Sometimes Songs and Poems are One in the Same (Bon Iver: For Emma, Forever Ago)

Bon Iver's For Emma, Forever Ago is a record that blurs the line between what is a song, and what is a poem. The thing about Justin Vernon's (who performs under the moniker "Bon Iver")  lyrics is because he sings in such a high falsetto, using his voice as though it was an instrument, it's usually difficult to understand the words, so having the printed lyrics is necessary. That being said, the music and lyrics always seem to work for each other - never against - when combined, but they are each so well crafted with so many variations in sound and meaning that they are beautiful (and credible) separately.

On this record, Vernon's songs trade off between being repetitive and not; he doesn't repeat lines just to make a song "catchy," but does it only when absolutely necessary and when it makes sense to the meaning of the song. I've set up the following post so that the songs and lyrics are both available for the songs I chose to focus on.

FLUME

I am my mother's only one

it's enough.

I wear my garment so it shows

now you know.

only love is all maroon

gluey feathers on a flume

sky is womb and she's the moon

I am my mother on the wall, with us all.

I move in water, shore to shore;

nothing's more.

only love is all maroon

lapping lakes like leery loons

leaving rope burns--

reddish ruse

only love is all maroon

gluey feathers on a flume

sky is womb and she's the moon

"Flume" is one of the only songs on the record in which the lyrics and vocals actually help the music showing that, in this case, both music and lyrics cannot stand alone. Here, the music itself is so raw and sparse that it needs the extra instrumentation of the vocals. In other words, the lyrics are strong enough to stand alone, but not the music. Why is that? It's not just the weakness of the music, it's what the words are doing. "Flume" is setting the story for the rest of the record, which is essentially about a man reopening his heart to love after a devastating heartbreak; and it characterizes the speaker as someone who wears his emotions outright ("I wear my garment so it shows" (l. 3)). He is also utterly secluded with only his surroundings and daily tasks as his company, which is evident in the seventh stanza:

only love is all maroon

lapping lakes like leery loons

leaving rope burns--

reddish ruse (ll. 11-14).

Here are the sounds of loons calling and rope burns from laboring - obviously these words are important to set the story, which can't be exposed by the music alone.

Although understanding what Vernon is singing is a good reason to have the lyrics in print, he also breaks lines in ways that don't follow the normal layout for lyrics: four line verse, four line chorus, four line verse, etc. Like any poet would do, he breaks lines where it makes sense, emphasizing certain lines while dropping the others into the background, and because of this, his lyrics can't be truly appreciated unless read.

SKINNY LOVE

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 veneer

I 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 tall

I 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 light brassiere

my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my

sullen load is full; so slow on the split

I 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 lines

who will love you?

who will fight?

who will fall far behind?

The main reason I chose Bon Iver's record to follow the post I wrote on repetition is many of Vernon's lyrics repeat lines or include refrains. As mentioned in that post, often when repeated lyrics are printed on the page, they seem silly, not prolific. But with Vernon's lyrics, they are actually prolific.

"Skinny Love" is one of those songs that really shows how vital all its working parts are to each other, but also how well they can work separately. However, there are certain portions of this song where the lyrics might not be able to work alone, but that depends on how they're read. Take the third line of the first stanza: "my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my." It can be read in two ways: either it's a nonsense line used as an interlude to break the tension of the line that follows, or it can be heard/read as "Oh, my..." like the speaker is recognizing how difficult it is to make this plea to an old love he wishes would stay at least through the year.

There is also the repetition of the chorus in beginning successive lines with "I told you..." Here the desperation expressed in the repetition is not only limited to hearing it out loud. On the page this still means "I told you and you did/didn't do it anyway" and we still no the speaker is really trying to understand, but can't. Out loud and sung, perhaps the only real difference in this repetition is the meaning is even more apparent when Vernon sings the lines as though they are being thrust from his throat through tears. For me, that's the most vital portion of the song, and if it works without music, then the whole song can stand as a poem.

THE WOLVES (ACT I & II)

someday my pain, someday my pain

will mark you.

harness your blame, harness your blame

and walk through.

with the wild wolves around you

in the morning, I'll call you
send it farther on

solace my game, solace my game
it stars you
swing wide your crane, swing wide your crane
and run me through

and the story's all over you
in the morning I'll call you
can't you find a clue when your eyes are all painted
Sinatra blue

what might have been lost--
don't bother me.

The way the lyrics are expressed on the page changes a bit in the final two songs I'm presenting here, one of which is "The Wolves (Act I and II)." It is actually necessary for this song to be presented on the page and sung with musical backing - it needs both versions. Hearing the song with musical backing is important because in the beginning, even before the first verse, Vernon maintains prolonged waves of notes in his haunting falsetto with nothing but the light tapping of a guitar in the background. This tapping creates a tension which is only exacerbated when Vernon finally begins singing the first verse. The song goes on with the speaker struggling with the memories of his past heartache and whether he should remain alone or trust someone new.

Finally, the song culminates with "what might have been lost -- don't bother me" (ll. 16-17), which is repeated numerous times over accompanied by a cacophony of crashing cymbals and guitar riffs until the song fades out, but is stated only once on the page. While the line can take on a small difference in meaning portrayed both ways, it becomes no less powerful. When read, the line expresses that the speaker is really OK with whatever opportunity to love again might be missed - he's convinced and unwavering. But when sung over and over again, the speaker is trying to convince himself that he's OK with the missed opportunity, and with the thrashing music behind the vocals, it's as though he's repeating the line through sobs.

Though both portrayals of these last two lines are equally valid and powerful, I understand why they weren't repeated on the page as many times as they are sung. Repetition works best in a poem when used sparingly, and repeating this line 12 times on the page would make it trite and less powerful. Plus, it would lose the intensity of the overlapping and difference in key and intonation that the recorded version has. Though the meaning of the line is tweaked slightly depending on the presentation, it is no less emotionally evocative either way.

FOR EMMA
narrator:
(so apropros:
saw death on a sunny snow)

him:
"for every life..."

her:
"forgo the parable."

him:
"seek the light."

her:
"...my knees are cold."

(running home, running home,
running home, running home...)

her:
"go find another lover;
to bring a... to string along!"

"with all your lies, you're still very loveable."

"I toured the light; so many foreign roads for Emma,
forever ago."

I chose to discuss "For Emma" not because it's the record's namesake, nor because it really aids in my discussion of repetition, but because it is written completely differently than any other song on the record. Here, Vernon uses the elements of prose writing and poetic dialogue to compose a song, but drops these elements in the recorded version.

The lyrics are written in the form of a dialogue amongst a narrator, "him" and "her." "Emma" is mentioned, but she doesn't seem to be the "her" of which Vernon speaks. Here is what happens in the song: "he" is still hung up on "Emma" but "she" doesn't want to compete with "his" former lover anymore. So the female character decides to leave until he finally admits to the feelings he still harbors for his past love and decides to let "Emma" go. None of this, however, is obvious upon hearing the song without seeing the printed lyrics. Both versions of the story work, but for different reasons; the performed version is somewhat nonsensical because the speaker is not evident, and neither are the characters, while the written version gives us more information but allows the reader to become immersed in a more concrete story. Either way, the song's/poem's beauty or meaning is never really compromised.

With Bon Iver's For Emma, Forever Ago, it's easy to see how a song can also work as a poem. Sometimes these lyrics can stand on their own and lose next to nothing, other times, that can't. Nevertheless, I consider this album special (for lack of a better word) because of how many songs are legitimate poems.