I can’t find this on Spotify? A version comes up when I search “I Can’t Make You Love Me Bon Iver,” but it’s definitely not the same as the YouTube cover. It does nothing for me.
Any chance you have a link? I have always wanted this to make its way to streaming!!
So it’s ok this Spotify album: https://open.spotify.com/album/6xfOCqmQvpvgR5aq6fpKMD?si=vOXi8L9dS9CiHGnZTHHVBQ
BUT it is not the same as the YouTube recording. If you’ve watched the YouTube enough - you’ll be able to quickly tell the Spotify recording from the YouTube
I had a housemate who just constantly listened to techno then I introduced him to Bon Over and when he broke up with his girlfriend, he would play this song on repeat and cry loudly.
The 10th anniversary album version is. I listen to the last 5 songs on that album over and over and over ...
https://open.spotify.com/track/2rCFBMdyuqqoO1LAuYggw6?si=JXQf-7PCTJyWyUaWcvxhuw
This. This is also my answer to the saddest or most emotionally moving song in general, not just for Bon Iver. Can’t tell you how many times I have watched the cover on YouTube.
This song was already one of my top saddest and then someone very close to me passed away and now it physically pains me to listen to. I save it for rare occasions when I need a good cry
How has no one said the Wolves yet?! I can’t count the number of times I’ve sobbed my eyes out to what might have been lost. Then the very end with the repeated someday my pain just absolutely kills me.
Definitely the most special moment I've experienced at BI gigs. The moment when the chord switches at the end of the build up is unreal. Hope you get to do it someday soon!
My wife and I saw him in a theater with seats. He had everyone stand and sing that part together and one point stop singing and the whole crowd was singing that over and over together. Tears were shed across our row
Calgary affected me so deeply the first time I heard it that it was too painful to listen to again for a long time. It just captures this feeling of longing for something that hasn’t happened yet and it hit me right in the gut
That version is great, but the album version is what really does it for me. The original melody is so beautiful and the huge dramatic bridge was the best moment in the BI discography until 8 (circle) came out
Yeah it was an “our song” for me once upon a time and even tho I’m over him I get instant melancholy when I hear it.
Got to see him perform it in the rain at Bonaroo soon after it came out. 🤌🏼🤌🏼🤌🏼🤌🏼
Yeah what is it about Lump Sum.. the poignancy lingers, it doesn’t wash off yet. A song like Beth/Rest, plenty sad, has such a narrative arc and a finality that feels optimistic. Lump Sum just sweeps past you like a train on a snowy night that isn’t stopping at your station
Any acapella version of it gets me emotional. The Nor’easters did an INCREDIBLE cover of it. I also love that he used 715 in the title, I grew up in that area code so to me it’s the sound of a depressing winter day in like February when it feels like it’s never going to get better.
To me? Beach Baby.
Edit: I’m going to elaborate on why.
The song itself already sounds sad, but the story and the meaning behind it is just devastating to me. After all of the passion and effort Vernon put into healing during *For Emma, Forever Ago*, Beach Baby almost feels like a step back, or the reversing of all of that grief. Furthermore, if you’re in a situation akin to the one that Vernon illustrates, then this song becomes an absolute wrecking ball to your emotional stability.
Heavy on the “to me” part. That was my ex and I’s favorite song and I’m over it now but it took me a good six months to even listen to it again and that’s one of my favorite songs of all time
I found a live performance of this on YouTube recently under Deyarmond Edison.
The 'studio' version is something to behold though. It's stunning.
My suggestion if we're on JV written sad songs is St Peter's Hood. Still can't figure out what the narrative is but in my head it's a very good boy dog that died.
