Song · Sufjan Stevens
“Casimir Pulaski Day” by Sufjan Stevens
From the album Illinois (2005)
“Casimir Pulaski Day” by Sufjan Stevens appears on 13 radio countdowns from 6 stations between 2009 and 2026. It was first released in 2005 on the album Illinois. Its best result is #56 on The Colorado Sound Top 1055 Songs of the 21st Century. In the combined RockLists rankings it is #606 indie & aaa song of all time and #451 of the '00s.
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"Casimir Pulaski Day" sits on Illinois, Sufjan Stevens' 2005 concept album for Asthmatic Kitty and the second stop on his Fifty States Project after Michigan in 2003. Stevens soaked himself in the state before writing, reading its authors and its histories and fishing for local stories in internet chatrooms, and the title comes from the Illinois holiday held on the first Monday of March.
The song is a teenage love story that ends in loss: the narrator's girlfriend dies of bone cancer on that very holiday, and he is left sorting through the grief and wondering where God went. Stevens produced, recorded and engineered it himself, with Shara Nova adding background vocals, and he sings it softly, which only makes it cut deeper. He has said the album's songs mix invention with memory, planting pieces of his own life in Illinois soil.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
RockLists rankings
Indie & Adult Alternative
All Rock Formats
All-time and decade countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | 404 | WYEP | WYEP 913 Songs That Matter from the Last Decade | 913 |
| 2009 | 513 | WYEP | WYEP 913 Essential Songs | 913 |
| 2013 | 370 | WXPN | WXPN 885 Greatest Songs of the New Millennium (2013) | 885 |
| 2018 | 462 | The Current | The Current's 893 Essential Songs | 892 |
| 2019 | 320 | KEXP | KEXP Listeners' Favorite Songs of All Time | 627 |
| 2020 | 811 | WXPN | WXPN 2020 Greatest Songs of All Time | 2020 |
| 2022 | 517 | 90.9 The Bridge | 90.9 The Bridge Top 909 Songs of the 2000s | 907 |
| 2022 | 298 | KEXP | KEXP Top Songs of the Last 50 Years (1972-2022) | 491 |
| 2024 | 56 | The Colorado Sound | The Colorado Sound Top 1055 Songs of the 21st Century | 1055 |
| 2024 | 408 | WXPN | WXPN The 885 Greatest Songs of the 21st Century (2024) | 885 |
| 2025 | 99 | 90.9 The Bridge | 90.9 The Bridge Top 909 Songs of the 21st Century | 909 |
| 2025 | 324 | WYEP | WYEP Best Songs of the 21st Century (So Far) | 714 |
| 2026 | 1031 | WYEP | WYEP Greatest Songs of All Time | 1180 |
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