ACCELERATE: HORSE TO WATER

   The next two songs blend together for me as companion pieces. There's something about the way they use the discordant notes as the two guitars work off each other. It's almost as if Peter and Scott are two parts of the same chord at times which makes for a great sound in a live setting. As album pieces, there is a reflection of the MONSTER and NAIHF years as the band attempts to pen arena sized songs. So ends the album of, 'hey, we can still rock' and the end of the band as a trio. On these last two albums the five musicians here are a band and they get really tight. It's a shame they didn't tour after CIN, but this tour has some solid moments on it. The most surprising thing about this song is how many lyrics there are in relation to its length. R.E.M. are definitely letting the songs dictate how long they are, but maybe they could've dreamed up a couple of Middle 8's here at the end of the album? The lyrics are very combative and are possibly the other version of 'Hollow Man' from a different perspective. Also, I've decided to use the live version below because of how Michael reacts to the sound of Scott echoing water. Cracks me up.
Side note, it's SHOCKING how inaccurate the lyrics are for this album on Google searches--especially considering the lyrics are INCLUDED WITH THE ALBUM. Is there just a bot picking out lyrics, or is this the work of a real person?




HORSE TO WATER

I could have kept my head down
I might have kept my mouth shut
I should have held my own
You lead a horse to water and you watch him drown

You're only as big as your battles
Rattle my cage with your shadow
I'm a bantamweight with a mouth full of feathers
Don't you know that what comes around goes around

I'm not that easy
I am not your horse to water

(water)
I hold my breath I come around round round

Don't darken my doorstep again
You're mixing up lemonade gin-gin
You're mixing up lose with win/win
Lead a horse to water and you watch him drown

You’re stumble on glass top table
Divas chewing chalk on cable
Humvee up a beanstalk fable
I don’t call this entertainment ‘cause Humpty's falling down

I'm not that easy
I am not your horse to water

(water)
I hold my breath I come around round round

Pick a fight launch a buzzy bar brawl
Friday night fuck or fight a pub crawl
Bantamweight with a mouth full of feathers
Don't you know that what comes around goes around

I'm not that easy
I am not your horse to water

(water)
I hold my breath I come around round round

It's not that easy
I am not your horse to water

(water)
I hold my breath I come around round round
It’s going down down down
This run around round round
Is bound to pound the daylights out of you

   This song is pretty easy to play. Just a few chords, but note how much Peter leans on the open B and e string below. I've over emphasized it as he keeps the F# intact, but just barely. There's definitely more doodling than what I've put below by Scott, but it's mostly here.

Verse (Guitar 1)

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

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

G|---3-----------------8--|

D|---4-----------------9--|

A|---4-----------------9--|

E|-0-2-----------x3----7--|

Verse (Guitar 2)

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

B|-2^-----2^----4^-----0--|

G|-----2^--------------8--|

D|---------------------9--|

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

E|---------------------7--|

Ending

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

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

G|-9---8---6---4---3---2---1--|

D|-9---9---7---5---4---3---2--|

A|-7---9---7---5---4---3---2--|

E|-0---7---5---3---2---1---0--|

Ending (Guitar 2)

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

B|---------5^--2^--------------|

G|-----------------6^--5^--4^--|

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

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

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

ACCELERATE: HOLLOW MAN

  'Hollow Man' is a very short song. Their second single off the album starts slow and then builds from 1st to 5th gear immediately. The idea that you make choices for yourself and then before you know it you're someone you never thought you'd be is rife with potential, but the song always goes by too quickly for me. It's good, but it's never really impacted me one way or another--I've seen some rumblings that many people consider it a great song on a resurgent album. That's totally cool. Like most of Michael's later lyrics, this song can take on many social meanings. Now I think this song is in conversation with a world getting away from binary standards--the character finding themselves behind as the social conventions pass them by. Cool video by Crush Inc below, the opinion on the song above comes from a tangential interview where the designers talk about discussing the meaning of the song with Michael. Love the complicated mess line.





