FABLES OF THE RECONSTRUCTION: AUCTIONEER (ANOTHER ENGINE)

I've talked to a lot of people that name this one of their favorite early R.E.M. songs.  It is really a nice little microcosm of the album itself.  It's short, discordant, and rough around the edges.  There is also that sense of travel and leaving that has started to crop up more and more with Michael Stipe.  It is a theme that doesn't really leave his work until after New Adventures.  Can you blame him?  The band is pretty much on a perpetual tour--or, um, a Permanent Vacation--how easy is it to claim one place as your home?  I would guess not very.
  Stipe also lent some history to the song in Dublin by saying that the only connection to real life this song has was of his maternal grandfather, Clifford Hatch, who would take the train from Atlanta to D.C. for work.  As a child they would take pennies he gave them and place it on the tracks to flatten it as a keepsake.  The reason for this story is twofold.  First, to point out that Stipe does draw on memory and true stories for this album and second to say that the rest of the song is the fable.  This is how things get blown up and embellished.
  I was also surprised at how short this song is.  Why does it feel longer? 


AUCTIONEER (ANOTHER ENGINE)
She didn’t want to get pinned down by her prior town
Get me to the train on time, here take this nickel make a dime
Take this penny to make into a necklace when I leave
What is at the other end, I don’t know, another friend
Another wife, another morning spent

Listen
(Listen to)
To the auctioneer
Another engine, another engine

You never wrote the reasons that I need explained
Some things are givens and others get away
This time it’s for myself you call it what you may
Okay, we won’t say good bye, so long, and so much more

(Listen)
Listen
(To)
To the auctioneer
Another engine, another engine

Listen to the bargain holler, listen to the barter holler
Listen to the auctioneer

Oh, get me to the train on time, here take this nickel make a dime
Take this penny and make into a necklace when I leave
What is at the other end, I don’t know, another friend
Another wife, another morning spent

Listen
(Listen to)
To the auctioneer
Another engine, another engine
Another engine, another engine
Another

Do I stand to bargain holler, listen to the barter holler


This is not the easiest song to figure out.  It is pretty far off the map as far as chords go.  It's perfectly suited for the song and even sounds like a train in the chorus.  On the live footage available, it seems like Buck switches from playing the second part of the verse up around the 12th fret of the D string, and lately around the 3rd fret of the B string.  It works either way, but on the album it is the former.  It also seems like there is a note missing from the chorus which might be a second guitar, but could also be part of the bass line.  Overall, the song is quite easy once you get the parts down, but also quite a workout.

AUCTIONEER (ANOTHER ENGINE)
Verse

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

B|----3--------------------|

G|---4-4-------------------|

D|--4----14-14-14-12-11-0--|

A|-2------0--0--0--0--0-0--|

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

Chorus

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

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

G|-10---9---------------------|

D|-10---9---------------------|

A|--x---x---------------------|

E|--8---7---------------------|

Bridge

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

B|---------12--0-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-8-10-12/14-15---|

G|-12-12-14--------------------------------------|

D|-----------------------------------------------|

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

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

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

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

G|--------------------------|

D|--------------------------|

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

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

End

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

B|---------|

G|----4----|

D|---------|

A|-2-2-----|

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