Iron & Wine is the stage and recording name of folk rock singer and compose… Read Full Bio ↴Iron & Wine is the stage and recording name of folk rock singer and composer Sam Beam (born July 26, 1974). He currently resides in Dripping Springs, Texas, outside Austin. He has released six studio albums, several EPs and singles, as well as a few download-only releases, which include a live album (a recording of his 2005 Bonnaroo performance). The name Iron & Wine is taken from a dietary supplement named "Beef Iron & Wine" that he found in a general store.

Beam was raised outside Columbia, South Carolina, United States where his father worked in land management and his mother was a schoolteacher. He graduated from Virginia Commonwealth University with a bachelor's degree and the Florida State University Film School with an MFA degree. Until the first Iron & Wine album, Beam's main source of income was as a professor of film and cinematography at the University of Miami and Miami International University of Art & Design. He had been writing songs for over seven years before a friend lent him a four-track recorder. His friends handed out copies of demos that he had made, and the owner of Sub Pop Records personally contacted Beam and proposed a deal.

Beam released his first album, The Creek Drank the Cradle, on the Sub Pop label in 2002; Beam wrote, performed, recorded, and produced every track on the album by himself at a studio in his home. The album features acoustic guitars, banjo, and slide guitar; its music has been compared, variously, to that of Nick Drake, Simon and Garfunkel, Neil Young, Elliott Smith, and Ralph Stanley.

In 2003 The Sea & The Rhythm was released, an EP collecting other home-recorded tracks along the same lines as those on the debut. Beam's second album, Our Endless Numbered Days (2004), was recorded in a professional studio with a significant increase in fidelity. The focus still lies on acoustic material, but the inclusion of other band members gives rise to a very different sound.

Beam released an EP titled Woman King in February 2005, and the EP In the Reins, a collaboration with Calexico was released in September 2005. This joint work mostly features new full-band versions of previously recorded Iron and Wine rarities.

One of his most famous songs is a cover, which was featured on a commercial for M&M’s candies and in the 2004 film “Garden State” (and on its popular soundtrack), of "Such Great Heights" by The Postal Service.

"Kiss Each Other Clean" is the fourth studio album by Iron & Wine, released January 25, 2011. The album's title is taken from the lyrics of track 10, "Your Fake Name Is Good Enough for Me". The album marks a further change in style – in an interview with SPIN magazine, Beam said “It’s more of a focused pop record. It sounds like the music people heard in their parent’s car growing up… that early-to-mid-’70s FM, radio-friendly music."

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AB
Iron & Wine Lyrics

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If I die at twenty three
Won't you bury me
In the sunshine?
Please let me know
That you're still mine
Though I'm gone
My love for you
Is, oh, so strong

And when the grass grows over me
Let me know
You still love me
Never put nobody else
Above me
Then I'll know

My love for you
Will always grow

Overall Meaning

In the song Ab's Song by Iron & Wine, the lyrics speak of the desire to be loved and remembered even after death. The singer requests to be buried in the sunshine, a symbol of life and warmth, emphasizing the desire to be remembered in a positive light. The line "Please let me know that you're still mine, though I'm gone" speaks of the fear of being forgotten and the desire to still be loved and remembered. Despite the inevitability of death, the singer's "love for you is, oh so strong" and they hope to always be remembered.

The singer then speaks of wanting to know that they are still loved even when the grass grows over them, a symbol of time passing and nature taking over. They request to "never put nobody else above me" emphasizing the importance they place on their love and their desire to be remembered as the priority. The final line, "Then I'll know my love for you will always grow," speaks of the eternal nature of love, even beyond death. The singer hopes their love will continue to grow even in their absence and their memory will never fade.

Line by Line Meaning

If I die at twenty three
In the event of my untimely death at the age of twenty-three

Won't you bury me
I implore you to lay my body to rest

In the sunshine?
In a location where there is an abundance of natural light

Please let me know
I kindly request that you inform me

That you're still mine
I desire confirmation of your continued love and commitment to me

Though I'm gone
Despite no longer being alive

My love for you
The depth of my affection towards you

Is, oh, so strong
Is incredibly intense and steadfast

And when the grass grows over me
At the point in time where vegetation covers my grave

Let me know
Inform me of your feelings towards me

You still love me
That you still hold feelings of love and admiration for me