Know something about this song or lyrics?
Add it to our wiki.
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 unstacking 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 unstacking 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
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 unstacking 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 unstacking 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
Lyrics submitted by J.Diddy
Track duration: 06:42
Add your thoughts
Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.
Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!
The lyrics talk about gambling with money and with love, and anyone's who's dealt with a gambling addiction themselves or through someone they love knows this feeling.
He starts out gambling with money, but then he reaches the point where he may have lost people he loves because of his addiction.
By the end of the song he's singing about how admitting what he's lost hasn't made him a brand new man (because that addiction will probably always be there), but that he's reached the point where he's strong enough that he won't risk losing the people he loves anymore:
'Your love will be safe with me"
In my opinion, the most important verses of the song (maybe not "important" but "significant", as they are the summary of what he's telling us), are the first one and the last one; just take a look at them:
"This my excavation and today is Kumran"; so he's going inside his feelings, and finally thinking about what has happened to him and what he's learning.
"Everything that happens is from now on
This is pouring rain
This is paralyzed"; is it necessary to explain what he's saying? it's very clear, though I think that in a logical thinking method, maybe the last 2 lines would go before the first one, as everyone when hits rock bottom, first realizes about it, and then he/she says "I'm going to better now, past is gone", and that's what "Everything that happens is from now on" means.
The last verse is even more poetical and settles all his thoughts, what he has finally learnt from all his pain.
"This is not the sound of a new man or crispy realization
It's the sound of the unlocking and the lift away"
After thinking and thinking, he's now pretty sure that he's not forgetting anything of what he was "dying" or "crying" for; and that's so wise. Even after all the pain, all the suffering, he knows he'll live with all those thoughts and loads for his entire life. This was not a rebirth, and he did not realize of anything important, he just passed through the pain and won the battle, that's all.
"Your love will be
Safe with me"
And these two last lines are the only ones that could make us wonder about what he was suffering for: why not, love. I'm not saying love could be the only thing that made him suffer (as we all know that he was in the cabin because of his illness, but we also know that he just broke up with his girlfriend...), but if we want to find out a meaning for these two lines, and therefore, for the whole song and his suffering, maybe we could debate this one: he's not rebirthing, so he's not going to forget anything, he's just not going to think about it anymore; he knows that, after all, even with all the suffering, it's impossible to forget that love, and it will be deep inside his body for years and years...
About the "body" of the song, it just explains his suffering (again, not only about love, just think about the crow metaphor, it's not about love, I think it's about suffering in general), with such sharpy metaphors. Simply great, one of his best, and being after "For Emma" in the album order, makes it really really really better.
It's already been described quite well what the first few few verses mean, and no need to go into that again. I believe that the lines: "This is pouring rain, this is paralyzed" are indicative of that EXACT moment of both feeling the anguish that has led you to low places and also is the gateway to moving forward.
Much of the remainder is the use of gambling (some here have used poker though I don't think there's a need to be that specific) as a metaphor for hitting rock bottom. I used poker for a period of time to support myself, and it was an incredibly stressful process, so perhaps the chorus either a) appears more clear to me, or b) or is shaded based off of those experiences, but here would be my version of it:
Stacks = Your chips for any form of gambling. In this sense, it represents your lifeblood and energy you have to commit.
Rack = This is the part that I don't think the thread has very clearly dealt (no pun intended) with to this point. When you go to a casino and have a lot of money to put into your night, you often receive a "rack" of chips to make it easier to carry them around. I would interpret the notion of a "rack" in Justin's song to mean that absolutely everything's been invested into this game (both with love and his previous bands).
So when I look at the chorus, if your "rack" ends up being your "stack" it implies that you've lost absolutely everything except the carrying vessel. It's in that sense that Justin felt stripped of everything he had to offer except his physical body. That's his "load" or burden.
I again think that the previous comments agree with my interpretation that the "black crow" is in some ways a metaphor for death or at least the apparition of it. In gambler's parlance, the notion of ending up after a long night where everything was lost and you now find yourself out on the curb, staring at the sun, without even the key to your car re-enforces the notion of having lost everything. Justin's clearly in a low place, but then the final verses are very telling....
"This is not the sound of a new man or crispy realization
It's the sound of the unlocking and the lift away"
This addresses several previous comments and fits in with Justin's theme of gambling. He's not experiencing (nor can any of us) experience a full catharsis. We are never free to completely leave the past behind and start anew. We'll always carry some of that baggage and there's always the chance of relapse. Addicts are addicts for a reason. Even a reformed or recovering one can easily experience relapse if exposed to the same situation. However, that realization that we've hit bottom and are vulnerable to relapse at least permits someone to potentially move forward. I think this also touches on the quote from Justin that "klaheth" quotes in the post above. Sometimes the worst things at least let us realize why they're bad and permit us to move forward. They're neither "good" nor "bad" in the sense that they're still a part of us, but at least we know it now.
A gamblers metaphor is so perfect for his experience....he knows his hurt and sorrow will always be with him, but at least now he recognizes that fact. Great song!
1. "I keep throwing it down 200 at a time." (Most casinos offer No Limit Texas Hold'em cash games with $1/2 blinds, and the typical buy-in for these tables is $200. And I also know that when you're losing at these tables, it seems like you're continuously pulling $200 at a time out of your wallet and putting it on the table.)
2. He talks about poker specifically before he sings this song sometimes.
"Life's weird. Huh. This song's about that. You know, uh, sometimes it's unclear when shit's supposed to be good when it's bad."
Also, this blogpost: wordsworthmedia.wordpress.com/2008/07/14/bon-iver-excavates-kumran-on-re-stacks/
"This is pouring rain
This is paralyzed"
was
"This is pouring rain
This is paradise"
(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 unstacking your load)
. The crow with the keys= his torment. Depression will make you do some stupid shit! But he had to go though it to feel the release he discovered in the cabin. And now hes safe. Incredible story, Im going through recovery my self so it is my anthem and it gives me the strength to find my release. And when you see clearer you realize thing that have been needed to get done like fixing that rusty fountain.
thanks Justin (its the little things) =)
~Joaquin