HOLLOW MAN

I've been lost inside my head

Echoes fall off me

I took the prize last night for complicated mess

For saying things I didn't mean and don't believe

Believe in me, believe in nothing

Corner me and make me something

I've become the hollow man, have I become the hollow man I see?

I see this echoing

You had placed your trust in me

I went upside down

I emptied out the room in thirty seconds flat

I can't believe you held your ground

Believe in me, believe in nothing

Corner me and make me something

I've become the hollow man, have I become the hollow man I see?

I'm overwhelmed, I'm on repeat

I'm emptied out, I'm incomplete

You trusted me, I want to show you

I don't want to be the hollow man

Believe in me, believe in nothing

Corner me and make me something

I've become the hollow man, have I become the hollow man I see?

I see

   Not a lot to this song, part of it is piano only and the rest mostly chords and picking. There's a very Peter Buck bridge in there that feels 'Wolves, Lower'-ish which is very cool. Play along with the song to track the couple times he goes to the E chord out of rhythm.


HOLLOW MAN

Intro (Piano)

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

B|-7-5-9---7-5-9-7----|

G|----------------7-6-|

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

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

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

Verse (E-D-A)

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

B|-0---0--0--0--3---3-2-------|

G|-1-1--1--1--1-2-2----2-2-2--|

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

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

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

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

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

G|-1-1--1--1--1-2-2---1---|

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

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

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

Chorus

e|-0---0---4---2--|

B|-2---3---5---3--|

G|-2---2---6---4--|

D|-2---0---6---4--|

A|-0-------4---2--|

E|-0-------4---2--|

Bridge Guitar 1

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

B|---0--0--0-----0---7--7--7--7--|

G|----7--6--4-7-6--7--7--7--7----|

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

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

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

Bridge Guitar 2

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

B|-3-5-9-7-5------|

G|----------7-6-7-|

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

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

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

End on A

ACCELERATE: SUPERNATURAL SUPERSERIOUS

   The first single from ACCELERATE is a true change of pace type of offering, there are elements of all of the previous versions of R.E.M. and the song isn't a terrible introduction to the home stretch of the band's output. This was their last single to make the Hot 100 chart. The song is featured in a non-chorus form and called 'Disguised' on LIVE AT OLYMPIA, the band apparently found a chorus and a coda in the studio (and a re-titling by Chris Martin?)--although there's a recording of them figuring out the coda live in Dublin. The additions greatly improve the original version and give the song some importance. Michael has said this is an ode to Harry Houdini (and includes a quote in the liner notes), but specifically his posthumous seantic life which I can relate to specifically because I still recall having teenage seances and being freaked out. It's odd how this song specifically conjures the mood and feeling of my experiences, plus the opening lines paint a portrait of outsiders because, let's be honest, who's really interested in seances anyway--weirdos. The coda of the song nicely captures the feelings of discovery through naivete. I like the song overall, but the distorted guitar at the beginning is not my favorite opener--it matches the feel of the song when everything kicks in, but it is too garage band for my taste. I love the Mike backgrounds here, the 'Sweet Jane' style progression, and the homages the band pay to their past sounds--there are traces of MURMUR, DOCUMENT, MONSTER, and NAIHF banging around in here. No surprise, I like it!




SUPERNATURAL SUPERSERIOUS

Everybody here
Comes from somewhere
That they would just soon forget
And disguise

At the summer camp where you volunteered
No one saw your face, no one saw your fear
If that apparition had just appeared took you

Up and away from this base and sheer humiliation
Of your teenage station
Nobody cares
No one remembers and nobody cares

How you cried and you cried
He's alive he's alive
How you cried and you cried and you cried and you cried

If you call out ‘safe’ then I'll stop right away
If the premise buckles and the ropes start to chafe
Oh, the details smart but the story's the same
You don't have to explain, you don't have to explain humiliation
Of your teenage station

