Losing My Religion

I used to love this song when I was a kid. This is pretty much what I think it means. I could be wrong and it could be about a person who lost faith in their god, but I think it’s a metaphor about man (or woman) who in an emotional fit accidently spoke their mind to their partner and is now confronted with the truth and losing the relationship they so desperately tried to preserve. If you haven't heard the song you should probably youtube it before you go through this. In the music video the first thing you notice is spilled milk. Once milk is spilled it can't be unspilled. Once words are said, they can't be unsaid.

Oh, life is bigger

It's bigger than you

And you are not me.

The lengths that I will go to

In life, life itself is the most important thing. No one aspect of life is worth ruining the whole life, not even her. Just like no limb is worth losing the body. She is not him, if she was like him there would be no conflict, but she and him have different values, and value each other differently, he feels he loves her more. He is willing to do anything it takes for the relationship but she will to go the same lengths as he will.

The distance in your eyes

When she looks at him he doesn’t feel love warmth and caring, her eyes looks cold indifferent, there’s no emotional connection between the two of them, when he looks in her eyes she’s feels distant, not there with him.

Oh no I've said too much

I set it up

He’s scared now, he’s said too much to her. He’s so scared of losing her so he’s never said how he feels because it may trigger an argument where they’ll break up, so for the hole relationship he’s been biting he’s tongue, but now he forgot himself for a moment (“Oh no”) and told her how he feels; now he may have set up the break argument he’s dreaded.

That's me in the corner

This relationship makes him feel like he’s punished and constantly lonely. Because he’s choosing to stay in it, it’s a self-imposed punishment.

That's me in the spotlight

Because of his slip of the tongue he’s now in a position where he must act, he can’t hide anymore from the truth now that it’s come out, his slip of the tongue has exposed his feelings and now there’s no turning back, he must do something, he’s in the spotlight.

Losing my religion

He’s losing that for which he’s placed all of his hopes and dreams in. He’s losing his “FAITH” in them working out. He’s confronting the real her as opposed to the illusion of the happy her and him life together. He’s losing the biggest thing in his life. The biggest part of his image of himself was the idea of her and him. For most people that amount of faith is exclusively religious or love. It’s a metaphor.

Trying to keep up with you

And I don't know if I can do it

He’s talking to her again, he’s telling her how hard he’s trying to make the relationship work, by following her lead, doing whatever she needs and appeasing her while sacrificing his needs, and he’s not sure if it’s something he can keep up indefinitely, it’s hurting him too much. He may be wrong, he may not be able to do it.

Oh no I've said too much

I haven't said enough

He’s still dreadfully scared of losing her and fears he said too much, however what’s said can’t be unsaid, and once you’ve accepted the truth you can’t hold the lie, so he’s beginning to want to confront the reality of her. He’s becoming emotional and angry to an extent. He’s held in so much pain and suffering for so long scared that she will leave him and now that’s it’s coming out, he wants it all to come out, he’s no longer scared of her leaving he feels empowered to speak after years of being muzzled he want's to speak, “he hasn’t said enough”.

I thought that I heard you laughing

I thought that I heard you sing

I think I thought I saw you try

He’s telling her that he thought that he was making her happy; he thought he could make her happy, he thought they could be happy together, laughing and singing, but he was wrong. The last line reveals that now he’s aware that she was never trying. He says “he thinks he thought” as opposed to just “thought” like the previous two lines. Revealing that he’s now aware he was deluding himself into believing she was trying. He wanted to believe she was trying like he was trying, because if she was that meant she cared about him and the relationship, but as he honestly reflects he realizes she was never trying, he just wanted to believe she was.

Every whisper

Of every waking hour I'm

Choosing my confessions:

Trying to keep an eye on you

Like a hurt, lost and blinded fool

During the relationship out of fear of upsetting her and breaking up he wouldn’t speak, so he chose his words very carefully, as to not agitate her, whispering, choosing which things he could speak and which things he could not (confessions). Watching her making sure she’s not upset, or getting to mad, because he can’t lose her, she’s all he lives for. So he must cling to her like a hurt lost and blinded fool. Otherwise hid life is lost. he’s’ angry for allowing himself to be degraded so. He calls himself a fool.

Oh no I've said too much

I set it up

(See above)

Consider this

Consider this

The hint of the century

Consider this

The slip that brought me

To my knees failed

What if all these fantasies

Come flailing around

Now I've said too much

Now there’s nothing left to fear. What’s said can’t be unsaid and he has clearly said too much. All there is left to do is consider the consequences of his actions. Consider the “slip” of the tongue that brought him down to this position where he must submit (knees) to reality. He’s considering what if he’s “failed” and lost her. All of his fantasies about him and her are falling around him Now that’s he’s said to much. It’s no longer an “Oh, no I’ve said to much” as if it’s a question, it’s “Now, I’ve said to much” It’s over. The relationship is over.

I thought that I heard you laughing

I thought that I heard you sing

I think I thought I saw you try

(See above)

But that was just a dream

That was just a dream

He realizes that all the things he believed, he thought he could make her happy, he thought they could be happy together, he thought she cared and was trying to make the relationship work, but it was just a fantasy, a dream of something that wasn’t ever going to happen, it was it just a dream he was holding onto and now he’s awake. This is an interesting motif seeing as how the band is called R.E.M which scientifically means Rapid Eye Movement. R.E.M is a stage of sleep which only occurs while one is dreaming.

That's me in the corner

That's me in the spotlight

Losing my religion

Trying to keep up with you

And I don't know if I can do it

Oh no I've said too much

I haven't said enough

I thought that I heard you laughing

I thought that I heard you sing

I think I thought I saw you try

But that was just a dream

That was just a dream

(see above)