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(Don't Go Back To) Rockville Lyrics
Looking at your watch a third time
Waiting in the station for a bus
Going to a place that's far, so far away
And if that's not enough
Going where nobody says hello
They don't talk to anybody they don't know
You'll wind up in some factory
That's full time filth and nowhere left to go
Walk home to an empty house, sit around all by yourself
I know it might sound strange, but I believe
You'll be coming back before too long
Don't go back to Rockville and waste another year
At night I drink myself to sleep and pretend
I don't care if you're not here with me
'Cause it's so much easier to handle
All my problems if I'm too far out to sea
But something better happen soon
Or it's gonna be too late to bring you back
It's not as though I really need you
If you were here I'd only bleed you
But everybody else in town only wants to bring you down
And that's not how it ought to be
I know it might sound strange, but I believe
You'll be coming back before too long
Waiting in the station for a bus
Going to a place that's far, so far away
And if that's not enough
Going where nobody says hello
They don't talk to anybody they don't know
You'll wind up in some factory
That's full time filth and nowhere left to go
Walk home to an empty house, sit around all by yourself
I know it might sound strange, but I believe
You'll be coming back before too long
I don't care if you're not here with me
'Cause it's so much easier to handle
All my problems if I'm too far out to sea
But something better happen soon
Or it's gonna be too late to bring you back
If you were here I'd only bleed you
But everybody else in town only wants to bring you down
And that's not how it ought to be
I know it might sound strange, but I believe
You'll be coming back before too long
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Mike Mills wrote it, it IS about a girl who Mike had a crush on and i believe dated a few times ( Her name was Ingrid Schorr). Anyway she was moving out of Athens to Rockville, this was Mike's plea to her to stay
Peter Buck produced an Uncle Tupelo album, "March 16—20, 1992", wich was released on Rockville Records. I always thought it would have been nice if the song were a reference to that. It isn't, of course, it was written years earlier. But it is one of my favourite R.E.M. songs, especially with Mills on vocals.
this song means everything to me. It says that it's easy to go home because that's where everything is easy. Your old friends, your old lover. Take the job your dad had, and never open up yourself up to the possibility of what else is out there. I wish I had listened to Michael's advice a little more.
Surely it's saying it's lonelier & tougher going back, not easier? *'what else is out there' - Could be great, or could just be serial killers out there; it's the grass always greener illusion, but wherever you go you take yourself with you, so best to work out how to enjoy wherever it is you are rather than imagine it's bound to better elsewhere.. Altho' I have yet to take that advice myself..
Surely it's saying it's lonelier & tougher going back, not easier? *'what else is out there' - Could be great, or could just be serial killers out there; it's the grass always greener illusion, but wherever you go you take yourself with you, so best to work out how to enjoy wherever it is you are rather than imagine it's bound to better elsewhere.. Altho' I have yet to take that advice myself..
Rockville is a Mills song; he wrote it and he sings it. Therefore, any Stipe reference, is moot.
It's about Mills' then girlfriend who was tired of his broke ass ways: "yeah yeah just you wait - me and my band are gonna be rich and famous" "Whatever don't call me"
It's about Mills' then girlfriend who was tired of his broke ass ways: "yeah yeah just you wait - me and my band are gonna be rich and famous" "Whatever don't call me"
@Willyhyena According to Ingrid, she went back to Rockville because she was partying too much and drank her way to a crappy GPA!
@Willyhyena According to Ingrid, she went back to Rockville because she was partying too much and drank her way to a crappy GPA!
nice song! REM is kickin like spanish chicken
ever since i went to college, i've replaced "don't go back to rockville" w/ "don't go back to butler"...in honor of the shithole i once called home
this song is about not going back to the old things that you used to know just because they are conforting. instead look forward because life is always changing and you have to change with it.
This song is about a girl who was at their college, she was really hot, and rich, and lived in a city called Rockville, which was an great place to live. Nobody ever wanted her to go back. That's what I read anyway.
The way I heard it, it was about Jefferson Holt leaving and going back to Rockville, MD and the song was kind of a silly goodbye song for him.
You're right about it being Rockville, Maryland (suburb of D.C.) but it was addressed to Mike Mills' girlfriend at the time, Ingrid Schorr.
You're right about it being Rockville, Maryland (suburb of D.C.) but it was addressed to Mike Mills' girlfriend at the time, Ingrid Schorr.
this song got me to like Americana because I used to think any country-ish sounding song was ment for yahoos and country bumpkins!