Yeah you cried and you cried
He's alive he's alive
Oh you cried and you cried and you cried and you
Realized your fantasies are dressed up in travesties
Enjoy yourself with no regrets, unh, unh

Everybody here
Comes from somewhere
That they would just as soon forget
And disguise

Yeah you cried and you cried
He's alive he's alive
Yeah you cried and you cried and you cried and you cried

(Oh you cried, and you cried)

(Oh you cried, and you cried)

Now there's nothing dark and there's nothing weird
Don't be afraid I will hold you near
From the seance where you first betrayed an open heart on a darkened stage
A celebration
Of your teenage station

This inexperience, sweet, delirious
Supernatural, superserious
Inexperience, sweet, delirious
Supernatural, superserious
Wow

   Some intricate layering going on here and some chord changes that are subtle enough to not even notice upon first attempt. I never knew the intro and verse were different before tackling, all he does is hang on the Em the second time through. The lining up of the vocals creates some cool moments when he goes to the G chord. There are some rhythm changes, so if something is going strangely try playing along to the song or the instrumental on YouTube to pick up. There's more picking than seems apparent and I didn't note in the verse below, but it's standard Buck-fill. There's also an end fill I didn't post here, but it's essentially picking on the A chord to emphasize the final notes.

SUPERNATURAL SUPERSERIOUS

Intro/ Middle Bridge

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

B|-3---2-0---2-3---2-0---2-3---2-0---2-3---2-0--3--|

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

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

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

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

Verse

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

B|-3---2-0---2-3---2-0---3---2-0---2-3---2-0--3--|

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

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

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

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

Chorus

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

B|-0---3-3-2---3-2-|-0---3---2---2-2-|-0---3-3-2--|

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

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

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

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

Chorus Riff

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

B|-11b-----------11b----|

G|----13b-11b-------9b--|

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

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

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

Middle 8

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

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

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

D|-3---2---3---2---3---3---2---|

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

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

Middle 8 Riff

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

B|-6---8---10---12---13---|

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

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

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

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

End Hang on D-A-Em, End on D

ACCELERATE: MAN-SIZED WREATH

   Another solid second track. If you were to put an album of second tracks together you'd have: Pilgrimage, 7 Chinese Bros, Maps and Legends, These Days, Welcome to the Occupation, Get Up, Losing My Religion, Try Not To Breathe, Crush with Eyeliner, Wake Up Bomb, Lotus, I've Been High, Electron Blue, Man-Sized Wreath, and All The Best ... not a shabby album. All of these songs are great bridges into the albums they represent and they embody those albums solidly. I love this track, and during the Olympia sessions it's the one Michael is on the fence about. Really great to hear Mike say it's too soon to tell, because this song is perfect and besides it's super short. What have they got to lose? Michael has said this is a response to George Bush's honoring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the vapidness of those in power who cannot hope to fully grasp the struggle of those they oppress, but will take any opportunity to look like they can. It's unclear if the Bush thing is an example of what the song is getting at as there were a couple of times W used MLK, but his visit to the Memorial Library was in 2008 after the song was written--there was a first-term ceremony when a portrait was hung in the White House, so a precedent anyway. The song is a really catchy, easy to sing anti-war ode to apathy and short-sightedness. This is a great example of the metaphorical Michael, the one who doesn't care how you interpret lyrics, but if you dig deeper ... also, a pretty dope video.



MAN-SIZED WREATH

Turn on the TV

And what do I see?

A pageantry of empty gestures all lined up for me

Wow!

I’d have thought by now we would be ready to proceed

But a tearful hymn to tug the heart and a man-sized wreath

Oww!

Throw it on the fire

Throw it in the air

Kick it out on the dancefloor like you just don’t care

Oh, give me some

Wave the palms, steal the alms, a fist in the air

A motorcade of benign strength shows the people that you care

Owww!

Nature abhors a vacuum, but what’s between your ears?

Your judgment clouded with fearful thoughts

Headlights and a deer

Oww!

