Due to popular demand, Mike Mills' Superman vocals landed him this gig. This was the album that led the band to quip that if they broke up Mills would be the first one to go solo. Yes, he's the most musically talented and sounds great in the studio, but have you heard him sing live? A little hit and miss ...
This song is always shorter than I think I remember it due to how seamlessly it flows. A lot of nice things going on here. The subtle piano, the Brian Wilson-like harmonies ... just a real fun time. It also has that dark edge that R.E.M. specialize in. It's NEARLY a wild heaven, but something's missing, it's not near enough. Ouch. What is dangerous about this love, or lust, or whatever it is? The lyrics are very clear because it's not Michael ...
NEAR WILD HEAVEN
Whenever we hold each other
We hold each other
There’s a feeling that’s gone
Something has gone wrong
And I don’t know how much longer I can take it
House made of heart break it
Take my head in your hands and shake it
In this near wild heaven
Not near enough
Inside
Living inside
Living inside
Near wild heaven
Living inside
Living inside
Living inside
Near wild heaven
Whatever it takes I’m giving
It’s just a gift I’m given
Try to live inside
Trying to move inside
And I always thought that it would make me smarter
But it’s only made me harder
My heart thrown open wide
In this near wild heaven
Not near enough
Inside
Living inside
Living inside
Near wild heaven
Living inside
Living inside
Living inside
Near wild heaven
Living inside
Living inside
Living inside
Near wild heaven
Living inside
Living inside
Living inside
Near wild heaven
I’m holding my hands together
I’m holding my feet together
I’m holding myself together
In this near wild heaven
Not near enough
Near wild heaven
Near wild heaven
Living inside
Living inside
Living inside
Near wild heaven
Living inside
Living inside
Living inside
Near wild heaven
Living inside
Living inside
Living inside
Near wild heaven
Living inside
Living inside
Living inside
Near wild heaven
What makes this song brilliant is the note that every guitar tablature misses. The whole point of the song is that everything about love is great except one thing and that is the key to the guitar line. It's almost absurdly chipper, but what takes it a little bit off is the F# at the beginning of the picked A chord in the Verse. It's really Mike Mills' bass that is doing the heavy lifting on the note, but Peter is right there with it.
Perhaps the boldest choice of Out Of Time is sticking this song right after Losing My Religion. It's the setup for Near Wild Heaven, sort of a set 'em up and knock 'em down mentality. Slow 'em up and speed 'em up. I liken this to the song Round Here by Counting Crows in that it has that almost unexpected middle bridge rock before soothing back into the dark groove.
The song is a dangerous love song, at first listen, the song can be likened to Losing My Religion as unrequited love, however the song seems to carry a deeper understanding of love. Perhaps a love you cannot keep that has been taken away, or a love you can never have, or one that is taboo. The singer seems to have come to terms with this love and is at peace.
Vocally, I hear some differences from official lyrics. Stipe definitely clips the word 'skip' to make it present tense and signify that this love still exists, something he doesn't do live which leaves the possibility of him leaving the 'ed' ending off or it not being audible when recorded. I also hear 'grassly bent' among other things in the end of the second verse. I must have listened to this sequence a hundred times and I stand by the interp ... it doesn't particularly clarify anything, but I like to be accurate. In the live unplugged version, Stipe definitely deviates and seems to be reading off lyric sheets, but as always I go by the recorded version. Other than that it's not a particularly difficult song and is a perfect example of Stipe's raw and understated power. The track is him alone, no background vocal, no doubling. This is a style that the band and Stipe uses to great effect from time to time, see Swan Swan H.
LOW
Dusk is dawn is day
Where did it go?
I’ve been laughing
Fast and slow
Moving in a still frame
Howling at the moon
Morning found me laughing
Up and down, down
Low, low, low
Night suits me fine
Morning suits me fine
I’ve been so happy, happy
Way up high, high
In between
Down below
Low, low, low
Low, low, low
I skip the part about love
It seemed so silly and low
Low, low, low
Low, low, low
I said the morning
It isn’t your time
Barefoot naked
I can see your lines
It doesn’t bother me
If you are right
Your grass is grassly bent
Your light white is bright
Like bright light
I skip the part about love
It seemed so shallow and low
Low, low, low
Low, low, low
You and me
We know about time
We know how things go
They come and go
They live and grow
They pass and go
And glow and glow
Up and down
High and low
Low, low, low
Low, low, low
I skip the part about love
It seemed so silly and low
I skip the part about love
It seemed so shallow and low
Low, low, low
Low, low, low
I like your hands
All full of glory
All full of glory
This is a pretty simple tune with an emphasis on muting power chords. I love the ending and the orchestration behind the guitar ...
