I am, by no means, a writer, so forgive me. I believe this song is in reference to Chai Vang, a Hmong man from St. Paul, MN who shot 8 people, killing 6, in northern Wisconsin in 2004 while deer hunting. Justin Vernon would have been about 23 at this time and I have read in interviews that he started hunting when he was 23. The Chai Vang shootings were a tragedy of epic importance in this part of Wisconsin and caused such suffering, not only in lives lost, but also quite a bit of racial, cultural hatred, which I found to be extremely sad. I was there. I was first time rifle hunting with my boyfriend (first and last time of hunting)just about 2 miles from where this all went down that morning. In this typically quiet, cold, stark landscape, I heard the helicopters, police and ambulance sirens who barraged the area after the shootings. It was surreal. It was truly horrible on so many levels.
Key words/phrases for me (in song order): Title: Minnesota, WI, armour, arboretic truth, suit, storing up the clues, settle past the patience, never gonna break (Vang obviously "broke"), we're laying in an open field, so carry on my dear (I think Vernon intentionally spells "dear" but means "deer") and bellows.
Just my interpretion. I love this song, but I hate what I think of when I hear it.
I am, by no means, a writer, so forgive me. I believe this song is in reference to Chai Vang, a Hmong man from St. Paul, MN who shot 8 people, killing 6, in northern Wisconsin in 2004 while deer hunting. Justin Vernon would have been about 23 at this time and I have read in interviews that he started hunting when he was 23. The Chai Vang shootings were a tragedy of epic importance in this part of Wisconsin and caused such suffering, not only in lives lost, but also quite a bit of racial, cultural hatred, which I found to be extremely sad. I was there. I was first time rifle hunting with my boyfriend (first and last time of hunting)just about 2 miles from where this all went down that morning. In this typically quiet, cold, stark landscape, I heard the helicopters, police and ambulance sirens who barraged the area after the shootings. It was surreal. It was truly horrible on so many levels.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chai_Vang
Key words/phrases for me (in song order): Title: Minnesota, WI, armour, arboretic truth, suit, storing up the clues, settle past the patience, never gonna break (Vang obviously "broke"), we're laying in an open field, so carry on my dear (I think Vernon intentionally spells "dear" but means "deer") and bellows.
Just my interpretion. I love this song, but I hate what I think of when I hear it.