Fanmix Track 2: Skinny Love by Bon Iver
The first track of my fanmix addressed Spike's one-sided obsession during most of season 5; this second track skips past Buffy beginning to trust Spike at the end of season 5 and goes right to Buffy's struggle with depression at the beginning of season 6.
Initially I was torn between two songs off of Bon Iver's debut album, For Emma, Forever Ago (2007): Skinny Love and The Wolves (Act1 and II). Both are excellent songs and have the same melancholy sound and despondent lyrics. In the end though, The Wolves was just too slow and long to put on a record that's not specifically designed to make you end up weeping in a fetal position. (The entire album was written during one bleak winter while the group's singer-songwriter Justin Vernon was living alone in an isolated cabin in Wisconsin in an attempt to recover from mononucleosis, a failed relationship, and the break-up of his previous band. And, in the words of Cordelia, boy howdy, can you tell.)
The opening line, Come on skinny love just last the year, is a spot-on portrayal of Spike’s feelings towards Buffy when she first returns to the rough reality of living in the world after having sacrificed herself to save her sister and experiencing the blissful peace of Heaven. Spike is the only one who can truly see her pain (though they can all see the bones sticking out of her thin frame), and he’s desperately trying to help her get through each day, one at a time.
Staring at the sink of blood and crushed veneer depicts Buffy’s bewilderment staring at the bloody hands she used to dig her way out of her grave as Dawn helps clean her up in the Summers' bathroom.
The refrain is literally the repetitive chorus of the Scoobies pressuring Buffy to feel better by telling her how they each think she should be feeling:
And I told you to be patient
And I told you to be fine
And I told you to be balanced
And I told you to be kind
The song ends with a series of questions that the beginning of season 6 poses to Buffy. She’s completely lost and has no idea which of her friends to confide in or trust (or distrust, in the case of the last question, which could be interpreted as referring to Willow and foreshadowing her magical decline).
Who will love you?
Who will fight?
Who will fall far behind?
(The band’s name is pronounced “bohn eevair,” the French phrase for "good winter" and spelled wrong on purpose, since apparently Vernon thought “hiver” looked too much like “liver.”)
Come on skinny love just last the year
Pour a little salt, we were never here
My, my, my, my, my, my, my, my
Staring at the sink of blood and crushed veneer
Tell my love to wreck it all
Cut out all the ropes and let me fall
My, my, my, my, my, my, my, my
Right in this moment this order's tall
And I told you to be patient
And I told you to be fine
And I told you to be balanced
And I told you to be kind
In the morning I'll be with you
But it will be a different kind
I'll be holding all the tickets
And you'll be owning all the fines
Come on skinny love, what happened here?
We suckled on the hope in lite brassieres
My, my, my, my, my, my, my, my
Sullen load is full, so slow on the split
And I told you to be patient
And I told you to be fine
And I told you to be balanced
And I told you to be kind
And now all your love is wasted
And then who the hell was I?
And I'm breaking at the britches
And at the end of all your lines
Who will love you?
Who will fight?
Who will fall far behind?
Ooh, ooh
Initially I was torn between two songs off of Bon Iver's debut album, For Emma, Forever Ago (2007): Skinny Love and The Wolves (Act1 and II). Both are excellent songs and have the same melancholy sound and despondent lyrics. In the end though, The Wolves was just too slow and long to put on a record that's not specifically designed to make you end up weeping in a fetal position. (The entire album was written during one bleak winter while the group's singer-songwriter Justin Vernon was living alone in an isolated cabin in Wisconsin in an attempt to recover from mononucleosis, a failed relationship, and the break-up of his previous band. And, in the words of Cordelia, boy howdy, can you tell.)
The opening line, Come on skinny love just last the year, is a spot-on portrayal of Spike’s feelings towards Buffy when she first returns to the rough reality of living in the world after having sacrificed herself to save her sister and experiencing the blissful peace of Heaven. Spike is the only one who can truly see her pain (though they can all see the bones sticking out of her thin frame), and he’s desperately trying to help her get through each day, one at a time.
Staring at the sink of blood and crushed veneer depicts Buffy’s bewilderment staring at the bloody hands she used to dig her way out of her grave as Dawn helps clean her up in the Summers' bathroom.
The refrain is literally the repetitive chorus of the Scoobies pressuring Buffy to feel better by telling her how they each think she should be feeling:
And I told you to be patient
And I told you to be fine
And I told you to be balanced
And I told you to be kind
The song ends with a series of questions that the beginning of season 6 poses to Buffy. She’s completely lost and has no idea which of her friends to confide in or trust (or distrust, in the case of the last question, which could be interpreted as referring to Willow and foreshadowing her magical decline).
Who will love you?
Who will fight?
Who will fall far behind?
(The band’s name is pronounced “bohn eevair,” the French phrase for "good winter" and spelled wrong on purpose, since apparently Vernon thought “hiver” looked too much like “liver.”)
Click to viewCome on skinny love just last the year
Pour a little salt, we were never here
My, my, my, my, my, my, my, my
Staring at the sink of blood and crushed veneer
Tell my love to wreck it all
Cut out all the ropes and let me fall
My, my, my, my, my, my, my, my
Right in this moment this order's tall
And I told you to be patient
And I told you to be fine
And I told you to be balanced
And I told you to be kind
In the morning I'll be with you
But it will be a different kind
I'll be holding all the tickets
And you'll be owning all the fines
Come on skinny love, what happened here?
We suckled on the hope in lite brassieres
My, my, my, my, my, my, my, my
Sullen load is full, so slow on the split
And I told you to be patient
And I told you to be fine
And I told you to be balanced
And I told you to be kind
And now all your love is wasted
And then who the hell was I?
And I'm breaking at the britches
And at the end of all your lines
Who will love you?
Who will fight?
Who will fall far behind?
Ooh, ooh