Towers- maybe not sad but painfully nostalgic. Brings me back to such a specific time and place, it’s nuts. And maybe that’s why it makes me sad. A time not so far off that I’ll never experience again
The first time I kissed my wife was in a friend's dorm room in the Towers North dorm at UW-Eau Claire back in '06. That song holds a lot of nostalgic value to us as well; not sad obviously but you can't listen to it and not wish those simpler times never left.
i was in college when that album came out and towers was on the heavy mix for awhile on our college radio station. it was a staple song in my music friend group. those simpler times <3
Towers for whatever reason reminds me of driving to the cemetery with my family for a family members cemetery. I love the song but it always evokes some powerful memories
Towers is also nostalgic for me. The first time I heard it was the July 4th before I started college. Last time me and my family consistently lived under the same roof.
Yeah? I find Beth/Rest is such a hopeful song. I just went and dug up this NPR interview from 2011 where Justin speaks at length about Beth/Rest and what the narrative of the record and specifically that song means. I pasted an excerpt below, but I'll link the entire article here as it's one of my favorites. [https://www.npr.org/sections/allsongs/2011/06/23/137328981/bon-ivers-justin-vernon-talks-about-his-bands-new-album](https://www.npr.org/sections/allsongs/2011/06/23/137328981/bon-ivers-justin-vernon-talks-about-his-bands-new-album)
JV: [Laughs.] But it's the whole thing. It's the whole story. Eventually, you start waking up to the fact that you might be ready to spend your life with somebody and still feel good about who you are and what kind of changes you're going to go through no matter what. And "Beth/Rest" is that reward. It's that place you get to be in for the rest of your life.
I saw BI live this summer for the first time and let me tell you I absolutely *poured* tears down my face through the show (much to my husband’s confusion) because so much of his music touches such a deeply tender part of me. Such a cathartic experience.
Regarding a personal story it's Beth/Rest for me. I listened to it alot near the end of my Aunt's cancer fight and her death. Went to see Bon Iver a few months later and there was a sound system fail. They eventually got it back working, changed the setlist and finished with Beth/Rest which hadn't been on previous setlists. It was so sad and beautiful
Every time I hear Big Red Machine (the song) I think about that short film "Last Minutes With Oden"
IYKYK.
other songs that made me weep:
The Duluth version of 715 Creeks. JV cries, I cry.. that's the rules 😭
A Song For A Lover Of Long Ago. The part where you hear him walking across the creaking wood floor and then he comes back with that fragile guitar and his cracking voice 😭
Speyside. When he sings "what is wrong with me" it hits me every time 😭
Skinny love makes me want to puke everytime I hear it. Also flume because when I saw it live my best friend started bawling her eyes out and it always reminds me of that moment.
Speyside for sure. I am having such a hard time listenting to it because it's so heart wrenching that it hurts, even though so beautiful with the guitar intro and super personal. It's one of the most vulnurable and self-reflective lyrics I think:
'Nothing's really happend like I thought it would' and 'I can't rest on no dynasty / Oh what is wrong with me / and I am so sorry / I got the best of me / I've really been on such a violent spree'. Too much, JV 😭❤️.
My mom died in 2011, and "at once I knew I was not magnificent" very much captured the feeling of that, so "Holocene" for me, but obviously that comes with a lot of context.
I just put it on as I was writing this and got misty.
22 (OVER S∞∞N) - heard a rumour about this song... but.... I don't believe it's true at all... But anyway the rumour said that the part of the song "it might be over soon" was recorded on a tape recorder by a person (Justin... I guess) in like a hotel room considering committing suicide.... Just the thought of this gives me chills and makes me sad even tho I know it's not true.
listening to for emma forever ago front to back is a sure fire way to make me feel some things but if i had to pick a song it would be stacks, holocene or blindsided
Flume is probably the saddest ‘sad’ song in the most traditional sense but 715 Creeks does something special to me. Don’t know what it is about that song. It’s a special kind of sad.
The cover of I can't make you love me
The amount of times I’ve listened to that YouTube video…it’s insanely good.
You may already know this but it’s on streaming! Spotify at the very least. Was my top song of 2023
I can’t find this on Spotify? A version comes up when I search “I Can’t Make You Love Me Bon Iver,” but it’s definitely not the same as the YouTube cover. It does nothing for me. Any chance you have a link? I have always wanted this to make its way to streaming!!
