Bon Iver: Skinny Love Meaning
Skinny Love Lyrics
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...
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1.
One theory of mine is that-
He is singing to girlfriend ( Heroin Addiction, Drug Addiction- Fights caused from such a lifestyle, which led to sicknesses or even Bulimia Nervosa, anorexia. )
( He's saying-Suck It up, Bout ready to leave ( Unless You Change )
He's sick of trying to edify her, the patience, the balance, one step at a time thing is over-HE'S DONE, SHE'S NOT CHANGING ! He knows she's in denial of being an addict, she refuses to look at herself.
Your blood in sink over n over too long now, how did I just realize this whole time, that I have been desensitized to this horror of our abusive-drug addicted relationship. Giant wake-up call, out of nowhere. Crushed veneer-reminder-past fights-something she/he did, reminder of drugs possibly created in that sink & both shared. Reminder how he kicked addiction, hoping she would, only to keep putting up with way too much for too long and realize he's the only one that could love her, she's almost a rotting corpse now and still doesn't see it and if he does leave, he's facing the most-likely possibility that she will die, or by him leaving, hopefully will be a wake up call, but that's a risk, and he knows that. He's torn, doesn't want to take it, but knows he has to, to save himself and by making that move, hoping that such a move-JUST MIGHT OPEN HER EYES. SO- It's Now Or Never" type of thing. Moving on, hurt, confused, sad, beyond broken. My & her only chance. She still refuses to believe she's an addict, but in her heart she knows and that's what hurts the most, she chose her sickness over him. Who will love you ? I He picked her up when she was broken, says she cares, but not changing-but she doesn't want to be put back together now. NOBODY is going to want or spend anytime on fixing this addict, if she won't allow the man that loves her the most to. This song is about an Intervention!
2.
Second theory- Same thing just-REVERSE IT- As if he wanted the audience to believe this was about her, when he's really singing in the 3rd person- about himself as skinny love. -
The first stanza is he is asking his "skinny love" to just last a year in the wilderness. Then pour a little salt is about their secret murder of a slug. And we were never her is about the running away and keeping it a secret. My my my, is what he is saying after killing the slug because he is regretting it and then begins to blame it all on her. Staring at the sink of blood and crushed veneer is he just threw a sink at her face for killing the slug.
The second stanza is tell my love to wreck it all is him basically saying we are f-ed. And the next line is the twist! Cut the ropes and let me fall... The were rock climbing the WHOLE time!!! And he is asking her to cut the ropes and let him fall because he feels horrible for throwing a sink at her face. And now he is saying my my my because it has come to this. And in this moment the order is tall means basically the cliff is really tall and he is realizing how high they have climbed.
The next part is they are yelling back and forth at each other and she say I told you to be patient (about the whole slug episode) and he says I told you to be fine (he doesnt know what he is talking about because he is dangling from a cliff) and she says I told you to be balanced (because be is dangling off a cliff and he needs to be balanced) and he says I told you to be kind (because she's not being very nice)
And the next part is come on skinny love what happened here, he is saying this because he is basically asking, what happened here? And suckle on the hope of lite brassaire is her telling him she can't cut the rope because she is pregnant. And AGAIN he says, my my my because he can't believe what she has said. And sullen load is full slow on the spit, is basically him saying your going to get fat and I can no longer call you my skinny love.
Your welcome. -
It doesnt acually have any ties to 'love (as such)' or anorexia, its actually about Bon's many Attempts at suicide he was talking about it once.
He said it was a hard time for him i'll explain..
'let's last the year,'- is about him wanting to carrying on living so hes trying to make it till the end of the year.
'pour a little salt,we were never here.'- is him saying in a few second He can be erased and forgotten and no one would notice.
'staring at a sink of blood'- is him cutting himself.
The next verse is him saying cut me off from this world and just please let me die.
i dont know much about the chorus so im taing a guess. I think its him referring to a past girlfriend or peer who undermined him and thought he was going to kill himself, it might be him saying see i know i would pull through, and you put me down so you are the bad one (holding all the tickets and you'll be owing all the fines.'
the next verse is him just holding on to the last bit of hope he has.
The last bit i think is him saying to a past girlfriend im over you now and im still alive so what are you going to do know.
Such a sad song and such a talented man, i love you BON! -
I personally interpret this song as the loved one of a victim of an eating disorder stands by with no way of helping.
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I think the best thing about music is that when an artist releases a song, they 'release' it from their creative grasp to all the public to interpret.
For me personally the 23/11 @ 17:32 is the most accurate. I believe that the 'skinny love' is his relationship fading away. The salt might indeed be adding salt to the wound aka just making things worse. The crushed veneer may be a teeth falling out nightmare (one of the most common) which signals something that is out of your control.
He's clinging on to the "hope in light brasseries" knowing that for him the aesthetics in the relationship are still keeping him there even if the emotional side is unravelling in an unbearable manner though he still can't get away "so slow on the split"
"Im breaking at the britches and at the end of all your lines" for me, means that everything she says merely twists the blade another small bit into his heart and makes him feel worse for clinging on. "who will love you who will fight who will fall far behind" is his last swipe asking who will put up with her and lets see who will do better in life. -
This is one of my favorite songs, and even though it's my favorite, I still don't know if I've completely analyzed it just right. Many people think it's about anorexia or an illness, but I have a different take on it.
