| R.E.M. – Texarkana Lyrics | 3 years ago |
| To me, this song is about regret and wasting time on this earth - of wanting to find life's meaning but never having looked, though beauty has been all around you. This song and "Find the River" make me feel the same; some see (River" as optimistic, but it's another sad one for me. Must be me projecting myself and my outlook onto the songs? It's a desperately sad song to me, but one of their most beautiful. Also, Mike M's thin, reedy voice has that hidden-behind quality that adds good effect to the song. | |
| R.E.M. – Leaving New York Lyrics | 3 years ago |
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What crossed my mind the 1st time I heard this song (and ever since) is that Mike S was in love with a girl & they either lived in or met in New York - then he needed to leave when he realized he couldn't sustain the relationship because he's gay...some of the lyrics seem too personal to be limited to just the city: "You might've succeeded in changing me - I might've been turned around" "Leaving was never my proud" (guilt about the way he ran away from her) "Now life is sweet and what it brings - I tried to take" & “The loneliness it wears me out - It lies in wait” (my gay male friends say their lifestyle isn’t conducive to ‘settling down’; they are lonely – and remember that there weren’t choices before gay marriage was legal, even if they wanted to settle down) - “Mercurial future forget the past” (maybe 1-night stands vs long term relationship, especially because Mike was a ‘celebrity’) “I might've lived my life in a dream - But I swear this is real” (his homosexuality is real; life with her was fun while it lasted, but didn’t pass the test of time) "You find it in your heart, it's pulling me apart" (to forgive him; he's still torn because he loves her, but he is gay) "I saw the light fading out" (maybe the interest in being with a woman? He might have thought it life-changing at first, but then...) (OR the city lights fading out in the distance behind him reinforced the finality and heartbreak of his leaving) “I told you if I love you, I love you forever” (He’ll always love her, even if it can’t be what it could have been) “You might've laughed if I told you – you might have hidden a frown” (the city wouldn’t "frown" at him - a person being confused or disappointed might, though) Those were my thoughts, anyway. I love reading other peoples’ interpretations on this site, though. Especially on so many of REM’s songs. It’s hard to hear the lyrics and not immediately think they’re from personal experience, but I know they’re ‘artistic creations’. Thanks for reading my cockamamie interp - at one deluded moment, Courtney Love crossed my mind - but then again, I don't think she could possess someone in this way - unless he was a junkie...no disrespect to Kurt... |
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