Track exchange: ‘Satisfied mind’ & ‘Lost in yesterday’

A track exchange, like a painting exchange, involves two people prompting each other to pen their thoughts about a track that the other has chosen for them. A copy of this note is published on James’s website as well. James’s pick for me was ‘A satisfied mind’ from Bon Iver’s 2026 record VOLUMES: ONE which presents the song from a concert at the State Theatre in Portland, Maine, in the US. I first heard ‘Satisfied mind’ when Willie Nelson covered it in 2010 and I have loved the song for its words ever since. What James prompted for me in this exchange was a different cover – from a year earlier – by Bon Iver. Indeed ‘Satisfied mind’ has been covered by an unusually large number of artists, which I think speaks for how its enduring beauty, its cultural value, its charm and its timelessness are all derived from its words. It is also an incredibly personal song. When Joe Hayes once spoke of this song in an interview, he supposedly said it came from his mother: ‘Everything in the song are…