I have said before on this blog that the precursor of this song was really "The Wrong Child" from the album Green. I still believe that. The mix of mandolin and 12 String is a miraculous thing, especially with the added rhythmic talents of Mike Mills and Bill Berry. Buck picks up the mandolin here and puts his own spin on the rock song. R.E.M.'s previous forays into mandolin territory were slower, more somber efforts, whereas "Religion" ups the ante a little. The song is still emotional and dramatic, but it has an edge that makes it unique in the history of Rock. Even the mandolin songs of Led Zeppelin did not hit the beat as hard as this song.
This song does everything well and may well be Stipe's best love song, albeit unrequited and tortuously so. What you don't get from the song live is how affecting the studio mix is. The band by this time are old pros with an engineer behind them and layer the song with strings, multiple guitars and mandolins, handclaps, and subtly effective backing vocals. The effect is haunting and stands out on the album. This song, with it's video helping, launched the band to new heights and the song, strangely, became a great sing a long hit. Why strange? Well, there is no real chorus. "That's me in the corner" is technically the verse. The lyrics and structure of the song force you to pay attention to the entire track, there is no let up. It makes sense in the context of this persons story. I somehow picture someone alone in a bar hitting drink after drink, trying to work up the courage to talk to the object of their affection. "I said too much, I haven't said enough." It's a fine line isn't it? Why try? We put so much importance on the moment and on love that it often depresses us to the point of inaction.
LOSING MY RELIGION
Oh,
Life is bigger
It’s bigger than you
And you are not me
The lengths that I will go to
The distance in your eyes
Oh no I’ve said too much
I set it up
That’s me in the corner
That’s me in the spotlight
Losing my religion
Trying to keep up with you
And I don’t know if I can do it
Oh no I’ve said too much
I haven’t said enough
I thought that I heard you laughing
I thought that I heard you sing
I think I thought I saw you try
Every whisper
Of every waking hour
I’m choosing my confessions
Trying to keep an eye on you
Like a hurt lost and blinded fool, fool
Oh no I’ve said too much
I set it up
Consider this, consider this
The hint of the century
Consider this
The slip
That brought me to my knees failed
What if all these fantasies
Come flailing around
Now I’ve said too much
I thought that I heard you laughing
I thought that I heard you sing
I think I thought I saw you try
But that was just a dream
That was just a dream
That’s me in the corner
That’s me in the spotlight
Losing my religion
Trying to keep up with you
And I don’t know if I can do it
Oh no I’ve said too much
I haven’t said enough
I thought that I heard you laughing
I thought that I heard you sing
I think I thought I saw you try
But that was just a dream
Try, cry
Why try?
That was just a dream
Just a dream
Just a dream
Dream
Below is the representation of the studio mix. Live, Buck adds a few notes here and there and plays a lot of the fills up around the 7th fret, but I enjoy the ease of the high e note ... particularly in the chorus. This song is fun to play when you have a mando and guitar really playing off each other. Just a great song.
I have to admit that this was the song that pulled me into the album. At the time of the Out Of Time release I was in between musical genres. On one hand, hip hop, on the other alternative rock. I seem to remember that it was a very eclectic time for MTV as well, the video lineups ran the gamut ... when there used to be video lineups! ... and all chart topping music was given credence, so you would often have rock and hip hop songs alternating. Of course you also had specific programs like Yo!, 120 Minutes, and Headbangers Ball, but for the most part I think MTV was suffering from a music beast they created themselves. That said, I found myself into everything. I remember being transfixed by the video for Losing My Religion, but the song didn't particularly have an effect on me. And then it was Shiny Happy People which was a turnoff although I was really into the B-52's, so when Radio Song came out with it's hip hop/ funk hook, I was all in.
