Lyrics for RE: Stacks as interpreted by J.Diddy

RE: Stacks Lyrics
This my excavation and today is kumran
Everything that happens is from now on
This is pouring rain
This is paralyzed

I keep throwing it down two-hundred at a time
It's hard to find it when you knew it
When your money's gone
And you're drunk as hell

On your back with your racks as the stacks as your load
In the back and the racks and the stacks are your load
In the back with your racks and you're un-stacking your load

I've twisting to the sun I needed to replace
The fountain in the front yard is rusted out
All my love was down
In a frozen ground

There's a black crow sitting across from me; his wiry legs are crossed
And he's dangling my keys he even fakes a toss
Whatever could it be
That has brought me to this loss?

On your back with your racks as the stacks as your load
In the back and the racks and the stacks of your load
In the back with your racks and you're un-stacking your load

This is not the sound of a new man or crispy realization
It's the sound of the unlocking and the lift away
Your love will be
Safe with me

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JeremyB1
11-13-2009

Rated 0 
"Your love will be / safe with me" Is he speaking to a past or future lover? I like to think it's the latter.

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Chipbarm
11-09-2009

Rated 0 
This song is full of references to gambling.

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jamiecroft
10-27-2009

Rated 0 
I believe what he is trying to say is about starting over. Taking all of the bad letting it go and just starting over. He quit his first band and left and then went to his parents cabin, where he stayed for 3 months.

It's just him trying to wash away as much of the past as he can and start over new.

This is song is just amazing. I feel I have missed out so much by just now finding Bon Iver.

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SatelliteBeach
08-28-2009

Rated 0 
As someone who has felt the sting of God's right hand, over and over again over the past 2.5 years, this song gives me comfort in a weird way. I can't say that I understand where all the lyrics come from but I feel like the author may have been in my shoes at some point and found hope and moved on.

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lealak
08-03-2009

Rated 0 
If anyone watches House, they will know that this song plays in the Season 4 Finale. I think I cried for one whole half hour. This song wrenches at the heart.

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salherbie
08-03-2009

Rated 0 
At a gig I was at last December he introduced this song by saying that it was dedicated to a good friend of his that he had lost...

Now he may have just been dedicated that particular performance to him but I do feel that this song is a lot to do with loss/ death.

it's too emotionally charged to simply be about poker.

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Bryceing
07-09-2009

Rated 0 
Everyone should check out Gregory Alan Isakov!!! If you like Bon Iver you will love Isakov! He has the best lyrics not to popular yet!

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yourfavoritearchetype
06-22-2009

Rated 0 
he introduced this song at Bonnaroo 2009 by telling an anecdote about getting a "devil's hand" once (a 7 and a 2 or something? sorry i don't remember the details)... he said that this song is just like getting a devil's hand.

my personal interpretation of this song, however, is that he's had a personal catharsis (hence Qumran), but that doesn't mean he's getting a clean break. i think it's about understanding the magnitude and the weight of an emotion (love) (hence stacks, load, etc.) and how much it controls you, how much it has enveloped you (almost too much), and you really can't break free of it--this is why it's also humbling (hence the "humbling he receieved at the poker table" (greich)). this song is incredibly sad but definitely one of my favorites.


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Luminol58
06-15-2009

Rated 0 
The allegory of the archaeological dig is huge here - he admits that his love was buried in the frozen ground (in association with the rusted out fountain, which probably caused a leak that resulted in more ice.) He had to go to the cabin to dig and figure out the root of his issues, of which the breakups (girls, bands) were symptomatic. I think that he finally realized that his problems were (as someone alluded to previously) associated with betting too big on unsure things, and being devastated by them. The crow represents the easy money; the quick fix; the pleasure centers that the early stages of love afford - these are fleeting and he gets it now. The stacks and racks (I admit I thought of libraries at first) are just the accumulation of burden, and the gambling metaphor is also right on target and in lock-step with this line of reasoning. He has let go of his way of thinking, and realizes that this is a simple, obvious solution, but one that is incredibly difficult to execute in real life. Bravo to a brilliant dissertation and song. People have written novels that don't capture this as consicely as he does in 6:41. can't wait for the next album, but can it compare?

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mikeyboy1968
05-13-2009

Rated 0 
one more thing is that the stacks are a place which is kept in conditions where this archival material can be kept safe so not to be degraded

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mikeyboy1968
05-12-2009

Rated +1 
not sure if its being mentioned but 'stacks' are where old books and archival material is kept in a library. it may be the weight of this he is referring to

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tundradesert81
04-13-2009

Rated 0 
it's literally about gambling folks, seriously.

stacks = poker chips.

i keep throwing it down 200 at a time = putting more money down.

he's dangling my keys, even fakes a toss = an opponent has his keys in a bet and is making fun of him.

when your money's gone, and you're drunk as hell = self-explanatory



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K4N4DI4N
03-23-2009

Rated 0 

I personally think the chorus part is a reference to him leaving his band at the same time as ending a romantic relationship as well. He's flat on his back emotionally, loading his band equipment into the back of a vehicle. His racks and stacks are both his band items, and metaphors for everything else that has him down. He's taking them all with him to be alone somewhere and deal with it all. Its a great chorus!

On your back with your racks and the stacks as your load
In the back and the racks and the stacks are your load
In the back with your racks and you're un-stacking your load.