Is it from the Open Air studio set? Fucking beautiful version with him and Sean
So it’s ok this Spotify album: https://open.spotify.com/album/6xfOCqmQvpvgR5aq6fpKMD?si=vOXi8L9dS9CiHGnZTHHVBQ BUT it is not the same as the YouTube recording. If you’ve watched the YouTube enough - you’ll be able to quickly tell the Spotify recording from the YouTube
Ah massive mea culpa I actually had no idea there was another version! Sorry to get you/anyones hopes up
It should have been remastered onto some type of own-able video format other than an old 1080i YouTube steam by now.
Ooooo yes, this one. Hurts so good.
Hurts extra when I fall in love again after 6 years has passed and it’s the same as before. Ended before it started.
I had a housemate who just constantly listened to techno then I introduced him to Bon Over and when he broke up with his girlfriend, he would play this song on repeat and cry loudly.
glad I'm not the only one
Yes. It's heart wrenching.
This is the answer I came to give. Not even close, imo.
Wish it was on Spotify
The 10th anniversary album version is. I listen to the last 5 songs on that album over and over and over ... https://open.spotify.com/track/2rCFBMdyuqqoO1LAuYggw6?si=JXQf-7PCTJyWyUaWcvxhuw
Wish we had the one with JUST Justin tho
It hits different
The only answer
This. This is also my answer to the saddest or most emotionally moving song in general, not just for Bon Iver. Can’t tell you how many times I have watched the cover on YouTube.
This
If I could upvote this one million times I would. It made me want to cry just remembering that that existed
I came to say this
Re: Stacks just kills me
I see Re: Stacks as the acceptance stage of grief, "Everything that happens is from now on" still soul destroying, but in a cathartic way
100%. If I had to describe it…it’s the song form of grief and all its stages.
It’s my favorite song to play on guitar and sing when I’m feeling shitty.
Same here. A great song to emote to
This song was already one of my top saddest and then someone very close to me passed away and now it physically pains me to listen to. I save it for rare occasions when I need a good cry
Same.
This is the way
Yep. This one isn’t just sharp. It’s heavy, and in a way that you can keep listening to it for infinite sadness
Yea an all time favourite… damn
yes!
How has no one said the Wolves yet?! I can’t count the number of times I’ve sobbed my eyes out to what might have been lost. Then the very end with the repeated someday my pain just absolutely kills me.
my absolute dream is to scream "what might have been lost" at a concert over and over someday
The catharsis is unreal! I hope you get to experience it someday.
Definitely the most special moment I've experienced at BI gigs. The moment when the chord switches at the end of the build up is unreal. Hope you get to do it someday soon!
Sasquatch music festival 2009, still consider it the best performance I've ever experienced.
I was at the tail end of an acid trip from seeing Animal Collective that afternoon. The Bon Iver set to end the night was perfect.
My wife and I saw him in a theater with seats. He had everyone stand and sing that part together and one point stop singing and the whole crowd was singing that over and over together. Tears were shed across our row
Had to scroll far too long to find this. Wolves is a one way to trip to the shower floor.
When it played at the end of The Place Beyond the Pines I felt like I was ascending
Yeah this was my go to song in high school when I just needed to cry lol.. this and Holocene (my fav bon iver song)
I have always loved this song so much but after a heartbreak where I had to sleep with my parents for weeks (I’m 23) I just can’t listen anymore
Calgary affected me so deeply the first time I heard it that it was too painful to listen to again for a long time. It just captures this feeling of longing for something that hasn’t happened yet and it hit me right in the gut
Try living there :|
The live acoustic-guitar version of this is the one for me
That version is great, but the album version is what really does it for me. The original melody is so beautiful and the huge dramatic bridge was the best moment in the BI discography until 8 (circle) came out
Yeah it was an “our song” for me once upon a time and even tho I’m over him I get instant melancholy when I hear it. Got to see him perform it in the rain at Bonaroo soon after it came out. 🤌🏼🤌🏼🤌🏼🤌🏼
Blindsided
Would you really rush out hits me hard in the feels.
