NEW ADVENTURES IN HI-FI: LEAVE

  If there is one song that tips the scales in favor of a new adventure for the band and this album it is LEAVE. Starting with a somber pre-song intro, the track then kicks into a repetitive, overdriven alarm that lasts for the duration of its six minutes. R.E.M. have a knack for producing long pop songs that somehow do not seem as long as they are, even though their songwriting can be repetitive (mostly on purpose). LEAVE is a song that after a couple of listens I was definitely in the camp of never really needing to hear the alarm again, but over time the sound gives some sort of comfort. Maybe its a bit of a distraction from this character who needs to get out of wherever they are. The lyrics seem to be saying that leaving what kept them down is a good thing, but the tone of the music paints a darker picture. The release at the end could be death, but I prefer to leave it open to interpretation. There is a wonderful mystique about change and transition that always makes big decisions a difficult choice; there is always a feeling that you are committing your old self to a sort of death. It is at turns sad, frightening, and bittersweet. Maybe death is that for this character ... but maybe they're moving to Michigan too.  There's part of me that wants all of these songs to be about how sad the group are to leave the comforts of recording in a studio and have to tour again.
  Eventually the song found its way into the movie 'A Life Less Ordinary' in a different version which I have also included below. The lyrics change slightly--Michael abandons the word believe in the chorus for one, which clarifies the song quite a bit--but the core is the same. I read somewhere that Michael wasn't thrilled with the album performance which spurred the revision, but the harder track has all of the R.E.M. signatures--guitar and bass take the lead while the lyrics and drums blend to the background. It's a good and thoughtful song that used to end the first half of the NAIHF, still does if you have vinyl or cassette, and feels appropriate in the context of the album.
 

LEAVE

Nothing could bring me closer
Nothing could bring me near
Where is the road I follow?
To leave it

Leave

It's under, under, under my feet
The sea spread out there before me
Where do I go when the land touches sea?
There is my trust in what I believe

That's what keeps me
That's what keeps me
That's what keeps me down
To leave it, leave it
Leave it all behind

Shift into dream
Nothing could bring me further from my old friend time
This shift into dream
It's charging the scene
I know where I marked the signs
I suffer dreams of a world gone mad
I like it like that and I know it
I know it well, ugly and sweet
I temper madness with an even extreme

That's what keeps me
That's what keeps me
That's what keeps me down
I say that I'm a bantam lightweight
I say that I'm a phantom airplane
That never left the ground

That's what keeps me
That's what keeps me
That's what keeps me down
Leave, Leave it
Leave it all behind

Lift me, lift me
I dream a dream
I lost myself, I lost myself
Are they calling me?
I lost myself in sorrow
I lost myself in pain
I lost myself in gravity memory, leave, leave, leave

That's what keeps me
That's what keeps me
That's what keeps me down
To leave it, leave it
Leave it all behind

That's what keeps me
That's what keeps me
That's what keeps me down
To leave it, leave it
Leave it all behind

Lift my hands my eyes are still I walk into the sea
Shift myself in a different place and leave it

I've longed for this to take me
I've longed for my release
I've waited for the calling
To leave, leave
Leave, leave

Leave, leave

Leave it, leave it


  There is so much going on in this song, but it's actually very simple to play. There's an e-bow on the lead parts, but it also sounds like there's a guitar mirroring the verse chords on e-bow. I usually play the power chords with the muted A-string, but it sounds fuller with the muted barre. It feels like on this track and the alternate recording that the band is already heading for the electronica of UP.

LEAVE

Can be played Capo 1, but you would lose some open string action

Pre-Intro (x4)

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

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

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

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

A|-1-3-4>11-9--1-3-4>11-8--|

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

Intro/ Fill (with e-bow)

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

B|-0-3-5-6>13-10<3-5-6>13-10/11/10---|

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

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

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

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

Verse

I’ve added the x’s because I play barred, but muted

You could play straight power chords

Power chords muting the A string sounds cool as well

e|-x---x---x---x---x>x---x---x---x--x----|

B|-x---x---x---x---x>x---x---x---x--x----|

G|-x---x---x---x---x>x---x---x---x--x----|

D|-8---4---6---8---6>8---4---6---10-8----|

A|-8---4---6---8---6>8---4---6---10-8----|

E|-6---2---4---6---4>6---2---4---8--6----|

Chorus

e|-4---6---4---4---4---6---4---2---|

B|-6---6---6---4---6---6---4---2---|

G|-6---6---6---5---6---6---5---3---|

D|-6---8---6---6---6---8---6---4---|

A|-4---8---4---6---4---8---6---4---|

E|-4---6---4---4---4---6---4---2---|

Final Intro/ Fill (with e-bow)

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

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

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

D|-8-10-11>18-15-(x3)-8-6-8>10-12-8--|

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

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