| R.E.M. – Finest Worksong Lyrics | 10 years ago |
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I think this song is political, in the partisan sense. About how so many people, poorer people are convinced to vote against their own interests. "Take your instinct by the reins You'd better best to rearrange What we want and what we need Has been confused, been confused" He's saying what you've been convinced is in your interest, is actually not. That Kind of sums it up, I think. |
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| R.E.M. – The One I Love Lyrics | 10 years ago |
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Many consider this is a love song. It's not really a love song at all. Perhaps the most misunderstood song ever. The clue is in the fact that there are so few words in it. That's kind of out of character for Michael Stipe. He's a guy who can string a whole bunch of words together, for example, "It's the end of the world as we know it (and I feel fine). So, if you want to understand this song with so few words, you have to read it in the context of the album "Document"There's no song on the album called "Document", he's telling you what the album is, it's a documentation, a moment in time, a snapshot. You can look at a lot of the song titles, and they kind of give you a sense of what the albums about: "Finest Worksong", "Exhuming McCarthy", "Welcome to the Occupation". He's describing America at the time this record (Document) was made. You have the collapse of the middle class, McCartheyism's return in the Rambo/Reagan eighties), military adventurism (occupation). Where's this all leading? The answer is given in "Document"'s other big hit: "It's the end of the world as we know it (and I feel fine). So you have to listen to "The One I Love" in that context. When a normally verbose guy like Michael Stipe writes a song with so few lyrics, as in "the one I love" you should assume every line, every word matters. So you listen to "the one I love" in this context, and what have you got? "This one goes out to the one I love, This one goes out to the one I left behind" Okay, so he's thinking about his girlfriend, and something that's going to happen, he's dedicating it to her. What's he gonna do? we don't know yet. And why did he have to leave her behind? Next Line: "A simple prop, to occupy my time. This one goes out to the one I love" So he's referring again to her, and the thing he's about to do, but he's kind of telling you it's bs. he's using the thought of her as a prop, a shield, because he doesn't want to deal emotionally with the thing he's about to do. And what does he do? It's one word, but he doesn't sing it softly, like the rest of the song, (because that's internal monologue) He yells it, because it's spoken aloud. He barks it, it's a command, one word: "FIRE!" The order is given, the nukes fly, and it's the end of the world as we know it. What will you think of when you know the end's coming? You'll think about the one you love. |
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