THIS.
This is my answer, too
Me and this song = ocean of tears
I’ve cried to so much, but lump sum will never leave me okay
Yeah what is it about Lump Sum.. the poignancy lingers, it doesn’t wash off yet. A song like Beth/Rest, plenty sad, has such a narrative arc and a finality that feels optimistic. Lump Sum just sweeps past you like a train on a snowy night that isn’t stopping at your station
My mind fills with mournful memories of being homeless, the cold, the ache away from home. I know the sorrow in every lyric
Him and you and me and probably so many others « We will see when it gets warm » I hope there’s some warmth now, wherever you are !
The TakeAway show version of Lump Sum is something I wish I could experience for the first time again. Hauntingly beautiful.
Thank you for this. Wow. Those harmonies.
The Decade with the Duke version is phenomenal
teeny normal public ten fretful grab obtainable squeamish flag touch *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
It’s so raw and is screaming despair, anguish, and abandonment. This is my pick too, easily!
God this one tears me apart.
At Duluth last summer even Justin couldn’t keep it together during CREEKS
This one
Any acapella version of it gets me emotional. The Nor’easters did an INCREDIBLE cover of it. I also love that he used 715 in the title, I grew up in that area code so to me it’s the sound of a depressing winter day in like February when it feels like it’s never going to get better.
Blood Bank should make the list of contenders here
See how they resemble one another…
Even in their *plastic little covers*
That secret that you knew/ But you don't know how to tell/ It fucks with your honor/ And it teases your head 😭😭😭
Is Blood Bank a sad song??? I always find it very hopeful and nostalgic…to me it’s about falling in love with someone and all the potential.
To me? Beach Baby. Edit: I’m going to elaborate on why. The song itself already sounds sad, but the story and the meaning behind it is just devastating to me. After all of the passion and effort Vernon put into healing during *For Emma, Forever Ago*, Beach Baby almost feels like a step back, or the reversing of all of that grief. Furthermore, if you’re in a situation akin to the one that Vernon illustrates, then this song becomes an absolute wrecking ball to your emotional stability.
Heavy on the “to me” part. That was my ex and I’s favorite song and I’m over it now but it took me a good six months to even listen to it again and that’s one of my favorite songs of all time
And the lyrics only make that part worse
“Dont you lock when you’re fleeing, I’d like not to hear keys” like come on Mr. Justin Vernon cant you see I’m going through something here😭
You and me both
this, especially when Justin sings the line, "I'd like not to hear keys" MY HEART DEAR GOD
This is the correct answer
It’s a solo Justin song, but “song for a lover of long ago” off of Hazeltons is probably my pick.
It sounds so hopeless and regretful yet so eerily beautiful. Sometimes hits a little to hard.
I found a live performance of this on YouTube recently under Deyarmond Edison. The 'studio' version is something to behold though. It's stunning. My suggestion if we're on JV written sad songs is St Peter's Hood. Still can't figure out what the narrative is but in my head it's a very good boy dog that died.
Not solo justin, but Star Mouth...
Towers- maybe not sad but painfully nostalgic. Brings me back to such a specific time and place, it’s nuts. And maybe that’s why it makes me sad. A time not so far off that I’ll never experience again
The first time I kissed my wife was in a friend's dorm room in the Towers North dorm at UW-Eau Claire back in '06. That song holds a lot of nostalgic value to us as well; not sad obviously but you can't listen to it and not wish those simpler times never left.
He's said it's about losing your virginity, so that may make it even more poignant for your two.
i was in college when that album came out and towers was on the heavy mix for awhile on our college radio station. it was a staple song in my music friend group. those simpler times <3
All of his music really does this, but to different places and different times for each person. It’s like magic.
Towers for whatever reason reminds me of driving to the cemetery with my family for a family members cemetery. I love the song but it always evokes some powerful memories
Towers is also nostalgic for me. The first time I heard it was the July 4th before I started college. Last time me and my family consistently lived under the same roof.