Throw it on the fire

(Throw it on the fire)

Throw it in the air

(Throw it in the air)

Kick it out on the dancefloor like you just don’t care

(Kick it out on the dancefloor)

Look at what I found

(Look at what I found)

Everybody look around

(Everybody look around)

Everybody looking like they just don’t care

Oh, give me some

Well, I am not deceived by pomp and odious conceit

But a tearful hymn to tug the heart and a man-sized wreath

Oww!

Throw it on the fire

(Throw it on the fire)

Throw it in the air

(Throw it in the air)

You kick it out on the dancefloor like you just don’t care

(Kick it out on the dancefloor)

Look at what I found

(Look at what I found)

Everybody look around

(Everybody look around)

Everybody looking like they just don’t care

Throw it on the fire

(Throw it on the fire)

Throw it in the air

(Throw it in the air)

(Kick it out, Kick it out)

Kick it out on the dancefloor like you just don’t care

Oh, give me some

Give me some

Give me some

   Great stuff here. A little riff which becomes the Middle 8 as well, cool chord progression, and look at this weird Db again ('Worst Joke Ever'). When Peter finds something he likes, he brings it back again and again. There's some other feedback stuff and backing tracks in the choruses, but they're pretty far back ... to hear those, you should check out the work Jo Ph has posted on YouTube isolating tracks. Didn't post below because I am reticent to go down the overlay rabbit hole.

MAN-SIZED WREATH

Intro

e|-3-3-3-5h-3-------3-3-3-5h-3--------|

B|-3-3-------3-5h-3-3-3-------3-5h-3--|

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

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

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

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

Verse

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

B|-3---3---2---2---|

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

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

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

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

Verse (Guitar 2)

e|-3---3---9---9---|

B|-3---3---9---9---|

G|-4---4---8---8---|

D|-5---5-----------|

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

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

Chorus

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

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

G|-2---2---4---1---|-0-0-2---|

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

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

E|-0-------2---0---|-0-3-----|

ACCELERATE: LIVING WELL IS THE BEST REVENGE

   There's something about starting an album with those riffs, think FOTR or LRP, AFTP and GREEN, even ATS. There's a signal here right off the bat that R.E.M. is not playing around, the pace is fast, the lyrics are in your face, the harmonies are solid and a little angry. This is a great song. In the booklet for the album, Michael has given us all of the lyrics which are mostly accurate--listen, it's his artistic intention and those lyrics have a copyright, this is the blog where I try to dig a little deeper. There are so many things to love about this song it's silly, I particularly like how Michael is being a little more forthcoming with his inspirations by crediting 17th century metaphysical poet George Herbert for the phrase of the title, even though it might not have been his actual quote, but part of a collection he put together. Still, it's good to have some reference. I also feel the chorus has a nice callback to the end of 'These Days' with choking on the bones that once were scattered. There's a sense that during this period the US is swinging away from Bush and I think that's where the energy comes from--it might be callous to attribute to much politically, but there was a feeling of hope in the air, and the feeling that the administration would be judged harshly in the future. The Bush gang look like angels now, they were not.
   While I'm writing this blog, Michael has an art installation called 'Infinity Mirror' at the Journal Gallery in Brooklyn and since I live in the city I went to check it out. The collection is very cool and presented nicely, and there are more than just photographs as I had originally thought. Maybe the most striking piece is a multi-colored glass table/cabinet of curios, sort of like a see through group of kitchy 70's tables stacked on each other. The shelves contain memorabilia like collectible magazines, photos of Patti Smith and David Bowie, and a couple of Young Marble Giants 45's to name just a few things. Overall it's very striking and lovely, but as I was taking it in my wife came up to me and said: 'I think he's here.' And he was. I'm not one to be starstruck, but I'm not immune to the power Michael's art has had on me and my life. I also don't ever want to be THAT person who gets in the face of celebrity, he's really just a person who had some breaks and furthered his art, expanded his voice. It currently seems R.E.M. was his vehicle to get to this form of expression. So when the moment presented itself I tried to not awkwardly--it was awkward--walk up to him and congratulate him on the exhibit. He thanked me and told me he loved my shirt, which was sincere to the point that my wife later told me she thinks he would've liked to have had it. I thanked him for the compliment and then also thanked him for all of the art he has imbued my life with (not in those words, but you know, intention), he responded by saying 'well, there's more to come.' I thanked him again and left, while walking down the street I definitely had a little freak out--then I saw the gallery was near the corner of Berry Street--and I was just glad for the opportunity to say thank you in person. The whole time I couldn't get the following song out of my head for I had just been working on it over and over, it's good to live well, it really is.



