my, my, my. my, my, my. MY, MY.

My love affair with Bon Iver's "Skinny Love" began just about a year ago. And, just as Justin Vernon pleads of his lover, my relationship with the song did last the year. According to last.fm charts, it has remained unchallenged in its position as my most played song. Of all the wonderful music I've discovered and rediscovered in 2009, why is that this one song has been able to frapp my ears and my heart more than any other?

The very first time I heard "Skinny Love"--on NPR All Songs Considered's Best of 2008 podcast episode--I fell in love. That acoustic guitar. That falsetto. When I heard the "my my my" 's, I was intrigued. By the time he got to "And I told you to be patient", I was hooked. And then: "Who will love you?/Who will fight?/Who will fall far behind?" I was in love. It's at this point of the song that, each time I hear it, my heart feels like it can't take any more. Then, at 3:24 Justin sings one last "ooh ooh ooh" which, as followed by that heart-wrenching chord change, seals the deal. Love and pain, hope and anguish, yearning, vulnerability--an array of emotions comprehended in four musical minutes.

After that first listen, I downloaded the song and, shortly thereafter, the entire For Emma, Forever Ago album. I became obsessed with it and with every listen I became more attached to the song that started it all for me. I remember going back to school in January and nights of drunkenly singing "my my my my my my MY MY" as earnestly as I could to friends who's ears had not yet been acquainted with the song. After that period, my attachment to the song became almost a joke. It was the song that my housemates would hear coming from my room, any time of day or night, whether I was happy or sad, studying or enjoying downtime. But soon enough Justin's voice and guitar could be heard coming from their rooms too. I'd like to think that the song struck the same chord, tugged at the same heartstrings, for them as it did me.

What is that chord and where are those heartstrings located? I wish I knew. Truthfully, the fact that I can't give a name to the all-encompassing emotion that the song creates speaks volumes.

It's not that I'd never heard anything that touched me in this way before. Nor is it the case that I haven't since. But "Skinny Love" stands alone as the single most frapping song of the past year for me.

ooh OOH ooh

-T.Dawg