"Naeem (Can't You Hear Crying)"

January 30th, 2026 – Today, Bon Iver shares a previously unreleased live recording of "Naeem (Can't You Hear Crying)," in an effort to support those organizing, protecting and sheltering against ICE in the state of Minnesota. Available exclusively on Bandcamp, 100% of the song's proceeds 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, educating the community about immigration matters and advocating for public policies which respect the universal human rights of immigrants.

Listen to "Naeem (Can't You Hear Crying)" (Live from La Prima Estate Festival, Lido di Camaiore, Italy. June 17 2023), and pay what you wish, or as much as you can.

"There's another kind of observer in the world that really deserves our attention…One with hard hands, one that's in the streets of Minneapolis, and many, many cities in this country right now," said Bon Iver's Justin Vernon, wearing an orange whistle during a speech for the National Music Publishers' Association earlier this week. "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."

"We hope this music, in any way, helps."

-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

im over the dash

im 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

id occupy that

can’t sit back long while yer forming that

on my mind our kids got bigger

but Im climbing down the bastion now

you take me out to pasture now

well i wont be angry long

well i cant be angry long

we burnt up in my bed

standing on the mattress laul

why cant 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

whats there to pontificate on now?

theres someone in my head 

tell them ill be passing on

tell them were young mastodons

and it cant be that its all

and it cant be that is all

im telling you that I do feel ya

its suddenly paths, mama

it aint about class, mama

and it wont be very long

oh it wont be very long

hey hey hey hey

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For more information, contact Matt Hanks & Greg Jakubik at Shore Fire Media