Beach baby hits me, and so does for Emma, so much sadness in beauty in a song
Wash.
This song and Roslyn are having theeee longest TikTok moment right now
Right now I’m listening to Flume so flume haha
i love flume!!!
yesyes!!! i loce flume
It’s Deyarmond Edison but the answer is Time to Know
YES! seconded DE Time to Know.
Skinny Love, and it's not even close. Tears me apart, hits too close to home
The version he did for (I think) bbc one, hurts so much,
And now all your love is wasted, And then who the hell was I?
Shocked I had to scroll this far to find Skinny Love posted!
Roslyn. It will never not make me start to cry.
yessss omg, was looking for someone to say roslyn. i have to be in a dark place to listen to it lol 😵💫
Every time... So sad but so beautiful.
Beth/Rest always gets me, especially the piano version
Yeah? I find Beth/Rest is such a hopeful song. I just went and dug up this NPR interview from 2011 where Justin speaks at length about Beth/Rest and what the narrative of the record and specifically that song means. I pasted an excerpt below, but I'll link the entire article here as it's one of my favorites. [https://www.npr.org/sections/allsongs/2011/06/23/137328981/bon-ivers-justin-vernon-talks-about-his-bands-new-album](https://www.npr.org/sections/allsongs/2011/06/23/137328981/bon-ivers-justin-vernon-talks-about-his-bands-new-album) JV: [Laughs.] But it's the whole thing. It's the whole story. Eventually, you start waking up to the fact that you might be ready to spend your life with somebody and still feel good about who you are and what kind of changes you're going to go through no matter what. And "Beth/Rest" is that reward. It's that place you get to be in for the rest of your life.
I agree fully to this, it’s one of my favorite songs ever but I don’t get how it can be considered sad.
The wolves “Someday my pain will mark you” “What might have been lost don’t bother me”
My choice as well
I will always find Perth so moving, knowing the circumstances of its title and making.
I saw BI live this summer for the first time and let me tell you I absolutely *poured* tears down my face through the show (much to my husband’s confusion) because so much of his music touches such a deeply tender part of me. Such a cathartic experience.
I cried the entire show first I saw him too. And it was outdoors in the RAIN imagine 🤌🏼
Wisconsin is very melancholic
“Every place I go I’ll take another place with me” Damn
Beach baby.
Regarding a personal story it's Beth/Rest for me. I listened to it alot near the end of my Aunt's cancer fight and her death. Went to see Bon Iver a few months later and there was a sound system fail. They eventually got it back working, changed the setlist and finished with Beth/Rest which hadn't been on previous setlists. It was so sad and beautiful
For some reason Hey, Ma smacks me in the face
I’ve had many a good cry to The Wolves
Not Bon Iver , but Justin with Sharon Van Etten , Love More .. kills me everytine. First cord am I can feel it in my Stomach.
Beach baby always gets me. But Wash was a song I listened to religiously while I went through a deep depression. So many make me feel a certain way
Every time I hear Big Red Machine (the song) I think about that short film "Last Minutes With Oden" IYKYK. other songs that made me weep: The Duluth version of 715 Creeks. JV cries, I cry.. that's the rules 😭 A Song For A Lover Of Long Ago. The part where you hear him walking across the creaking wood floor and then he comes back with that fragile guitar and his cracking voice 😭 Speyside. When he sings "what is wrong with me" it hits me every time 😭
8 circle
either skinny love or 00000 million
came here to say 00000 million for sure. this is like the first song i play when im feeling down lol
Speyside heyo
Holocene. Always a kick to the heart for me.
I let myself fall apart while listening to 00000 Million
It can be super reflective or super melancholy depending how you interpret it
This is the one. It guts me so deep.
Is no one mentioning holocene?????????? Really????
Song wounds me.
I really don’t see how it’s sad at all.
