Genius Meanings
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R.E.M. – The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite
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“The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite” explains that the singer lives on a floor with a payphone at the end of a hall. it’s broken to the extent you cannot call out so someone has to keep
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R.E.M. – Wake Her Up (Demo)
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[Chorus] / Call me when you try to wake her / Call me when you try to wake her up / Call me when you try to wake her / [Verse 1] / This here is the place where I will be staying
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R.E.M. – Peter's New Song (Demo)
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[Instrumental]
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R.E.M. – Afterthought (Demo)
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[Instrumental]
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R.E.M. – Bazouki Song (Demo)
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[Verse 1] / Monty this seems strange to me / I know my head, I know my feet / But mischief knocked me in the knees / Said, just let go, just let go / I saw the ocean meet the man
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The Tokens – The Lion Sleeps Tonight
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“The Lion Sleeps Tonight”, also known as “Wimoweh” or “Awimbawe”, is a a number one hit in the United States adapted in English by the the doo-wop group The Tokens from the song
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R.E.M. – Everybody Hurts
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“Everybody Hurts” seems kind of saccharine and overly heartfelt because it was meant to be. In an interview, Michael Stipe mentioned that the song was meant to be a genuine message
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R.E.M. – Organ Song
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[Instrumental]
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R.E.M. – Hallelujah
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[Verse 1] / The world is an oyster, the bitter refrain / The Lord is my shepherd, I cannot stay / This blessed earth, this beautiful lamb / A new day that breaks the dawn / [Verse
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R.E.M. – Mike's Pop Song (Demo)
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[Verse 1] / You call me on the phone / You say you're not alone / And will I take you away / Away from all the noise / From other nasty boys / Who want to kiss you / Afraid, afraid
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R.E.M. – Michael's Organ (Demo)
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When the day is long and the night / The night is yours alone / When you're sure you've had enough / Of this life, well hang on / Don't let yourself go / If you're alone / Cause
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R.E.M. – Eastern 983111 (Demo)
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[Verse] / [Non-lyrical vocalizing] / [Chorus] / Eastern nine-eight-three-one-eleven / Is the number of your plane / I'll wait for you, in you I'll build a monument / In your name
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R.E.M. – Ignoreland
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This song is pretty explicitly about the band’s anger at the administrations of Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush. Multiple references are made to Republican politics (“trickle
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R.E.M. – Nightswimming
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This song is a nostalgic look back by Stipe to a childhood spent on the secluded shores of lakes and ponds. For many American teens, these secluded shores serve as one of the few
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R.E.M. – A Month of Saturdays
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[Verse 1] / Five o'clock Friday / All my work is done / I can hardly wait / Let's take the server / Let's sling it around / Let's make it taste so sweet / I want to take all the
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R.E.M. – Photograph (Demo)
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R.E.M.’s “Photograph (Demo)” is an unfinished outtake from the recording session which resulted in Automatic for the People. The song was ultimately revised and released as a
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R.E.M. – 6-8 Passion & Voc (Demo)
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1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3... / I will try not to breathe / I can hold my head still with my hands at my knees / These eyes are the eyes of the old, shivering and told / I will try not to
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R.E.M. – New Orleans Instrumental No. 1
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This song was recorded in a single session one night in New Orleans (as you would expect.) The version on the album is slightly edited, and longer versions do exist. And, yes
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R.E.M. – Try Not to Breathe
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“Try Not To Breathe” tells the story about a man who subjects himself to a Mercy Kill rather than endure more suffering.
The depressing subject gets even more sad when you
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R.E.M. – Star Me Kitten
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The title of this song is a pun. The chorus is “fuck me kitten,” but since R.E.M. didn’t want to use “fuck” in the track name, they replaced it with “star,” as in an asterisk. For
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R.E.M. – Drive
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R.E.M.’s classic Automatic For the People opens with one of their finest songs. Like most R.E.M songs, the lyrics are cryptic. Mike Mills said that Drive is “telling kids to take
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R.E.M. – Sweetness Follows
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[Verse 1] / Readying to bury your father and your mother / What did you think when you lost another? / I used to wonder why did you bother / Distanced from one, blind to the other
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R.E.M. – Find the River
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This song, generally speaking, is about nearness to death, represented here metaphorically as a river flowing towards the ocean. Death, like the flow of a river, is inevitable
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R.E.M. – Orange Crush
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The lead single of R.E.M.’s Green is politically-charged. The lead singer, Michael Stipe, explained that the song is about a young man from America who played football, leaving to
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R.E.M. – Monty Got a Raw Deal
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“Monty Got A Raw Deal” is the seventh song on R.E.M.’s eighth studio album, Automatic for the People. Like a majority of the music on the album, “Monty” is a somber, mostly
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R.E.M. – Losing My Religion
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“Losing My Religion” was released as a single in February 1991, in advance of R.E.M.’s album, Out of Time, where it appeared as the second track.
It became R.E.M’s biggest hit
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R.E.M. – (Don’t Go Back to) Rockville
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This song was written in 1980 by Mike Mills to convince his then-girlfriend Ingrid Schorr, a student at UGA, not to return to her hometown of Rockville, Maryland for the summer
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R.E.M. – The Lifting (Demo)
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Grounded, 5 a.m / The night light is comforting / But gravity is holding you / Once settled into sleep / You have watched / On repeat the story of your life / Across the ceiling
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R.E.M. – It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)
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“It’s the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)”, stylized as ITEOTWAWKI(AIFF), features stream-of-consciousness lyrics that border on a rant, encompassing a wide
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R.E.M. – Devil Rides Backwards (Demo)
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R.E.M.’s “Devil Rides Backwards (Demo)” is an unfinished outtake from the 1991-1992 Automatic for the People recording sessions. Though unheard until 2017, the song (thought to be
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