FABLES OF THE RECONSTRUCTION: FEELING GRAVITYS PULL

As I said before, nothing sets the tone for this album better than this song.  There's a desperation about gravity and the weight of the world that everyone can relate to.  And how anthemic is the chorus?  Step up!  We also begin to get Stipe as a clear storyteller and manipulator, he brings us interesting characters, but at the same time still occasionally changes and masks his lyrics to make us diligent detectives.  Mapping this song lyrically is not an easy thing to do.  For every easy line there is a blurred image directly behind it. 
  The opening line of the outro is a nice callback to LITTLE AMERICA.

FEELING GRAVITYS PULL
I fell asleep and read just about every paragraph
Read the scene where gravity is pulling me around
Peel back the mountains peel back the sky
Stomp gravity into the floor
It’s a Man Ray kind of sky
Let me show you what I can do with it
Time and distance are out of place here

Step up
Step up
Step up, the sky is open arm
When the light is mine
I felt gravity pull

Somewhere near the end it said “you can’t do this”
I said, “I can”
To shift the swaying river shift
Oceans fall and mountains drift
It’s a Man Ray kind of sky
Let me show you what I can do with it

Step up
Step up
Step up, the sky is open arm
When the light is mine
I felt gravity pour into my eyes
(Pull my eyes)
Pour into my eyes straight
(Looking down)
This is the easiest task I ever had
To do

I fell asleep and read just about every paragraph
Read the scene where gravity is pulling me around
Shift the swaying river ship
Oceans fall and mountains drift
It’s a Man Ray kind of sky
Let me show you what I can do with it
Time and distance are out of place here

Step up
Step up
Step up, the sky is open arm
When the light is mine
I felt gravity pour into my eyes
(Pull my eyes)
Pour into my eyes straight
(Looking down)
This is the easiest task I ever had to do

Reason had harnessed the tame
Holding the sky in your arms
Gravity pulls me in


This song was a lot of fun to figure out.  Particularly the end.  What I have is pretty straightforward for the ending, but feel free to Buck it up by adding harmonics in between the chord forms.  Also in the ending these days, he likes to bend the note on the 15th fret.  I also added some variations for the verse harmonics because that is what he does on the album, but when he plays live he sticks to the harmonic.  Finally as a fun treat, I included a very simple and effective orchestration ending which ends with the last chord of the strings from the album.  A nice way to go into Maps and Legends if you were indeed to do ...

FEELING GRAVITYS PULL

Intro/Verse

e|-7---7-----0----------(7)---------(5)------|

B|--7-6-7-6-0-0---------(7)---------(5)------|

G|----------------------(7)---------(5)------|

D|--------------x-x-x-x-(7)-x-x-x-x-(5)------|

A|--------------x-x-x-x-(7)-x-x-x-x-(5)------|

E|--------------7-x-x-7-(7)-7-x-x-7-(5)------|

e|-7---7-----0----------(7)---------(12)------|

B|--7-6-7-6-0-0---------(7)---------(12)------|

G|----------------------(7)---------(12)------|

D|--------------x-x-x-x-(7)-x-x-x-x-(12)------|

A|--------------x-x-x-x-(7)-x-x-x-x-(12)------|

E|--------------7-x-x-7-(7)-7-x-x-7-(12)------|

Variations:

In place of Harmonic 7:

e|-0--------|

B|-0--------|

G|-7--------|

D|-0--------|

A|----------|

E|----------|

In place of Harmonic 5 or 12:

e|-7--0--12----|

B|-8--0--12----|

G|-0--9--------|

D|-0--0--------|

A|-------------|

E|-------------|

Chorus:

e|----------------------|

B|---0---0---0---0------|

G|----0---0---0---0-----|

D|--2---2---2---4-------|

A|----------------------|

E|-0---2---3---5--------|

Bridge to Verse and End: (x3)

e|-0-0--0--0--0--0--0-0-0-----0---0------0-----|

B|-1--1--1--3--3--3---1--1-1>3-0-3-3------0----|

G|-0---0--0-2---2--2--0---0------2--2-2>4------|

D|-2------------------2------------------------|

A|-3------------------3------------------------|

E|-0------------------0------------------------|

e|-0--------(12)----|

B|-3--------(12)----|

G|-4---OR---(12)----|

D|-0--------(12)----|

A|----------(12)----|

E|----------(12)----|

Outro: x2

e|--0--0--0--0--0----0------|

B|-13-15-13-15-12---13h-----|

G|-12-12-12-12--x----x------|

D|-14-14-14-14-14---14------|

A|--------------------------|

E|--------------------------|

e|--0--0--0--0-15-15-15-----|

B|-13-15-13-15-13-13-13-----|

G|-12-12-12-12-12-12-12-----|

D|-14-14-14-14-14-12-12-----|

A|--------------------------|

E|--------------------------|

e|-2-----0-0------------|

B|-3-----5>7------------|

G|-4-----7>9---FEEDBACK-|

D|-0-----7>9------------|

A|----------------------|

E|----------------------|

End orchestration on guitar:

e|-0-0-0-0-0---------------|

B|-7-0-0-0-7-------0-------|

G|-9-7-8-9-9-x3----7-------|

D|-9-9-9-9-9-------9-------|

A|-------------------------|

E|-------------------------|