Twenty-thousand years will I burn
Twenty-thousand chances I've wasted
Waiting for the moment to turn
I would give it all
Catch me if I fall
Looking for something to learn
Thirty-thousand thoughts have been wasted
Never in my time to return
I would give it all
Catch me if I fall
Waiting to find
Look at them fall from the sky
Forty-thousand reasons for living
Forty-thousand tears in your eyes
I would give it all
Catch me if I fall
Catch me if I fall
Catch me if I fall, catch me if I fall
Catch me if I fall, catch me if I fall
Catch me if I fall, catch me if I fall
Catch me if I fall
Such a good roadsong! To me it suggests the loneliness of a person on their first great roadtrip alone. Family, lover, home are all half a world away and the speaker has to confront himself as self-alone-in-the-world for the first time, which is often both a wrenchingly painful and joyously exuberant feeling.
This song is so good, it's almost just a perfect tune and idea.
Texarkana is a city that belongs to two states, as it sits directly on the border of Texas and Arkansas.
I see the narrator describing a journey passing quickly through the decades of his 20s, 30s and 40s. At the same time that he is taking this journey in time, he is also able to stand outside of himself and watch his journey as if he were watching three different men at these different times in his life. He sees how the different stages of his life and their challenges intersect, as his observation intersects time and timelessness.
I'm sure there's much more to it, when you get into looking at the lyrics, but that's a first impression.
I moved from Austin, Texas to Texarkana, Texas and I can tell you, this is the worst town on earth. A papermill makes the place reek of death.
The best song on Out of Time and one of my all time favorite REM songs. I'm still not sure why they titled it Texarkana, but the cryptic title adds to my love.
Many years ago, a good friend of mine lived there, but he moved before I had the chance to visit and smell the town's putrid air.
Another great Mills-lead-vocal song.
The lyrics in the demo of the song are nothing like the released version. In the chorus of the demo, Michael Stipe sings "When I live in Texarkana, where's that county line" instead of "I would give my life to find it, I would give it all." So, the title carried over even if the lyrics didn't.
re: the demo version. I'm surprised no one has related the story behind this song. As always, the band wrote the music without lyrics, then Stipe wrote words to fit. He got as far as the chorus mentioned earlier, and some at the end, before he gave up: (he slurs what I transcribe as "I'm there" - it could be something else)
re: the demo version. I'm surprised no one has related the story behind this song. As always, the band wrote the music without lyrics, then Stipe wrote words to fit. He got as far as the chorus mentioned earlier, and some at the end, before he gave up: (he slurs what I transcribe as "I'm there" - it could be something else)
====== When I’m there in Texarkana Where’s that county line, another county line.
====== When I’m there in Texarkana Where’s that county line, another county line.
I can only see, what’s in front of me. You’re not here
I can only see, what’s in front of me. You’re not here
You are just a memory You’re in my memory And...
You are just a memory You’re in my memory And I can’t see
>10 minutes, 10 hours, 10 days, 10 years 10 miles, 10 thousand miles away.
Stipe quit the song at that point. Bass player/keyboardist Mike Mills thought the song deserved to be finished, and insprired, he quickly dashed out the lyrics that he would sing on the album version. About the only bits from Stipe that were retained were the song title (they couldn't come up with a decent new song title so they just kept the old one); and the final line - ten thousand miles - got changed to twenty thousand and made the first line and the major theme of the new lyrics.
additional: Mills was quoted as saying "...Texarkana is an unhappy song as well. They're pop songs, but they aren't pop lyrics. They're just not lyrics about the state of the world - they're more lyrics about the state of our minds or our lives."
A Canticle for Liebowitz (sp?) is the novel being referred to (a classic of Science Fiction).
Society is rebuilt after a devastating nuclear war by using the relics of Saint Liebowitz (an engineer from the 20th century) since all books are burned and all intellectuals killed after the "flame deluge" (nuclear war). In the end two new superpowers destroy each other, the North American superpower has its capitol in Texarkana.
Twenty thousand are the years of savagery. He would give his life to find the technology to rebuild society. The forty thousand tears in your eyes is the sadness that after all was rebuilt even greater than before the first war, the second war wipes in all away.
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.
Another great Mills-lead-vocal song.