UP: HOPE

  The seeds for this version of R.E.M. was born back during AFTP with the studio recording of Chance, at the end of which Michael intones 'This is tedious. Stop.' This song almost gets tedious, but it smartly changes up the music at key moments. The lyric here is amazing and I suspect it's one of the songs that led to the lyrics being included on the liner notes. The theme here is self-importance, the idea we can go forever and that medical science can prolong our lives--maybe at the cost of some alligators, but hey, survival, am I right? Immortality is such a theme of humanity, and what better time to contemplate it than on a night of drunken revelry. I like tracking where the word 'hope' comes up in the song. We are solidly in drum machine territory here, Bill.
  FYI, in an interview Michael says the 'Matthew' mentioned is not Matthew Shepard, but more in line with a solid male name like 'Matthew, Mark, John.' Incidentally, Michael is using religion a lot around this time, no?


HOPE

You want to go out Friday and you want to go forever
You know that it sounds childish that you've dreamt of alligators
You hope that we are with you and you hope you're recognized
You want to go forever you see it in my eyes
I'm lost in the confusion and it doesn't seem to matter
You really can't believe it and you hope it's getting better

You want to trust the doctors their procedure is the best
But the last try was a failure and the intern was a mess
And they did the same to Matthew and he bled 'til Sunday night
They're saying don't be frightened but you're weakened by the sight of it
You lock into a pattern and you know that it's the last ditch
You're trying to see through it and it doesn't make sense
But they're saying don't be frightened and they're killing alligators
And they're hog-tied and accepting of the struggle

You want to trust religion and you know it's allegory
But the people who are followers have written their own story
So you look up to the heavens and you hope that it's a spaceship
And it's something from your childhood

You're thinking don't be frightened

You want to climb the ladder you want to see forever
You want to go out Friday and you want to go forever
And you want to cross your DNA
To cross your DNA with something reptile

And you're questioning the sciences and questioning religion
You're looking like an idiot and you no longer care
And you want bridge the schism

A built-in mechanism to protect you

And you're looking for salvation
And you're looking for deliverance
You're looking like an idiot and you no longer care
‘Cause you want to climb the ladder
You want to go forever
And you want to go out Friday
You want to go forever

   The guitar here is sparse, but sounds really great. Michael used to play this one on acoustic guitar live for a more personal feel--you can find it on YouTube, but he's not exactly Cat Stevens up there. The chord progression varies as the song progresses, holding on C a lot longer near the beginning, but as it picks up intensity alters between C and F more frequently. This is more fun to play than you might think!

HOPE

Verse C (Repeat the pattern ad nauseam under the whole dang song)

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

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

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

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

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

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

Verse F (Keyboard part, but sounds cool on guitar, played along with C pattern)

e|----10-8-7--7-8-|

B|----------10----|

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

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

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

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

Middle Bridge ("You want to climb the ladder") is an Em chord 

End with C chord and a bunch of distortion and feedback!