Justin Vernon, the creative mind behind indie-folk act Bon Iver, is one of the latest artists fighting to resist ICE’s current occupation in Minneapolis through music. His latest surprise release is a live rendition of “Naeem (Can’t You Hear Crying),” now available for download, with all proceeds going to a worthy cause.
The track, originally featured on Bon Iver’s 2019 album, I, I, was recorded live in 2003 during their set at Italy’s La Prima Estate Festival. All money raised from the purchase of the live version will be donated to the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota, “a nonprofit organization that provides free immigration legal representation to low-income immigrants and refugees in Minnesota and North Dakota,” as stated on their website. The organization’s work is especially vital now, following the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s decision to deploy thousands of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents across Minneapolis.
During a recent speech at a National Music Publishers’ Association event, Vernon spoke out directly about the city’s response to ICE’s occupation while wearing an orange whistle, which residents are using to alert others in the community that agents have been spotted in the vicinity.
“There’s another kind of observer in the world that really deserves our attention,” Vernon said. “One with hard hands, one that’s in the streets of Minneapolis, and many, many cities in this country right now. Somebody that stands in the corner of their community and blows the whistle, and makes a noise. That’s their purpose, and they are using their voice. So I am incredibly humbled to be an observer, and to stand in the service of humanality.”
You can download Bon Iver’s previously unreleased live version of “Naeem (Can’t You Hear Crying)” now exclusively on Bandcamp. Fans are asked to pay what they want for the download, but are encouraged to donate as much as possible for the cause.
Bon Iver, “Naeem (Can’t You Hear Crying)” Lyrics
all along ’em I can hear me
I go for the caste
I fall off a bass boat
and the concrete’s very slow
the concrete’s very slow
all along the sidelines bigger
I’m over the dash
i’m having a bad bad toke
but the berries still to come
all along them I can hear ya
I can hear, I can hear, I can hear, I can hear crying
all along me I can hear you
I’d occupy that
can’t sit back long while yer forming that
on my mind our kids got bigger
but I’m climbing down the bastion now
you take me out to pasture now
well I won’t be angry long
well I can’t be angry long
we burnt up in my bed
standing on the mattress laul
why can’t we just patch this
and I cannot seem to carry it all
all along we I can hear me
I can hear, I can hear, I can hear, I can hear crying
all around me I can hear ’em
so what is gonna happen now?
if you dont look away
what’s there to pontificate on now?
there’s someone in my head
tell them I’ll be passing on
tell them were young mastodons
and it cant be that its all
and it cant be that is all
i’m telling you that I do feel ya
it’s suddenly paths, mama
it aint about class, mama
and it won’t be very long
oh it won’t be very long
hey hey hey hey
