Holocene

The Holocene Songfacts reports that the song title comes from both a Portland bar where Justin Vernon had a "long dark night of the soul" and the current climactic era, which began some 12,000 years ago and follows on from the last major Ice Age. Vernon was born and brought up in Eau Claire and still resides there. The song has three verses about three different times if his life living in the Wisconsin town. He told Mojo: "The title is a metaphor for when you're not doing well. But it's also a song about redemption and realizing that you're worth something; that you're special and not special at the same time." This was released as the second single from Bon Iver on September 5, 2011. It was backed by a cover of Peter Gabriel's "Come Talk To Me," which was originally released in April 2011 as a limited-edition 7-inch for Record Store Day. Bon Iver hired the Australian visual artist Nabil Elderkin for the song's music video. Elderkin has also worked with Kanye West, Frank Ocean and Common. He filmed the visual among Iceland's glacial landscapes, which features a young boy traveling through the rocky, picturesque landscapes. The clip was fittingly debuted on the National Geographic website.

[Verse 1] "Someway, baby, it's part of me, apart from me" You're laying waste to Halloween You fucked it, friend, it's on its head, it struck the street You're in Milwaukee, off your feet [Pre-Chorus] And at once, I knew I was not magnificent [Chorus] Strayed above the highway aisle Jagged vacance, thick with ice I could see for miles, miles, miles [Verse 2] Third and Lake, it burnt away, the hallway Was where we learned to celebrate Automatic bought the years you'd talk for me That night you played me "Lip Parade" Not the needle, nor the thread, the lost decree Saying nothing, that's enough for me [Pre-Chorus] And at once, I knew I was not magnificent [Chorus] Hulled far from the highway aisle Jagged vacance, thick with ice I could see for miles, miles, miles [Verse 3] Christmas night, it clutched the light, the hallow bright Above my brother, I, and tangled spines We smoked the screen to make it what it was to be Now, to know it in my memory [Pre-Chorus] And at once, I knew I was not magnificent [Chorus] High above the highway aisle Jagged vacance, thick with ice I could see for miles, miles, miles