AUTOMATIC FOR THE PEOPLE: TRY NOT TO BREATHE

  I liken this song to a number of second tier R.E.M. tracks such as "Welcome to the Occupation" and "Pilgrimage" in that it is a VERY solid song, but largely not known outside of their "popular" songs.  In transposing it, I also noticed that it is a lot shorter than I remember.  There is a weight to this song that makes it seem longer.  I have read a number of accounts of the song being about specific death, or suicide, but I believe it is more about reflection of life from an advanced age and the acceptance of mortality.  According to Peter, the title came from the demo ... as he was recording, the mic was picking up his breath and he said "I'll try not to breathe."  Michael insists the character is an old woman who is trying not to breathe in order to feel like what it is to be dead.  The song has the feel of a poem with it's nice turns of phrase and ambiguity.  The first two verses can easily lead someone to believe the speaker is suicidal if read literally, deciding not to breathe is the choosing of death as like as not, but there is also a wistfulness pervading the track.  A sense that everything will be okay.  Like any R.E.M. song it is dangerous to over analyze, but it will be interesting if we ever get demo versions of these AUTOMATIC tracks as we have with other deluxe re-issues.  I think a listen to this song in its infancy would be a treat.
  The lyrics here are repetitive and simple and I have only a few changes over the "official songbook" version.  The most glaring change is my insistence that Stipe is saying "shivering and bold."  In later live incarnations, he says "fold" but I think that is because he might have changed the lyric in transposition.  On the recording, he is pretty clearly saying bold ... in fact in true form, he does not clip his word and it sounds like "bow."




TRY NOT TO BREATHE

I will try not to breathe
I can hold my head still with my hands at my knees
These eyes are the eyes of the old

Shivering and bold

I will try not to breathe
This decision is mine

I have lived a full life
These are the eyes that I want you to remember

Oh
I need something to fly over my grave again
I need something to breathe

I will try not to burden you
I can hold these inside

I will hold my breath until all these shivers subside
Just look in my eyes

I will try not to worry you
I have seen things that you will never see
Leave it to memory me

I shudder to breathe

I want you to remember

Oh

(you will never see)
I need something to fly over my grave again

(something to fly)
(you will never see)
I need something to breathe

(something to breathe)
(I have seen things you will never see)

Baby, don't shiver now
Why do you shiver now?

I need something to fly over my grave again

(something to fly)
(I have seen things you will never see)
I need something to breathe

Oh, oh, oh, oh

Oh, oh, oh

Oh, oh, oh, oh

Oh, oh, oh

I will try not to worry you
I have seen things that you will never see
Leave it to memory me

Don't dare me to breathe

I want you to remember

Oh

(you will never see)
I need something to fly over my grave again

(something to fly)
(you will never see)
I need something to breathe

(something to breathe)
(I have seen things you will never see)

Baby, don't shiver now
Why do you shiver?

I need something to breathe

(something to breathe)
(I have seen things you will never see)

I want you to remember

  There seem to be a huge amount of overlays on this track.  A couple of acoustics, some picking, some electric ... and somehow it doesn't feel like a guitar heavy song.  The 3/4 time helps, and the bassline ... some amazing work by Mike Mills on this one.  I have tried to separate the guitar parts as much as possible, but it would be silly to presume where everything falls without the master tracks of all instrumentation.  This is the main reason some lines below change position on the fret board.  The cool discoveries I had were keeping the high e string open in the verse chords, and the controlled feedback Peter uses in the Middle Bridge.  With practice, most of the fills can be worked into one guitar line ...


TRY NOT TO BREATHE

Verse Chord Strum

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

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

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

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

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

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

Verse Fill #1

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

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

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

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

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

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

Verse Fill #2

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

B|-------------------8<7-5----|

G|-5>7-----4<2-0-5>7------7---|

D|----7-4^0---------7---------|

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

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

Bridge to Chorus Chords

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

B|-1---1---1---1---1---1------------|

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

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

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

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

Bridge to Chorus Fill

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

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

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

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

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

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

Chorus Chords (Go to C chord before Verse)

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

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

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

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

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

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

Chorus Fill

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

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

G|-5>7-5>7------------5>7-5>7--|

D|----7---7--------------7---7-|

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

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

Chorus Walk Down Fill #2 (Later Choruses)

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

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

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

D|-5>7-5-4-2---|

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

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

Middle Bridge

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Middle Bridge Feedback Notes

e|------------------------12----|

B|-----10------------------12<--|

G|-9--------9-------5---9-------|

D|--------------7---------------|

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

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

End on G