ACCELERATE: ACCELERATE

   According to my unofficial recollection, I've only pounded one R.E.M. song and that was 'The Wake Up Bomb'--not my favorite. This one is a runner up to my least favorite track and it's hard to place why. Perhaps its because the song is pedestrian in a way I don't expect from the band. When I was in a band we wrote songs like this and we pretty much sucked, in fact this would not have been our best song. Unlike most of Michael's lyrics I can't really get any visuals except for falling, jumping out a window, but not suffering as much as others--I read somewhere a speculation that this was about the falling man on 9/11. I can't get a handle, but Michael once said the ending is cut off before the person can finish the thought ... the last word should be 'control.' One up side is Bill Rieflin on the drums, particularly live, he's going apeshit!




ACCELERATE

Sinking fast, the weights chained to my feet

No time to argue with belief

I'm not alone a thousand others dropping faster than me

What put me here?

Nothing to hold on to

Nowhere to brake

Where is the ripcord, the trapdoor, the key?

Where is the cartoon escape hatch for me?

No time to question the choices I make

I've got to fall in another direction

The last thing I remember is climbing up the stairs

I threw the window open, challenging despair

I don't know what I need

I needed time

I needed to escape

I saw the future turned upside down and hesitate

Where is the ripcord, the trapdoor, the key?

Where is the cartoon escape hatch for me?

No time to question the choices I make

I've got to fall in another direction

Accelerate

The vista I see now is changing

Uncertainty is suffocating

Our hope has never felt so grating

Lit up dim and pounding pulse

To make it go, make it slow down, go

Where is the ripcord, the trapdoor, the key?

Where is the cartoon escape hatch for me?

No time to question the choices I make

I've got to fall in another direction

The city sputters like it's ready to explode

(Accelerate)

Accelerate to make it slow, make it go

(Accelerate)

Accelerate to make it slow, make it go

(Accelerate)

Accelerate

I'm incomplete

I'm incomplete

I'm incomplete

   This song is not un-fun to play, but it gets a little boring. It's all Peter Buck special power chords that are nice and open. Scott McCaughey is doing some nifty doodling, but I didn't really tab all of that, just a couple of things to keep it interesting. Maybe the best thing about this one is that open F# pick and adding it to the chord progression.

ACCELERATE

Intro/Outro

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

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

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

D|--11---11---|

A|-9----9-----|

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

Verse

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

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

G|-4---4---9---7---4---4---0---0--|

D|-4---4---9---7---4---4---5---5--|

A|-2---2---7---5---2---2---5---5--|

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

Chorus

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

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

G|-11---7--------0---0--|

D|-11---5--------7---5--|

A|--9---0--------7---5--|

E|--0---0---x3---5---3--|

Chorus (Guitar 2)

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

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

G|-11---5---7-------14---12---|

D|-11---5---7-------14---12---|

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

E|--0---0---0---x3---0----0---|

Final Chorus (Guitar 2)

e|--7--10--------5----7---|

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

G|--9---9--------7----9---|

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

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

E|----------x3------------|