OUT OF TIME: TEXARKANA

There is a special place in my heart for this song.  The reason comes from when I used to bicycle, obsessively, while playing this album, also obsessively.  Somewhere around this track every time is where I get my second wind ... which I always actually thought of as my first wind, for as those of us know who exercise it is where your body actually settles in for the long haul.  There is something uplifting and pure in Mike Mills' performance.  His singing is always straightforward and while the correct key can be a challenge for him in live performance, in the studio there is no one who can match him.  It is his voice that has always provided the background to Michael Stipe and his deceptive clarity has always been perfect.  For instance, where Stipe has a way of warbling nonsensical phrases and lyrics in a forgivable way, Mills sings his gibberish clearly and we still forgive him for it as well as pine for it when it's gone.  To hear him take the lead means he has to be clear and it creates an entirely different dimension for R.E.M. here and in Near Wild Heaven and Superman.  In this song, Mills voice is the oasis.
  At it's essence this is another love song, or as I've said of this album, unrequited love song, to go with the rest on OUT OF TIME.  The reason this song stands out is because of the somber and bittersweet songs around it, and also for it's clarity and heavy orchestration.  It sounds heavily produced, it is, it was meant to be.  The reason it is called Texarkana is because the chorus used to be: "When I live in Texarkana, where's that county line, another county line."  Good thing they scratched that.

TEXARKANA

Twenty thousand miles to an oasis
Twenty thousand years will I burn
Twenty thousand chances I wasted
Waiting for the moment to turn

I would give my life to find it
I would give it all
Catch me if I fall

Walking through the woods I have faced it
Looking for something to learn
Thirty thousand thoughts have replaced it
Never in my time to return

I would give my life to find it
I would give it all
Catch me if I fall

All alone
Waiting to fall

Forty thousand stars in the evening
Look at them fall from the sky
Forty thousand reasons for living
Forty thousand tears in your eye

I would give my life to find it
I would give it all
Catch me if I fall

Catch me if I fall

Catch me if I fall

Catch me if I fall

Catch me if I fall

Catch me if I fall

Catch me if I fall

Catch me if I fall

Catch me if I fall

Catch me if I fall

  A very straightforward Peter Buck pick here.  I imagine he could play it in his sleep.  The fun parts are the strummed C chord that adds the D note for a C9 and the slide which is actually fairly sparse, but somehow makes the song.  You'll have to play along to the song to get the correct timing ... the second slide I have noted actually begins in the bridge before the middle bridge ... 

TEXARKANA

Bass Intro/ Fill

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

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

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

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

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

E|-0-3---00---|

Verse

e|-0-0-0-3-3------2--2--2-----|

B|-0--0--3--3-0--3-3--3--3----|

G|-0-----0----------4--4--4---|

D|-2-----0------4-------------|

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

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

e|-0-0-0-0-0-----3--3--3--0--|

B|-0--0--2--2-0-3-3--3--3----|

G|-0-----2-----0---0--0--0---|

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

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

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

Slide Guitar 1

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

B|-3>5<3>7-3>5<2>3------------|

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

Slide Guitar 2

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

B|------------10<8------------|

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

Chorus

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

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

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

D|-2------0-------4------------2---2--|

A|-3--------------2------------3---0--|

E|-0--------------2------------0---0--|

Bridge to Verse/ End

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

B|-0---3---3-3-0--|

G|-0---2---2-2----|

D|-2---0---0-0----|

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

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

Middle Bridge

e|----0--0--0--0---3--3--3------2---3---2---0-|

B|--0--0--0--0---3--3--3--3-----3---3---3---0-|

G|-2-2--2--2--2-0-3--0--0--0-x2-2---0---2---1-|

D|------------------------------0---0---0---2-|

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

E|----------------------------------3-------0-|

Slide Guitar Part 2

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

B|-7-7<5>7>8---5<4>5-5<3---|

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

End on D.