Man On The Moon

This is an interesting song in many ways. Most people think this song is about Andy Kaufman, but it really is not. It is a very superficial touch on Andy in some ways, but in other ways it touches on the themes that interested Andy. The items mentioned early in the song,"Monopoly, Twenty-one, Checkers, and Chess (Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah)" give you a clue that the song is about games, ideas and collections of the past. These collections are like artifacts for our modern minds. But what are games? They are usually systems of rules that reward a winner with victory. The rules needs to be followed to be played properly. Now what if you have a fake game? Well then there are still rules but you as viewer or player feel unsettled. This is what television wrestling is about. Wrestlers have rules and "wrestle" and yet we all know that it is scripted. Thus it is a fake game with rules and a "victor". Now how does Andy play into this? Andy's comedy was always about transgressing rules. He tried to bend comedy and show us how the rules of performance can be plastic. Often Andy would break character or stay silent. Thus subverting expectations or informal rules. The space between belief and "fact" is what Michael Stipe and R.E.M want to explore in this song. That is why Elvis is mentioned here. It was for a long time believed that Elvis was alive and hiding. Was his death a "fact" or was it belief? This doubt leads us to question what we consider to be true. Obviously the moon landing faking is the hook of the song and adds to this theme of conspiracy, doubt and uncertainty. The uncertainty further is stretched to Michael Stipe himself. He has admitted in the past to being with men & women. His uncertain sexuality uses the moon as a metaphor for his unexpressed homosexual desires that seem to be creeping into his mind. The rocket is a simple phallic symbol. Landing on the "moon" could be him talking about his time on tour, picking up country lads in small towns and cities. To "moon" someone is to show your backside and Michael may be connecting his guilt, shame and overall life of picking up strangers as a question to himself if it really happened or are those memories fake. This interaction of Michael Stipe's homosexual man on man sex and his desire to question himself could be the true meaning of this simple song. No one can really know because the rules of songs are not set in stone.