| R.E.M. – The Wake-up Bomb Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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I don't know if this is the meaning that Stipe intended - I have never read any claims that Michael Stipe has or had bipolar and I don't think he has any mental illness - but personally I find this song to be such a perfect description of bipolar, which I have. During a manic episode your thoughts race ("heads on fire"), you become overconfident, egotistical ("self esteem") and believe you are a highly attractive person ("I look good etc.") and you feel like you don't need to sleep ("no sleep"). You also believe you can achieve anything, no matter how unrealistic ("I had to write the great American novel", "I had to teach the world to sing by the age of 21"). You also jump from one thing to the next, seeking novelty ("I'd rather be anywhere doing anything"). After the high comes the crash into depression, the realization that you are not as superhuman as you thought you were and the consequences of your irresponsible behaviour ("I threw up when I saw what I'd done"), ("I've had enough, I've seen enough, I've had it all, I'm giving up", "What a joke, I'm dumb"). Perhaps I am just projecting my own meaning into a song that but it seems too perfect to be a coincidence. Of course the song isn't JUST about mania - there are also cultural references to the 70s and 80s and I am not sure what they mean except that Stipe grew from an adolescent to an adult during these decades - but it is a pretty damn good description. |
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