The Best Song of the Decade: "The Predatory Wasp of the Palisades Is Out To Get Us!" by Sufjan Stevens (2005)

Now that we have a proper list (and a very good one, I might add), The D Man can at last share the best song of the decade. No strings attached. No numbers or rankings. Indeed, no list can contain the following song's triumphant musical and lyrical perfection. Did you really think The D Man would leave his loyal readers on such a downer? For heaven's sake, The D Man cried three times during church meetings this past weekend.

This song gives me chills. There was nothing like it conceived, written, or produced this decade. Lennon couldn't have imagined it. McCartney couldn't have written it. Dylan couldn't have arranged it. There is no other songwriter or musician likely to approach Sufjan Stevens' masterful "The Predatory Wasp of the Palisades Is Out To Get Us!"

The song, track fifteen from Stevens' to-date masterwork Illinois, is a watershed of musical wonder and poetic faith, its intimate grandiosity (or grandiose intimacy) swept up in an exquisite and staggering orchestral and choral arrangement. Soaring oboes, heavenly violas, plucked banjos, chorus hallelujahs, and a pitch-perfect trumpet solo that Miles Davis would beg to play.

Two of Stevens' favorite themes thread their way through this metaphorical masterpiece: a tangible description of childhood wonder and bewilderment takes flight with an elliptical, almost hermetic knowledge of the awesomeness of the Divine. The spiritual transcendence of "trusting things beyond mistake" can be understood and experienced by every true seeker, musical, spiritual, or otherwise.

"O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?"

Thinking outrageously I write in cursive

I hide in my bed with the lights on the floor

Wearing three layers of coats and leg warmers

I see my own breath on the face of the door

Oh I am not quite sleeping

Oh I am fast in bed

There on the wall in the bedroom creeping

I see a wasp with her wings outstretched

North of Savanna we swim in the palisades

I come out wearing my brother's red hat

There on his shoulder my best friend is bit seven times

He runs washing his face in his hands

Oh how I meant to tease him

Oh how I meant no harm

Touching his back with my hand I kiss him

I see the wasp on the length of my arm

Oh great sights upon this state! Hallelu-

Wonders bright, and rivers, lake. Hallelu-

Trail of Tears and Horseshoe Lake. Hallelu-

trusting things beyond mistake. Hallelu-

We were in love. We were in love.

Palisades! Palisades! Palisades

I can wait. I can wait.

Lamb of God, we sound the horn.

Hallelujah!

To us your ghost is born.

Hallelu-

I can't explain the state that I'm in

The state of my heart, he was my best friend

Into the car, from the back seat

Oh admiration in falling asleep

All of my powers, day after day

I can tell you, we swaggered and swayed

Deep in the tower, the prairies below

I can tell you, the telling gets old

Terrible sting and terrible storm

I can tell you the day we were born

My friend is gone, he ran away

I can tell you, I love him each day

Though we have sparred, wrestled and raged

I can tell you I love him each day

Terrible sting, terrible storm

I can tell you...

Why listen? "Palisades" elicited the greatest pleasure of any song this decade. The song lifted listener's spirits to unreachable heights and its power and poignancy has remained undiminished over time. The song allows listeners to come back, again and again, seeking solace and understanding, and will unfold meaning and musical discovery listen after listen. "Palisades" is the decade's finest achievement of chamber-pop and may be the ultimate expression of the form. In short, the song's language embraces the poetic sublime. And its arrangement, musicianship, and lyrics are worthy of our greatest songwriters and pop masters.

Something else? "Chicago," "Come On! Feel The Illinoise! Part I: The World's Columbian Exposition / Part II: Carl Sandburg Visits Me in a Dream," "Decatur," "He Woke Me Up Again," "No Man's Land," "A Good Man Is Hard To Find," "Sister," "Detroit, Lift Up Your Weary Head! (Rebuild! Restore! Reconsider!)"