It was timing as well. My friend had recently picked up on my interest in the band and around the time this song came out brought me to a record store and made me buy Green and Eponymous. Not too long after, I picked up Out Of Time, but it was Radio Song that brought me to R.E.M. in a way that the single for Stand that I owned could not. In hindsight, the song to me now is a little hokey and not very representative of what the band is all about, but at the time it was important. When I first listened to the entire album there was a sort of awakening when this song transitioned to Losing My Religion that I didn't get when the latter was played on it's own. As the album progresses there is the sense that this is a band that has a greater purpose aside from 3 minute pop songs.
Why KRS-One? Well, the man fits with R.E.M. quite nicely. He's an activist, vegetarian, and a rapper who didn't particularly fit in with the rap mainstream. The collaboration was a sort of swap with Michael Stipe and KRS-One's HEAL project. Under the name of Boogie Down Productions, he had released a few well received and popular albums with Jive Records and there is no doubt that they did not escape the notice of Peter Buck. This was seemingly a match made in heaven. And in a way it was and still is. The song holds up well and the rap interjections serve to underline the message of the song.
The impetus for the song apparently comes from Michael's past when he had a relationship breakup and realized that radio songs are manipulative, and in this light the song does not crucify radio in itself as much as how fragile we are as lovers and friends that we could let this manipulation happen to begin with. It's this form of self torture in which we scream at how every song is about our lives and simultaneously hate the reflections and can't get enough of them. So, do the DJ's suck and manipulate us? Or do we do it to ourselves? This is what the song is trying to get at, it is not a treatise against radio ... although when confronted with the notion of biting the hand that feeds you, Bill replied: "We don't owe radio shit." Subtle.
RADIO SONG
Hey!
I can’t find nothing on the radio
Uh! Yo turn to that station.
The world is collapsing around our ears
I turned up the radio but I can’t hear it
When I got to the house and I called you out
I could tell that you had been crying, crying
It’s that same sing song on the radio
Makes me sad
I meant to turn it off
To say goodbye
To leave in quiet
(See ya!)
Radio song
Hey hey hey
I’ve everything to show
I’ve everything to hide
Look into my eyes
Listen
(Yeah!)
When I got to the show
Yo ho ho
I could tell that you had been crying, crying
It’s that same sing song and the DJ sucks
It makes me sad
I tried to turn it off
(Turn it off!)
To say goodbye my love
That radio song
Hey hey hey
The world is collapsing
Around our ears
I turned up the radio
But I can’t hear it
Yeah
(Yeah! Baby, baby, baby, baby!)
I tried to sing along
But damn that radio song
Hey hey hey
Hey hey hey
I’ve everything to show
I’ve everything to hide
Look into my eyes
Listen to the radio
I turned up the radio
Well I can’t hear it
No I can’t hear it
Hey hey hey hey
(Say what?)
Hey hey hey
(Let me do that with you)
Hey hey hey hey hey
Hey hey hey
(Yeah, unh!)
Hey hey hey hey hey
(Say what, say what, say what?)
Hey hey hey
Check it out!
What are you saying?
What are you playing?
Who are you obeying day out day in?
Baby baby baby baby
That stuff is driving me crazy
DJs communicate to the masses
Sex and violent classes
Now our children grow up prisoners
All their life radio listeners
This tab in my mind the beginning of some interesting transcriptions. The band is getting more into organ and orchestration, so the guitar lines on the track are from different sources. It's likely that the funky guitar line was written by Mills or Peter Holsapple, the latter playing the line on bass when the band played Unplugged. Tellingly, Peter Buck plays acoustic guitar on the program with the capo on the first fret. This is also the introduction of what I will call the "Positive Open" (+0) which is strumming or picking the string above (in the case of the neck of the guitar) or below (in the case of the body of the guitar) the physical string bridges on the guitar. Not all guitars are built to have access to the string below the body bridge ... Fenders come to mind ... but Buck goes to this sound from here on out on occasion.
All that taken into account, the below transcription is impossible to play on one guitar. I am staying true to the recording. When I play the tune, I capo an acoustic, funk up the F chord and play the chorus as a barred Bb. But that's just one way to do it. The band does not play this song live and I'm sure it is because of the complexity of the arrangement.