I believe this song is about love that's fading or decaying away. "Skinny" love, as in, there isn't much love left. He wants the love to last, but he knows there isn't much love left to keep. And, since salt has healing properties, he wants to "pour the salt" over the situation to forget he ever loved her at all. "In the morning I'll be with you, but it will be a different 'kind'" could mean that when they wake up, she becomes a different person than the night before. Towards the end of the song, we discover the girl he was in love with wasted his love, although he told her to be patient, fine, balanced, and kind. Based off this, we can assume the girl was a very difficult person to love. He questions who could love someone like that?
The main reason I don't think it could be about an eating disorder is because he blames her toward the end for wasting his love. This song doesn't struck me quite like that either. And even if it is a song about a girl with an eating disorder, he seems to regret falling in love with her definitely. -
This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
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I think that this song is about the battles and difficulties of a person with his loved one. I get the feeling as if the lover is suffering from an illness and is terminally ill as Bon Iver sings :"Just last a year."
Also the title, "Skinny Love" if he is naming the person, could also imply illness as a loss of weight implies poor health. In many serious diseases and conditions a loss of weight is often a vital symptom. Also the words, "Just last" sounds like he's willing her to live because she is so ill that even a short year will be good enough for her to live and be with him.
"pour a little salt we were never here." Salt has healing properties and the lie sounds like he's willing her to take her medication and it'll all be okay and as if they were never in that situation.
"Staring at the sink of blood and crushed veneer." Veneer is a thin layer of restorative material placed over a tooth surface, either to improve the aesthetics of a tooth, or to protect a damaged tooth surface. This line implies to me that there is literal blood and crushed veneer left in a sink. He asks what happened here, Therefore showing that he was not there to see what happened. But It was probably caused by some vomiting up of blood and the crushed veneer from violent vomiting. Vomiting is a common effect of treatments used to treat cancer or vomiting up blood is as a result of some diseases such as TB HIV and aids of which his loved one may be suffering from.
The overall meaning that I get when I listen to this song is about a lover willing their ill loved one to live who has lost all hope and all will to live. -
I think is about loving someone suffering from BPD Borderline Personality Disorder they have a rocky relationship and he wants her to get better, I think she wants to die and he is fed up with her threats , he wants her ti change but he is at the end.
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I was initially puzzled by this song but after listening to it a few times, I thought that I had got a feel for the true meaning. However after consulting websites such as this, I found many other conflicting ideas.
For me, this song evokes images of a couple falling apart because of issues such as anorexia and self harm. This is because of the title "skinny love" which could relate to a seriously ill and underweight woman.
"Staring at the sink of blood and crushed veneer", I think, has an ambiguous meaning, one that could be the a literal memory of the man finding his love after possibly attempting to slit her wrists or such like which could explain the sink of blood but then could signify the ending of their relationship- "crushed veneer".
Also,"I'll be holding all the tickets
And you'll be owning all the fines" suggests that all the man is doing is trying to help his love (save their relationship/save her from death) and by "owing all the fines" she is throwing it back into his face.
My last point is the way that speech is portrayed between the man and the woman , as bon jovi sings " I told you to be patient
I told you to be fine
I told you to be balanced
I told you to be kind" it seems language that would be used on a child, not a lover. For this reason, it makes me think that the woman is not in a well mindset.
There are a few other parts of the song which support my ideas but many of them have been covered :) -
I am sure I am wrong, but I feel that it's about Anorexia and having to stand by the sidelines while watching your loved one waste away, selfishly focused on themselves while killing themselves and who they were once before. Standing by the sidelines watching it, you cannot help but feel affected and somewhat slided that your loved one cannot fix themselves to survive and be healthy for you. (Then who the hell am I)
Common skinny love just last the year = survive.
Pour a little salt, we were never here = nutrients will solve the problem and we would no longer be in this situation.
I told you to be patient, balance, and fine = speaks for itself.
In the morning I will be with you, but it'll be a different kind = I guess that could be about an intervention.
Who will love you. Who will fight = She is not a horrible person that no one will ever love... but who would fight for someone who doesn't even love themselves. -
Could it be about someone having an illness?
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I have always listened to happy songs that are girly and carefree because that what i want to be. But i can relate to bon iver with his album for emma because its so meaningful and amazing, and it shows how twisted up inside you can get over a person that you care for very much. Even if they do shitty things to you and don't appreciate those small things that you do for them, its hard to let them go even though you know that they aren't good for you. i read yesterday that john lennon once said he wrote on an assignment of what he wanted to be when he grew up and he wrote 'happy', they said he didn't understand the assignment he said they didn't understand life. I just want to be happy all my life, not just some of it.
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I think it shows how everything's good and fantastic with one person, and you love them and trust them and all of a sudden, after all you've been through they just turn and do something to hurt you, and it's wasted and you don't know who you are any more.
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