OUT OF TIME: BELONG

  In this edition of the R.E.M. blog post ... blogger has changed their format.  This could take some getting used to ... I can barely find my homepage.  Anyway, OUT OF TIME rolls on with a song that was road tested on their GREEN tour.  BELONG is a poem of sorts, a form of chain poetry that repeats the entire last line of one verse as the first of the next verse, at least until the last verse.  The spoken word form of the lyrics give an immediacy to the scene Michael Stipe is trying to paint.  What has happened to this woman?  There has been an epiphany, a release before the song begins and then she proceeds to share the moment with her child.  It is a beautiful moment, the creatures have gone, creatures that were ostensibly created by this woman, or at least held there with barricades.  Well, they can only last so long ...

BELONG

Her world collapsed early Sunday morning
She got up from the kitchen table
Folded the newspaper and silenced the radio
Those creatures jumped the barricades
And have headed for the sea, sea

Those creatures jumped the barricades
And have headed for the sea
She began to breathe
To breathe at the thought of this freedom
Stood and whispered to her child, “belong”
She held the child and whispered
With calm, calm, “belong”

She stood and whispered to her child, “belong”
She held the child and whispered
With calm, calm, “belong”

Those barricades can only hold for so long
Her world collapsed early Sunday morning
She took the child, held tight
Opened the window
A breath, this song, how long
And knew, knew, belong

Yeah

  This is another simple song on guitar.  I suspect that there are some crazy Peter Buck overlays during the chorus, perhaps different guitars playing the same thing, there seems to be one high e string tuned to d in the mix, but below is the nuts and bolts.  

BELONG

Verse Riff

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

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

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

D|--0-4h-0-4h-0-4h-4----------|

A|-5--------------------------|

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

Verse Chords

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

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

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

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

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

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

Chorus

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

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

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

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

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

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