It's interesting revisiting this album knowing what an enormous turning point for the band it was. It's chock full of unintentional radio songs, making the DJ bashing first song a bit ironic. The songs range from the bubblegum (Shiny Happy People, Near Wild Heaven) to the somber (Country Feedback) to the downright tragic (Low). Yet the album has a strange sort of balance, the kind of balance that makes you realize that the band has reached the pinnacle of its songwriting and studio prowess.
The band spent a long time on this album, some six months, which adds to the relaxed feel and particularly in the second half. There is absolutely no sense of urgency on the album as with previous R.E.M. efforts which I cannot stress enough. For the first time in a couple of albums the band isn't trying to cram something down our throats and it is like a breath of fresh air. The album is more art than politics, more descriptive than hyperbolic, and more heartfelt than vitriolic. In essence it's damn near perfect. What did you expect from Michael Stipe attempting to write love songs, although most of them end up being unrequited love dashed hopes. The album is exactly what Warner Bros signed up for and the band delivers. The only thing lacking here was a tour, although they pretty much toured every radio and TV station in the world in promoting the album.
In hindsight, not touring here or after Automatic could've been a huge error for the band commercially. The sense of striking while the iron is hot was lost on a band that was completely exhausted. Through their first 10 years, they toured and recorded almost non-stop and went into this album with a no tour agreement. This weight lifted, they promptly made two amazing albums without a tour. However, then there was Monster and ... well ... we'll get into that later.
The album also features a lot more strings and keyboard. A choice that adds a touch of melancholia to everything, but does not overpower the album. At times there is a sense of overproduction, particularly on Radio Song or Me In Honey, and the formers KRS-1 rap is not as groundbreaking or good as when it first hit. For my money, Q-Tip's rap on The Outsiders later on blows it away, while still keeping to the pace of the band. We also see a good amount of mandolin, but Losing My Religion excluded, not as much as Green.
This is also the emergence of Mike Mills as lead singer on a couple of tracks, although he claims one and a half. His voice is like a beacon in the darkness, clear and concise in contrast to Stipe's often garbled and rough lyrics. In other words, while Stipe makes you want to listen and pay attention as he could say anything at anytime, Mills sings with confidence and puts the listener in a place where they will agree with everything he has to say before saying it. There is also an instrumental of sorts, making this an album with a low Stipe appearance rate. Has ever a band refuted the theory of the lead singer is the band more than with this album? It's the work of a true team, a group where the total is truly the sum of it's parts.
The real turning point here isn't necessarily musical, but social. The band has to come out of the alternative rock scene darkness and into the mainstream light and it is fun to see Stipe start to grant substantial interviews (still very guarded), and know that 15 years later, he will be downright lovely to chat with.
A small note. At the beginning of this project I wasn't entirely sure that I was going to cover this album and the next because they are extremely well documented. However, for the sake of completeness I am carrying on and wouldn't you know it? I've already found errors in the Hal Leonard Out Of Time book. So, without further ado ... Radio Song ...
I played this song back at my show in February and was thinking of re-recording it at a different venue, but I think I do the song some justice. As I'm getting further through the catalogue of the band, I realize just how difficult a task I've laid out for myself. I'm in the process of trying to get other musicians together for a cover band style group, but so far no real takers. Jeez in NY you'd think you'd throw a rock and hit a bunch of musicians ...
And so we arrive at the end of another album. It's very exciting. There are only 8 left! Yikes! That's more than I thought ... anyway ...
This is a very simple lullaby type of song. Easy and lovely. The important thing to note here is how different the song is from any other on Green. It doesn't quite fit which is perhaps the reason it has no title. It's also a fitting bridge to Out Of Time, more than any other song on Green it really gives us a sense of where the band is heading.
