Songfacts®:

• The "Grand Illusion" is the world as framed by the media. The song was written and sung by Styx keyboard player Dennis DeYoung, who told Songfacts: "'The Grand Illusion' was about, 'Look at us up here on this stage in these good lights. You kids there in the audience in the 14th row, you think we know stuff? We may know a little bit, but deep inside, we're all the same. And what we're doing and what people that advertise to you on the radio, TV, and magazines, by creating illusions and images about how your life should be, those are just their fantasies, because nobody's life is like it.'"
• The title came from a 1937 film called La Grande Illusion by the French director Jean Renoir. After he saw it, Dennis DeYoung decided to write a song with the English translation: "The Grand Illusion."
  
  In a 1978 radio interview, DeYoung explained how he told a friend that he wanted to title a song "The Grand Illusion." Some time later, Dennis was talking to this friend on the phone and the friend said, "Hey, whatever happened to that song idea you had about a grand illusion?" Dennis said, "Man, I forgot all about that." He hung up the phone and went to work. He already had the music, so he started playing the tune and the words to "The Grand Illusion" came out. >>

  Suggestion credit:
  Steve - St. Louis, MO
• Styx had good reason to take on the media: critics were brutal to the band. In this song, they take away their power by painting what they do as an illusion.
• Styx took some heat for making music that felt overwrought and lacked substance. Dennis DeYoung defends their legacy, citing this song as example of one with a meaningful lyrical theme that challenged listeners to think about what they were being fed by the entertainment industry.
  
  "In 1977, I decided I would tell the fans, 'You know what we're selling? We're selling music, baby!," he said in his 2020 Songfacts interview. "'We're selling T-shirts and concert tickets. So, take it for what it is. If you think we know something you don't, maybe we do, maybe we don't.' What other rock band did that? Especially in that era. A lot of bands from that era – Foreigner, Queen, Journey, Styx – they kind of get lumped. I say, 'No. At times, we were like Dr. Seuss. We were trying to think the big think.'"
• Tommy Shaw grew irritated with many of Dennis DeYoung's bombastic songs and grand concepts, but he appreciated the sentiment of this one. "This profession can really play tricks on your head," he said. "You're out there on stage being what everybody wants you to be but behind that facade you're still trying to be the same person you've always been."
• The album The Grand Illusion was released on July 7, 1977, (7-7-77), and it was Styx's 7th studio album released. >>

  Suggestion credit:
  Randy - Colerain Twp., OH