Ring Out

...more Bon Iver fans need to hear this song...one of Vernons absolute best ever...

Is it possible that after "kitchen rags of god" he spells it wringing? To get a new meaning? Like he's trying to get as much as he can out of a person? o.O I don't know :\ Just a thought ^_^

I think that the line shown as Jaycee above should be JC (Jesus Christ). Jesus delivered the sermon on the mount. Also I think the lyric is "wanting christening" not "warning christening". Also think it should be "Owning all the things I've bought" not holding.

i check this page weekly. just hoping justin vernon shares his thoughts behind the song.

I find it difficult NOT to hear this song as related to the song that immediately precedes it on the record - "Sides." That song (Sides) presents us with the story of a young man struggling to come to terms with his own sexuality in a world in which (at least some) people hate him for who he is. He is suicidal. He turns to a pastor and a church who initially say "I'm on your side" and "We're on your side" only to show him the door when they learn that his sexuality is something they deem sinful. The song closes with the narrator saying "There's still something I half believe, that's why I'm leaving this world behind me. See my sexuality don't have nothing to do with my integrity. When I get into that land, I'll lead with the one who wears the crown." It's not clear whether the world the singer is leaving behind is this mortal incarnation (as in, he's preparing to take his own life) or (more likely, I think) the world of organized religion, which conflates his sexuality with his integrity (and morality).

Sides is immediately followed on the record by Ring Out, which doesn't feel like a meaningless coincidence. It's placement on the record colors my view of Ring Out, which (to me) feels like a continuation of Vernon's examination of his own struggle with his personal relationship with "JC" on the one hand (good?) with the damage that the purportedly faithful do in JC's name (definitely bad) to those (specifically, LGBTQ people in the context of "Sides") who don't conform to their views.

Ring Out is lyrically sparse, so it's difficult to determine exactly what's happening with Vernon's personal struggle. The first few verses seem to set up that struggle - in the first verse a "tough guy's running his mouth" and Vernon is "getting in the way" That language feels to me like Vernon is listening to someone preaching an incorrect, intractable version of what he personally thinks JC was all about. When he says he is getting in the way, he's either pushing back or, more literally, just standing in the path of the preacher's saliva-spewing invective; he is being lectured and it's not sounding true. The second verse feels to me like Vernon's inner monologue - he's telling himself, wait a minute...you know better than this. You are free to shine the your own proverbial light - you don't have to believe all of this. And that's what's tough - holding/owning all the things about his religion that he used to buy into - maybe some of the same things the preacher is yelling about that feel just wrong to him now. But since JC is always willing to give him another chance, he'll "ring out" his own, kinder understanding.

But he's still at a crossroads with all of it. I don't hear "Somewhere deep inside the coat" -- instead, I hear "Somewhere deep inside Dakota, I am weathering. Wishing somehow you were near, 'cause I am withering alone." This feels like a description of what it feels like to have disconnected himself from whatever faith community he used to be a part of. He's isolated in a desolate place, weathering and withering. He wishes he could figure out how to find some spiritual sustenance - how to be closer to JC now that he's away from that old faith community.

And then he meets someone - maybe a brief encounter with a stranger, maybe a lover, but someone who seems to him to embody every good thing he needs. Someone who shows him the face of his god. Someone who helps him understand something important that he hasn't been quite able to see either in his faith community or his personal relationship with his god. And it's tough to hold onto that "grace" because it involves taking a hard look at things you once believed that don't feel like truth anymore. But he is trying like hell - he is wringing this person out (trying to take in absolutely all of the good things they have to teach him) and ringing them out (trying to pass on the new understanding that feels so crucial to him).

I really REALLY like this song!!!

one of mah Favz!!!

'I just kept noticing your mouth, and how your face just fit Into every aching void, in what I've always missed some way.'

'Cause you're made of everything I want, and I am ringing you out.'

Those two lines just do it for me, don't know why.

And MissingStrings, yes you're right.

love this song! one of my favorites.

Very interesting song. It seems as though the first part until the "And Jaycee's up for another bout, and I am ringing him out." is about churches or religion in general. It talks about a sermon, a "tough guy" is giving the sermon and he can see past the words and all he sees is lies as though he knows already what they are saying is not true. The second verse talks on how the guy apologizes to him and he tells him he isn't the one who they should say this to ("Go shine this mother fucking light on all the people who can hear.") but to all those that are "worried, sinned and lacking sight".

This is tougher than I thought, Holding all the things I've bought, And Jaycee's up for another bout, and I am ringing him out.

In this third line, he talks about how hard he it is to hold it in. Maybe the "all the things I've bought" is the idea of the religion that he once believed. That at some way he still wants to believe or wants to fake that he still believes because of someone. I see the last verse as him saying J.C., as in Jesus Christ, and Justin is calling him out.

Some thing's got me on the corner, and I am whimpering, Somewhere deep inside the coat, I am weathering, Wishing somehow you were near, 'cause I am withering alone.

Here he is still fighting within himself on the idea of religion. He wants to hang his hope with something, he feels alone and doomed.

You arrived and ordered stout, I stared in wordlessness I just kept noticing your mouth, and how your face just fit Into every aching void, in what I've always missed some way.

Now, this is where I think the song turns. He starts talking about someone, most possibly a girl and maybe the same girl who he wants to believe religion for. The "stout" he refers to is probably the drink.

This is tougher than I thought, Holding you the grace I've caught, 'Cause you're made of everything I want, and I am wringing you out.

This is where I seriously think my theory gets its proof. It is tough for him because he doesn't believe in religion but she does and she is one of the most gorgeous thing he ever had. He doesn't want to let her go, and so he would hold on to her for as much as he could. Giving up on his beliefs for her.

The rest of the song is just him wanting her and holding on to her. This song reminds me of Edge of Desire by John Mayer in that the singer would give up everything they believe in for that someone. Maybe someone has a better explanation on the line "ringing you out" but all of this is just my explanation.

My interpretation: Obviously this song is about Jesus and not some girl. Jesus' sermon on the mountain, God sending Jesus to earth to shine the light (Himself) Jesus knowing that He'd have to be crucified which would explain the "This is harder than I thought" line And everyone else already knows it's JC not Jaycee Now obviously this song is about a boxing match? Maybe? haha So I'm guessing Justin vs. Jesus or religion. He's possibly struggling with religion and feels like he's therefore fighting Jesus. The "You arrived and ordered stout, I stared in wordlessness I just kept noticing your mouth, and how your face just fit Into every aching void, in what I've always missed some way." Lines are possibly just the way Jesus is viewed, in the Bible Jesus is always explained as being too beautiful to fathom I guess? Then I believe that Justin realized what Jesus is near the end because of the line "I am water on your feet" If you've read the Bible you would know how this is like the ultimate sign of love and respect. The woman who was I think either poor or a prostitute who Jesus allowed to clean his feet with her hair. Washing someone's feet was just a big thing. Then the "You are everything to me" makes me think he's leaning more to Jesus than fighting with him. I could be wrong but again, it's just my opinion (: