“John Wayne Gacy, Jr.” by Sufjan Stevens
As some readers already know, John Wayne Gacy (1942-1994) was one of the most dangerous criminals in American history. In fact the killer clown trope as we know it today is considered to have in large part been inspired by the real-life wickedness of Gacy, which we will not delve deeply into on this post.
But as a point of reference, he was so evil that after receiving a death sentence Gacy was executed just 14 years later, which is a relatively-short amount of time as far as condemned inmates go.
This is not the first song we’ve come across in which a popular musician memorializes, if you will, a disturbingly-violent criminal. And we have come to learn that in all of such cases, the question must be asked, in this instance of Sufjan Stevens, what compelled him to do so. And that would be besides the fact that the album this track is featured on is named after and centers on Gacy’s home state of Illinois.
The Lyrics of “John Wayne Gacy, Jr.”
In the outro, the vocalist goes on to make the interesting statement that even ‘in his best behavior’, he is “really just like [Gacy]”. The way some music scholars have made sense of that assertion is by noting how Stevens is in fact a professed Christian, and one of the philosophical tenets of said religion frowns upon the practice of self-righteousness.
In other words, adherents are encouraged to recognize their own faults (ultimately in the name of repentance). So what Sufjan is saying is something like just as John Wayne concealed the bodies of his numerous victims, the singer himself has ‘secrets hidden beneath the floor boards’.
With that in mind, it is interesting to note that Gacy isn’t recognized as a junior per se. So the presence of that attribute in the title may actually point to the singer being Gacy’s son, in a manner of speaking, i.e. the title referring to the vocalist himself.
Is the singer empathizing with John Wayne?
All things considered, it’s almost as if Stevens is empathizing with the late killer. For instance, the song commences by pointing out how Gacy came from a less-than-ideal childhood.
In an interview conducted a few years after this track was dropped, Sufjan went on to explain, in likening himself to John Wayne, that the point he’s trying to get at is all of us having the “potential” to do “what (Gacy) did”. Or put more simply, he is speaking to the innate capacity found within human beings to commit evil.
But maybe at the end of day, some may argue that perhaps he shouldn’t have chosen an individual as heinously off-putting as Gacy to get that point across. This is because the level of immorality Gacy practiced was on a whole ‘nother, demonic level.
When was “John Wayne Gacy, Jr.” released?
This track is from an album titled “Illinois”. The album is the Stevens’ fifth studio album. The album was released on the 4th of July in 2005. Since “John Wayne Gacy, Jr.” wasn’t released as a single, it shares the same release date as its album.
Despite not being issued as a single, it ranks high on the list of Sufjan Stevens’ popular songs.
The “Illinois” album itself fared poorly on the Billboard 200. However, it did top the US Heatseekers Albums chart. And beyond that, despite not being a major hit pop wise, a number of prominent entertainment institutions, such as Rolling Stone and NME, has ranked the LP amongst “best albums” lists.
Credits
This is a song that Sufjan Stevens created himself, i.e. being both its writer and producer.
Noteworthy Stuff
Despite having a first name of Islamic origin, this musician is in fact American and spent a good portion of his professional years living in NYC. Stevens can be considered by and large an underground artist in that the company who supported him since day one, Asthmatic Kitty, is an indie label.
It is Asthmatic Kitty that backed the release of “John Wayne Gacy Jr.” alongside a couple of other independent entities, Rough Trade and Secretly Canadian.
