrie & Lowell part 2. I'm here for it, daddy!

Amazing Sufjan.

Between God and mortals, there is Sufjan Stevens. Pure magic.

This song feels like an out of body experience. So gorgeous. But I can't listen to this or Carrie and Lowell very often without going to places I'd rather stay away from.

Thank you, beautiful Sufjan xx you break my heart every day but you somehow make it sweet and glorious to feel the aches and agonies of being alive. I love you x

Thanks for the birthday present!

what a beautiful slow drift of an ending

the beginning is like a softer version of weird fishes

Exquisite Sufjan. I love you.

4:00 onwards is what sailors hear coming from the fog on a stormy sea as they are lured to their deaths by sirens

I live in La Grande, Oregon which is not too far from Joseph and Wallowa Lake. The Wallowa Lake monster is a pretty commonly known urban legend. My cross country team used to go up to Wallowa Lake every summer for cross country camp. There's a place to go go karting and play mini golf, as well as plenty hiking trails. Super fun times those were. Great area. The lake is freezing cold though.

Carrie & Lowell Part 2: Electric Boogaloo

This is probably my favorite song, I cannot possibly describe how fond I've been of his music since I was twelve,

It's like he induces the Doppler effect in his music to make it sound 3D. And brilliant!

Beautiful with melancholy. What a song!!

Just today I finished William Vollmann's 1215 pages covering the Nez Perce Wars & the loss of their ancestral homeland around Wallowa Lake so this is hitting especially hard. When it comes to tears "from this day forward I will fight no more forever".

I was listening to the Stranger Things soundtrack and this song was in the recommended videos (Been listening to Sufjan for years but hadn't heard about this new song). And then the songs talking about the Demogorgon...what the hell, that's a little bit too perfect.

This song is so mesmerizing

It's too early in the morning for this

I came here because of "Call Me By Your Name", and I am addicted to this guys music and soothing voice. This song is unbelievable.

I SLEPT ON THIS FOR WAY TOO LONG I love sufjan so much and have listened to so much of his stuff but god damn how'd I miss this onee

i could cry all day every day over this song

I grew up in Wallowa county. This song makes me feel homesick.

I can't get this song out of my head. It is so beautiful.

I just discover this guy, am I lucky !