Hinnom, TX

Album: Bon Iver (2011)
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Songfacts®:

  • This synth-pop ballad finds Bon Iver leader Justin Vernon dreaming of a burial place for strangers near Jerusalem being relocated in the heart of Texas. He explained the story behind the song to UK newspaper The Sun: "When I was working on the lyrics I was coming up with these images of the desert. I had the idea of taking Hinnom, a place near Jerusalem where they have a cemetery for people who don't have names and plopping it into Texas. The song became an amalgamation of this idea and my experience of a Lucinda Williams song 'Fruits Of My Labor.' She sings this line, 'Cause I finally did it, baby, I got out of La Grange, go in my Mercury and drove out west.'

    She's actually explaining the end of something, which is actually the beginning of her life. When Lucinda got into the Mercury and drove out west, she was burying the stranger inside her. It's a metaphor for a lot of stuff on the record."

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