Regina Post #8 – Re: Stacks

Re: Stacks – Bon Iver

“This my excavation and today is Qumran
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”

Translation – Literal

My mind is dreary

My mind is stuck

I declare an unpacking and setting free of that which holds me back

From this point on, all is brand new

Continuously I gamble love, and then some

Love is hard to rediscover

Especially when you’re helpless

And delusional

Justin Vernon (Bon Iver) can have lyrics that seem quite encrypted sometimes, which is why I decided to do a literal translation of an excerpt from his song, Re: Stacks. The song, in a nutshell, is about rebuilding himself after an emotionally tolling and ultimately terminated relationship. Vernon likes to use extended metaphors in his songs, and in this specific one he compares the concept of love to a game of poker – blind and gambled away. He realizes that he has to fix or live with what is depressing him (undying love for a former lover), so he goes with the latter. The Qumran excavation is paralleling the uncovering of the dead sea scrolls, which was a discovery that changed the entire course of Christianity, with the act of bringing to the surface his deep-seated romantic feelings for said lover and proceeding to contain them rather then let them ruin him. It’s akin to a rebirth. He gives his love away hastily and in large quantities to the girl, faster than his sanity can keep up with, leaving him broken in his drunken- and helplessness.

Translation – In the retrospective style of a middle-aged American dad with a new outlook on life after a tough divorce, who still has an undying love for his ex and also REO Speedwagon

As REO Speedwagon sang, “I can’t fight this feeling anymore”,

From now on, I’m just going to Roll With the Changes

I was “speeding” down a dark path

In the Stillness of the Night

I Kept the Fire Burnin, Kept On Loving You

All the while thinking… “That Ain’t Love,” even though it was

But I was broke as a damn joke

And soused, as my old man would say, after finishing off a 6-pack of Bud Light Lime

I decided to add a bit of allusion to the mix. This translation was created through the lens of a ~50 year old American dad who can’t get past his ability to reference REO Speedwagon long enough to poetically express his undying love for his now ex-wife after a tough divorce. I basically took each line and translated it using the mind of said dad and the relatable and oh-so-singable song titles of the famous 80s rock band.