(UNTITLED)
This world is big and so awake
I stayed up late to hear your voice
This light is here to keep you warm
This song is here to keep you strong
I made a list of things to say
But all I want to say
(Yes all I want)
All I really want to say is
(I made a list of things to say)
Hold her and keep him strong
(But all I want, yes all I want)
While I’m away from here
(This world is big and so alone)
Hold her and keep her strong
(I stayed up late to hear your voice)
While I’m away from here
(This light is here to keep you warm)
Hold him and keep her strong
(This song is here to keep you strong)
While I’m away from here
I’ve seen the world and so awake
(Keep her strong)
And stay up late to hear me sing
Just hold her
I’ve seen the world and so awake
(Keep him strong)
And stay up late to hear me sing
Just hold him
(I’ve seen the world and so awake)
Hold her and keep her strong
(And so awake and stay up late to hear me sing)
(So stay up late to hear me sing)
While I’m away from here
(I’ve seen the world and so awake)
And Hold him and keep him strong
(So stay up late to hear me sing)
While I’m away from here
Again, another simple riff from the Buck. I really enjoy playing this one it's rather soothing ...
So I'll be honest, I really like this song, but I skip it. It's similar to the Wrong Child for me in that it is a little bit of a downer. It's actually a nicely crafted post apocalyptic tune, complete with sparse lyrics and guitar ... in fact, it's Mike and Bill who do most of the work here. However, the lyrics are extremely specific and non repetitive in a nicely poetic way ... something this album doesn't offer until the last few songs. We're starting to see a rift in the way Stipe works, as if he were two lyricists, one who finds a nice turn of phrase and repeats it, and one who prefers to create stream of consciousness poetry.
I REMEMBER CALIFORNIA
I remember redwood trees
Bumper cars and wolverines
The ocean’s trident submarines
Lemons, limes, and tangerines
I remember this
I remember traffic jams
Motor boys and girls with tans
Nearly was and almost rans
I remember this
History is made
History is made to seem unfair
I recall that you were there
Golden smile and shining hair
I recall it wasn’t fair
Recollect it wasn’t fair
Remembering it wasn’t fair outside
Low ebb, high tide
The lowest ebb and highest tide
A symbol wave I must confide
I guess we took us for a ride
I guess it’s just a gesture
I remember this defense
Progress fails pacific sense
All those sweet conspiracies
I remember all these things
I remember traffic jams
Motor boys and girls with tans
Nearly was and almost rans
I remember this, this
Low ebb, high tide
The lowest ebb and highest tide
I guess we took us for a ride
I guess it’s just a gesture
At the end of the continent
At the edge of the continent
At the edge of the continent
At the edge of the continent
Okay, not the most difficult song in the Buck catalogue, but still fun. The clincher is the very muted chords during the verse.
I REMEMBER CALIFORNIA
Intro/ Chorus
e|---------------------|
B|--1-0-1-0----3-1-0---|
G|---------------------|
D|---------------------|
A|---------2-3---------|
E|-0----------1--------|
Verse:
The parenthetical are muted, the notes played occasionally. Listen to the song to hear exactly where.
An amazingly beautiful song. Originally, this mandolin riff was recorded with a bunch of other instrumentals and given to Michael Stipe before recording. The riff was just a throwaway, or so the band thought. The singer passed over a bunch of completed compositions and said, "Can you play this for 4 minutes? I've got lyrics for that." He proceeded to record the song in one(ish) take.
A hair shirt is basically a way of performing penance for perceived sins or guilt. The term is mainly used figuratively these days, but back in the day you could skin a goat and wear his or her coarse skin around if you were naughty.
HAIRSHIRT
I am not the type of dog
That could keep you waiting
For no good reason
Run a carbon black test on my jaw
And you will find it’s all been said before
I can swing my megaphone and long arm the rest
It’s easier and better
To just beat it from the chest
Of desire
I could walk into this room
And the waves of conversation are enough
To knock you down with the undertow
So alone
So alone
In my life
Bead me banks of light
And hang your hairshirt on the lowest rung
It’s a beautiful life
And I can hang my hairshirt
Away up high in the attic of the wrong dog’s life chest
And bury it at sea
All my life I’ve searched for this
Here I am
Here I am in your life
It’s a beautiful life
My life
It’s a beautiful life
Your life
Sorry, there's no actual guitar on this track, only mandolin. However if you tune the guitar as below and capo 12 (or play with no capo) it'll sound cool! On the above video, note that once again it is Bill Berry playing the mandolin.
