Bon Iver: Blood Bank Meaning

Blood Bank Lyrics

Well I met you at the blood bank
We were looking at the bags
Wondering if any other colors
Matched any of the names we knew on the tags

You said see look it that's yours
Stacked on top of your brothers
See how they resemble each...

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   #1 top rated interpretation:
   anonymous

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   Jul 25th 2011 !⃝

   This song is without a doubt about a girl who has a husband (or dating) a man. She truly loves this man but is slowly falling in love with his brother, who is very much like her partner. When they are talking about the blood bags in the first verse it is just a metaphor for how the brothers resemble one another in the second verse, they are taking about their secret of how they love each other. And how it's messing up their lives, but the brother and the woman love each other. When they said "then the snow started falling" I believe they are talking about a change. Maybe a change in the husband and wife's relationship (because of the brother) the brother and the wife did not mean to fall in love. It just happened.
   I am in a very similar situation to what I just described so I could definitely relate to this song. Also if you look on other websites it agrees with me :)

2. 2TOP RATED

   #2 top rated interpretation:
   anonymous

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   Dec 15th 2013 !⃝

   To me it's a woman in love with someone other than her spouse. She is honourable and would never leave her spouse or cross too many lines and this man loves her for it, he knows their love too well and her curcunstances, and knows it could never last and will never be. They won't have christmas morning together despite his hopes. Her secret love for him is what runs red in her blood, her love for him makes her feel alive.

3. 3TOP RATED

   #3 top rated interpretation:
   anonymous

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   Mar 24th 2013 !⃝

   “Well I met you at the blood bank
   We were looking at the bags
   Wondering if any of the colors
   Matched any of the names we knew on the tags”
   
   A couple meeting at a blood bank. My guess on why they're there is that they're trying to have a baby and they're getting tested because the’re having trouble.
   
   “You said ‘see look that's yours!
   Stacked on top with your brother's
   See how they resemble one another
   Even in their plastic little covers’ ”
   
   This one is tough...
   It could be an inside joke. Or maybe the girl is trying to cheer the guy up, but failing because she reminds him of why they're there (because she refers to his brother, which brigs siblings and eventually children to mind)
   
   “And I said I know it well
   That secret that you know
   But don't know how to tell
   It fucks with your honor
   And it teases your head
   But you know that its good girl
   'Cos it’s running you with red”
   
   This refers to the girl knowing the results will be bad and her blaming herself. But she "knows it's good" because it proves how deep her feelings are for him and how much in love they are.
   
   “Then the snow started falling
   We were stuck out in your car
   You were rubbing both of my hands
   Chewing on a candy bar”
   
   They go outside and in the car but can't bring themselves to start it. They’re sitting there trying to stay warm when snow starts to fall. She's chewing on the candy bar she got after giving her blood sample (you're given sweets after you give blood).
   
   “You said ‘Ain’t this just like the present
   To be showing up like this’
   As a moon waned to crescent
   We started to kiss”
   
   She's referring to their bad luck.
   
   “And I said I know it well
   That secret that we know
   That we don't know how to tell
   I'm in love with your honor
   I'm in love with your cheeks
   What's that noise up the stairs babe?
   Is that Christmas morning creaks?”
   
   He knows how awful she feels about this situation because he feels awful too, but neither of them can admit it. He is reminded of how much he loves her. How strong she is, not breaking down and trying to cheer him up (=honor). How beautiful she is (=cheeks). They imagine what it would be like to have a kid around during Xmas (because Xmas is close since it’s snowing, or maybe it just passed). All three of them would probably wake up early to open the presents because the kid wouldn’t be able to wait.
   
   “And I said I know it well
   I know it well
   And I said I know it well
   I know it well
   And I said I know it well
   I know it well”
   
   He tries to console her and himself. He repeats over and over as he gets consumed by the sadness.
   
   
   This song makes me really sad and nostalgic. It reminds me of a guy I used to know.We were in love. But we never told each other because I was moving away. So we just spent as much time together as we could. This song is the conversation I wish we could have had before I left. Never got to say goodbye...
4. anonymous

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   May 1st 2017 !⃝

   This song is sick.
5. anonymous

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   Feb 14th 2012 !⃝

   Well, I met you at the blood bank
   We were looking at the bags
   Wondering if any of the colors
   Matched any of the names we knew on the tags
   
   when she met him she looked into his eyes and with absolution and angels singing she knew him from another lifetime and so divine she felt
   
   You said, see look that's yours
   Stacked on top with your brother's
   See how they resemble one another
   Even in their plastic little covers
   
   deep in her soul she knew they were long lost relatives like somehow they just fit together in an unusually necessary way
   
   And I said I know it well
   That secret that you know but don't know how to tell
   It fucks with your honor and it teases your head
   But you know that it's good girl
   'Cause its running you with red
   
   they share a pretty big secret because of the seed he planted inside of her when he looked at her. he impeccably impregnate her from the moment he laid his eyes in hers. it teases her head and makes her feel dizzy and heavy with child because she knows she carries his big bouncing secret baby in her heart and the baby is filled with both of their mixed blood and it pumps through her veins and makes her feel so alive when she feels the baby kick (the baby is a kicker)
   
   Then the snow started falling
   We were stuck out in your car
   You were rubbing both of my hands
   Chewing on a candy bar
   
   she think of all of her senses at that moment... she felt his warm hands in hers, she was "stuck" in a small space with him which is the only tight place she wants to be, she saw him with her eyes and outside the windows the snow was falling and they were both cozy inside the car next to each other and that was true peace and happiness in her heart & she tasted something so totally sweet and delicious in her mouth, she heard his soothing voice and everything was absolute perfectino for that moment until she smell exhaust and told him to turn the car off because they were sitting parked idling inside of his closed garage and she didn't want them to both die because their life was looking too promising and fumes are no good for their baby so he turns the car off
   
   You said, ain't this just like the present
   To be showing up like this?
   As a moon waned to crescent
   We started to kiss
   
   she always feels their time together is an incredible gift and sooo new and the moon faded to a sliver as they started to kiss...on the lips..
   
   And I said I know it well
   That secret that we know that we don't know how to tell
   I'm in love with your honor, I'm in love with your cheeks
   What's that noise up the stairs, babe?
   Is that Christmas morning creaks?
   
   he knows their secret well, too. he knows she is soooo pregnant with his baby and neither one can tell anyone in their town because people will be shocked and they'll be called names like hector and hester. she wants to look into his eyes and let him know that she fell into love with him the first moments they met like they were kind-red spirits cut from the same cloth and every word of this song pumps through her ventricular and makes her bleed for christmas. she knows he is her blood bank and he is her breath and she wants to climb the stairs with him to see what that noise is because in her heart she knows it is something they made together from the moment she tasted his cheeks... this song is like a genesis and feels like christmas which is valentine's in her heart for him and it is like their love a "coming into being" and the development & production & creation of what happened when their blood mixed
   
   And I know it well, I know it well
   And I know it well, I know it
   And I know it, I know it
   And I know it, I know it
   
   the secret she has in her heart is her present to him and it IS him and he knows it well. this is a most beautiful song about being devoted in bondage, blood, peace & fresh air. love is you xxxx

   This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway

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