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Meelz390
03-08-2009

Rated 0 
most confusing song I have ever heard ... most beautiful song I have ever heard.

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shrodes
01-21-2009

Rated +1 
re: crows

He mentions crouching like a crow in Blindsided. I doubt he would reuse such imagery in two songs unless they were related, so...

"There's a black crow sitting across from me; his wiry legs are crossed
And he's dangling my keys he even fakes a toss"

He's looking back on himself (the crow in aforementioned song). The past has the keys to unlocking himself to move on and forward in his life, but at that point in the song, he hadn't quite made it yet (faked a toss, throwing him the keys).

Then...

"Whatever could it be
That has brought me to this loss?"

Thinking on it more, he comes to his own personal catharsis, and is 'unlocked' per the final verse.

Just my opinion :)

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2 Replies
lilymole
01-18-2009

Rated 0 
i get such an abundance of emotion from this song and it's potent, obscure imagery.

i feel his loss of a loved one, he's in isolation reflecting on how he has compromised himself during the relationship and recieved nothing in return.

The refrain of 'on your back...' seems to speak of burdens, of the loss perhaps?

But the bad omen imagery of the black crow is just incredible, i can't figure it out and part of me feels that if i do i would be overstepping into his privacy if he has made it deliberatly elusive.

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dkg1
01-16-2009

Rated +2 
change of words in the chorus reminds me of shuffling of cards in poker.. he's shuffling the cards in different ways but still getting the same outcome.
I think there's also a hint that self-destructive tendencies got him into that rut he became stuck in - 'i keep throwing it down two-hundred at a time' etc. The use of the present tense might indicate that he perceives this tendency to still be present. The line 'it's hard to find it when you knew it' suggests to me that having a realization of love when you find it - doesn't necessarily mean you can accept someone else's love and love them in return - particularly when he's incapacitated by self-destructive habits (i.e spending recklessly, drinking too much).
I think there's an interesting theme of paralysis throughout the song - the image of being immobilised with stacks on top of you and his own self-destructive tendencies, as well as the image of his love being down in a 'frozen' ground. He then ends by talking about the 'unlocking' and the 'lift away' from this paralysis. While he hasn't changed (i.e., into a new man) or made a new or 'crispy' realisation, he has finally moved from out under the load/stack (or let go of these burdens) and lifted himself out of the rut he got stuck in. As a result, he's now free to safely deal with someone else's love, because he has the emotional space to accept it and appreciate it, which wasn't possible when he was paralyzed with the weight of troubles. I like that he's ending on a hopeful note - he's no longer burdened and is starting over - 'everything that happens is from now on'.

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melancholyjen
12-18-2008

Rated +1 
I feel like I'm watching this man break into a million pieces and try to pick them up through booze, self discovery and eventually "unlocking" himself to be free. It's open journal through song.

breathtaking, heartbreaking, bittersweet, hopeful. the human condition is such a beautiful thing.

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2 Replies
gummy_b
11-03-2008

Rated +1 
I believe Vernon uses a poker as a metaphor for life.
The "stacks" is a reference to building up burdens and responsibilities for life and how it is against society and poker to unstack or lose your chips.
Hence the the unstacking of your load.
The crow dangling the keys references a quick tease to finding your self and the meaning behind your life.
The replacing of the "sun"(suns usually references an idol/god) means he needs to find a new philosophy in life.

the ending lines basically sums it up

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MJT09
10-16-2008

Rated 0 
I think this song has to do with someone that gave all they had for something and ended up getting it, but loses it in the end. And that its that much harder to get over it considering you had it at one point and screwed it up.

"I keep throwing it down two-hundred at a time
It's hard to find it when you knew it
When your money's gone
And you're drunk as hell"

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MJT09
10-16-2008

Rated 0 
I see this song as giving everything you have for something and actually getting what you want, but in the end its all lost. And that its that much harder to get over it because you had it at one point.

"I keep throwing it down two-hundred at a time
It's hard to find it when you knew it
When your money's gone
And you're drunk as hell"

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grelch
10-10-2008

Rated 0 
Before playing the song in San Francisco, he did indeed state that this song was about a humbling he received at the poker table in 2003. He didn't say more than that, but you get the feeling he had a very, very bad day at the table.

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feelthemusic
10-08-2008

Rated 0 
this song is about having an abundance of things on your plate. Either he's really stressed out or wants a relationship or love to work but feel he's tied down to other things.

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Hobbespawn
10-06-2008

Rated 0 
Is it not a reply to a previous discussion that we will never be party to?
Is the beauty of the lyrics not that they are deliberately nebulous and therefore open to multiple intrerpretations?
That said lyriclover's interpretation is good. A reviewer of heartbreak should understand the subject and speak, as Justin however obscure, from the heart.

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astmarco
09-10-2008

Rated 0 
I think lyriclover81 did a great job but I have an idea about this part:
"I keep throwing it down two-hundred at a time,
It's hard to find it when you knew it,
When your money's gone,
And you're drunk as hell".

The 1st line:
I think its about investing far too much in relationships that may never work out.

2nd line:
He knows what love can be like and wants it back but its tough to wade through all the crap at the start to get there.

The last 2 lines:
He's bet/invested too much as it is which has left him drained and as well as that he judgment is totally impaired as a result of previous misgivings (relationships).

I think thats it anyway...

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