LIVING WELL IS THE BEST REVENGE

It's only when your poison spins into the life you’d hoped to live
And suddenly you wake up in a shaking panic, now!
You had set me up like a lamb to slaughter

Garbo as the farmer’s daughter

Unbelievable

The gospel according to who?

I lay right down

All your sad and lost apostles hum my name and flare their nostrils

Choking on the bones you tossed to them

Now I’m not one to sit and spin ‘cause living well is the best revenge

Baby I am calling you on that

Don’t turn your talking points on me, history will set me free

The future is ours and you don’t even rate a footnote

Now!

So who’s chasing you, where did you go?

You disappear midsentence in a

Judgement crisis, I see my in and go for it

You weakened shell

All your sad and lost apostles hum my name and flare their nostrils

(All you sad and lost apostles, choking on the bones)

Choking on the bones you tossed to them

Now I’m not one to sit and spin ‘cause living well is the best revenge

(I’m not one to sit and spin, but)

Baby I am calling you on that

You, savor your dying breath

I forgive but I don’t forget

You work it out, let’s hear that argument again, camera 3, go, now!

All your sad and lost apostles hum my name and flare their nostrils

(All you sad and lost apostles, choking on the bones)

Choking on the bones you tossed to them

Now I’m not one to sit and spin ‘cause living well is the best revenge

(I’m not one to sit and spin, but)

Baby I am calling you on that

Baby I am calling you on that

Baby I am calling you on

(Baby I am calling you on that)

(Baby I am calling you)

   The riff on this one is not difficult, but it is intricate and does that rhythm change guitarists like to do when the drums kick in. In the first part of the intro below all he does is add an open B string before getting to the F# note on the high e, for the rest of the song he places the note on the second beat to keep in rhythm. The rest is pretty straightforward, I really like the interplay of the Bm with the end of the riff on the second guitar and the power of the D-A-E end of chorus. So basic, but pure. Also the distortion of the guitar works so well on these next two songs (definitely better than 'Supernatural...') than other places.

LIVING WELL IS THE BEST REVENGE

Intro/Riff (B power chord on 2^nd fret)

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

B|-------0-0-2-0p--0---|--------0-2-0p--0----|

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

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

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

E|-------------------x2|---------------------|

Verse

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

B|-0---0---2-0p-0--------2---0----|

G|-4---4---4-4--4--------2---1----|

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

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

E|-0---0---0-0--0---x3---0---0-x2-|

Verse (Guitar 2)

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

B|-0---0---2---3---|----------|

G|-4---4---4---4---|---6-7-9--|

D|-4---4---4---4---|-7-x-x-x--|

A|-2---0---0---0---|-x-4-5-7--|

E|-0---0---0---0---|-5--------|

Chorus

e|-2---5--0---2---5---2---5--0---2--0--0--|

B|-2---5--0---2---5---2---5--0---3--2--0--|

G|-3---6--1---3---6---3---6--1---2--2--1--|

D|-4---7--2---4---7---4---7--2---0--2--2--|

A|-4---7--2---4---7--­-4---7--2------0--2--|

E|-2---5--0---2---5---2---5--0------0--0--|

Chorus Bend (after 2^nd A Chord)

e|------|

B|-12b--|

G|-11b--|

D|------|

A|------|

E|------|