Justin Vernon released Bon Iver’s debut album, For Emma, Forever Agoindependently in July 2007. The majority of that album was recorded while Vernon spent three months in a remote cabin in northwesternWisconsin after breaking up with his girlfriend in North Carolina and returning home. The name Bon Iver is derived from the French phrase bon hiver (French pronunciation: [bɔn‿ivɛːʁ]), meaning “good winter” or “have a good winter”. Music is descried as “a hanging breath.”
“Come on skinny love just last the year
Pour a little salt we were never here
My, my, my, my, my, my, my, my
Staring at the sink of blood and crushed veneerI tell my love to wreck it all
Cut out all the ropes and let me fall
My, my, my, my, my, my, my, my
Right in the moment this order’s tallI told you to be patient
I told you to be fine
I told you to be balanced
I told you to be kind
In the morning I’ll be with you
But it will be a different “kind”
I’ll be holding all the tickets
And you’ll be owning all the fines
Come on skinny love what happened here
Suckle on the hope in lite brassiere
My, my, my, my, my, my, my, my
Sullen load is full; so slow on the splitI told you to be patient
I told you to be fine
I told you to be balanced
I told you to be kind
Now all your love is wasted?
Then who the hell was I?
Now I’m breaking at the britches
And at the end of all your linesWho will love you?
Who will fight?
Who will fall far behind?”
Do not feel alone if someone has broken your heart, deterred your soul, or neglected the many offerings of your beautiful and bountiful, heavy heart. We are in this together, but if and only when we open ourselves to one another’s love.