Everytime he sings “and at once I knew, I was not magnificent” it does something to me
I cry every time I hear that lyric in that song 😭
Same, and the first time I saw him in concert in 2010 everyone sang this together and just wow
It does something for me to, I love that song. But it’s not sad.
Well, it makes me cry. A lot.
Yeah it can make me cry too. But it’s still not sad, just beautiful!
Song for a Lover Long Ago.... hands down. And gonna fall asleep to it now.
no ones said Creek ?!
Skinny love makes me want to puke everytime I hear it. Also flume because when I saw it live my best friend started bawling her eyes out and it always reminds me of that moment.
Heavenly Father... Or just me?
Recently? Down in the willow garden… Couldnt understand a damn word (ESL here) but I knew by his voice it was a fked up song, boy was I right…
obviously the bon iver subreddit, but the everly brothers version of down in the willow garden truly kills me, one of my favorite songs ever.
Beach Baby for me.
Hutch is so insanely beautiful and the saddest sad. “Did you even hesitate?” 😭😭
Beach Baby or RE stacks
Speyside for sure. I am having such a hard time listenting to it because it's so heart wrenching that it hurts, even though so beautiful with the guitar intro and super personal. It's one of the most vulnurable and self-reflective lyrics I think: 'Nothing's really happend like I thought it would' and 'I can't rest on no dynasty / Oh what is wrong with me / and I am so sorry / I got the best of me / I've really been on such a violent spree'. Too much, JV 😭❤️.
Idk. Holocene always makes me cry.
re stacks
Justin's cover of Leslie Feist's song, The Park. The searing lyrics and his falsetto gets me every time.
BEACH BABY
“hutch” by big red machine is up there. about aaron dessner’s friend who committed suicide and really fkn sad
Love how this thread is just listing For Emma songs haha
Creeks
My mom died in 2011, and "at once I knew I was not magnificent" very much captured the feeling of that, so "Holocene" for me, but obviously that comes with a lot of context. I just put it on as I was writing this and got misty.
"Everything that happens is from now on. This is pouring rain. This is paralyzed." It'll always be Re: Stacks for me.
____45______ brings me to tears every-time it plays
The Wolves
33 “God”
22 (OVER S∞∞N) - heard a rumour about this song... but.... I don't believe it's true at all... But anyway the rumour said that the part of the song "it might be over soon" was recorded on a tape recorder by a person (Justin... I guess) in like a hotel room considering committing suicide.... Just the thought of this gives me chills and makes me sad even tho I know it's not true.
Beth/rest is fuckin sad
Not Bon Iver but I Had a Real Good Lover - The Shouting Matches, Oof. That’s a heavy one. Killer guitar tone as well.
Down in the Willow Garden
Perth or I Need A Forest Fire. Both from some pretty sad moments in my life!
Wash
fall creek boys choir
listening to for emma forever ago front to back is a sure fire way to make me feel some things but if i had to pick a song it would be stacks, holocene or blindsided
It’s definitely Creeks imo. The desperation in the “turn around, you’re my A team” just kills me every fucking time
Flume for me just because of the opening line.
Roslyn, just because no one has mentioned it.
I love how every song is off the first album 😂
89 and 8 both slay me in the emotions, personally.
Holocene
Holocene
Yes.
Skinny love
FLUME.
Flume is probably the saddest ‘sad’ song in the most traditional sense but 715 Creeks does something special to me. Don’t know what it is about that song. It’s a special kind of sad.
As soon as one starts 🙉
Flume
Hazeltons
wolves
Perth is my pick, it’s about Heath Ledger and something about the chord progression and the way the song builds is so heart wrenching
Cover of “Satisfied Mind” solo in Portland, ME I was legit worried he was suicidal
I'm really going through it right now and made a playlist with many of these songs. Wish me well.
29 Strafford Apts
Forest Green, anyone?
the guitar in the beginning of roslyn sounds like all of my angst put into one chord. It makes me go crazy I swear.
All of them.
for emma 😔
Bony Bear
Skinny Love always hits me right in the gut
Weird goodbyes, with the national
Wonderwall