E-Bow The Letter

i think this song is about losing a friend to the lure of fame and the pressures of people who dont have their best interests at heart.

Look up, what do you see? All of you and all of me Fluorescent and starry Some of them, they surprise

^this is talking about how easily accessible the lives of the famous are and therefore how susceptible to pressure from others they are

The bus ride, I went to write this, 4:00 a.m, this letter Fields of poppies, little pearls All the boys and all the girls sweet-toothed Each and every one a little scary I said your name

^about how materialistic the world is with drugs and jewels and everyone in it is consumed by this idea and it is the only thing that can satisfy them, which leads to an intimidating and sometimes destructive motivation, yet throughout it all the narrator is thinking only of how his friend will be affected

I wore it like a badge of teenage film stars Hash bars, cherry mash and tinfoil tiaras Dreaming of Maria Callas, whoever she is This fame thing, I don't get it

^people are so proud to know famous people, but its all fake (tinfoil tiaras) and the people who think about the stars the most dont actually know anything about how they actually are, so it doesnt actually make sense

I wrap my hand in plastic to try to look through it Maybelline eyes and girl-as-boy moves I can take you far This star thing, I don't get it

^this expands the idea of a fakeness consuming a class of people. just because you put make up on doesnt mean you actually look that way and just because you put plastic on your hand doesnt mean that it is now transparent. none of it is real

I'll take you over there I'll take you over there

^this echoes the narrators desire to take his friend back to how it use to be, but it is also representing the temptation of an a-list life as emphasized in the way this line is said as if cult-like chanting

Aluminum, tastes like fear Adrenaline, it pulls us near

^the falsities and the drugs are all caused by the fear of rejection and the rush of feeling wanted drags you into the cycle

Will you live to 83? Will you ever welcome me? Will you show me something that nobody else has seen?

^this is the narrator trying to convince his friend to think in the long term and realize that actions have consequences (ex. drugs can lead to death). it then talks about the narrator's own fear of rejection because he has not succumbed to the pressure as others have

Smoke it, drink, here comes the flood Anything to thin the blood These corrosives do their magic slowly and sweet

^references to the influences, such as drugs and alcohol, that are taken in by the subject and how these things slowly wear away at the person that he once was, watering him down to a mere shadow of his former self

Phone, eat it, drink, just another chink Cuts and dents, they catch the light Aluminum, the weakest link

^more drug references and how people (and media) are most likely to notice the things that are going wrong. more about how drugs and being fake catch up with you in the end and are likely to cause tragic events and downfalls

I don't want to disappoint you I'm not here to anoint you, I would lick your feet But is that the sickest move?

^the narrator doesnt want to be rejected by his friend by opposing his actions and not thinking that the things the subject is doing make him cool or desirable. the narrator is mocking the people who do fall for the things the subject has done

I wear my own crown and sadness and sorrow And who'd have thought tomorrow could be so strange? My loss, and here we go again

^the narrator is reminding the subject that the world doesnt revolve around them and everyone has their own problems. in this specific case he is saying that he has to deal with fame too, and perhaps he is insinuating that he has handled it better, so there are other roads that one could take under those specific circumstances. it is weird for the narrator to see the person who his friend has become and realize that he has lost the person who he was originally friends with.

I can't look it in the eyes Seconal, spanish fly, absinthe, kerosene Cherry-flavored neck and collar

^its hard to accept the change which people go through when encountering this type of fame. more drug references, implying that the drugs are primarily responsible for the change.

I can smell the sorrow on your breath The sweat, the victory and sorrow, the smell of fear I got it

^the narrator is aware that his friend is unhappy although he has been doing what he thought would make him happy and gotten to the place that he has worked towards for so long. the narrator understands that the security and confidence which the subject was expecting did not come and the old fear was just continued.

"I wore it like a bad teenage film star Hash bars, cherry mash and tinfoil tiaras Dreaming of Maria Callas, whoever she is..." the verses in this song are just unrivaled in the whole of rem's music catalogue. They reach down somwhere further than anything else. that weird organ synth thing sonds like a heart vibrating...tis amazin

there's a few things wrong w/ this...

the bus <i>arrived</i>...yes, like a <i>badge</i>...i believe, tho i'm not sure, it is <i>foam</i>, eat it, drink...<i>in</i> saddness...

anyhow...peter buck wrote the music and when he played if for michael stipe he remembered this letter he wrote to river phoenix shortly before he died but never got to send...he pulled out the unsent letter and, although it was written in prose, it had such a powerful meter that it transfered right into the song...anyhow, about river phoenix's drug addiction and how easy it is to get caught up in ur success and not realize ur mistakes...

...i didn't really understand it, but i read a very scientifically presented account of wat the aluminum reference meant...it's sumthin like, when ur afraid ur body secretes metal-like substances and u get the taste of aluminum in ur mouth...very obscure reference indeed...the paranoia brought on by drugs brings about feelings of fear, and that taste of aluminum in ur mouth...also, the "tinfoil tiaras" r used for taking speed or cocaine

Michael's lyrics and singing on this are AMAZING! I think its possibly about friendship between celebrities - how they understand each other's situations in terms of being a celebrity. And by the way, Maria Callas is an opera singer who Patti Smith said she wanted to sing like. And that 'weird organ synth' is in fact and e-bow, hence the name of the song.

btw...the weird organ-synth thing is actually a guitar played w/ --get this-- an e-bow!!!

o...i didn't see that was already said...i'ts late i'm gonna shut up and go to bed now

Patti Smith + R.E.M.= brilliant.

freewebs.com/thejakesite

michael made a damn good song here. i never really knew what it was about, but im glad zibod here cleared it up. i figured it was about trying to correspond with celebs, but i didnt know it was about river phoenix and his drug problems.

I just love the ominous, somewhat creepy e-bowed guitar sounds in the background. It just makes this song!

This song was about a letter that Bill Berry wrote to River Phoenix when it was painfully obvious to those around him that he was in the process of crashing and burning. When Phoenix died Stipe asked Bill whether he could make a song of it and this is the result. The e-bow bit is the guitar attachment used to create the sound. Their best song - gives me goosebumps every time I hear it.