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Why Not Smile? Lyrics
The concrete broke your fall
To hear you speak of it
I'd have done anything, I would do anything
I feel like a cartoon brick wall
To hear you speak of it
You've been so sad, it makes me worry
Why not smile?
You've been sad for a while, why not smile?
I would do anything to hear you speak of it
Why not smile?
You've been sad for a while
You've been sad for a while
To hear you speak of it
I'd have done anything, I would do anything
I feel like a cartoon brick wall
To hear you speak of it
You've been so sad, it makes me worry
Why not smile?
You've been sad for a while, why not smile?
I would do anything to hear you speak of it
Why not smile?
You've been sad for a while
You've been sad for a while
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this song gives me shivers everytime i hear it. i wish so much that someone (and i have someone very specific in mind here) knew enough to say any of these things to me at the time when i most needed to hear them said.
Beautiful song.
this is a great little song, and pretty straightforward in its message for R.E.M. I love it, it's gorgeous
about seeing someone in a depression, hitting rock bottom (the concrete broke your fall)
Something which breaks your fall is somthing which makes it softer. If the thing which breaks your fall is concrete, imagine how much harder you fall would have been without it?
Simply a genius lyric.
Feels very much like a sequel to "Let Me In," Stipe's reflection in the wake of Kurt Cobain's death (and arguably the most brilliant song on "Monster").
This month, we lost another very good person, David Foster Wallace, to suicide, and it truly sucks. I wish this song could have been there for him.
The concrete broke your fall
such an amazing line oh my gosh, I just love how he sings this song. its just so beautiful and has so much meaning. By the way he sings it he just sounds so innocent and honest i just love it its one of my favouites by r.e.m
x
To paraphrase Michael Stipe: The protagonist of this song is well-meaning but overly naive in their attitude towards a friend who's suffering from a serious issue such as mental illness/depression/drug addiction.
The lyrics are like the equivalent of a person saying "turn that frown upside down" to somebody in the midst of a serious crisis and expecting such a trite platitude to "fix" the person's problem.
The brilliance of this song is that the protagonist's (ultimately) empty message hides behind a sweet melody and a veneer of kindness and concern.
This song is about a friend's or relative or parent's suicide.
"The concrete broke [his] fall".
Mike did not cope with this person's depression: Mike "[had] done anything", "would do anything", actually "would have done anything" in order "to hear [him] speak a verse".
He had been "sad for a while". So, Mike is inviting him to cheer up, to approach life another way. That's why he's saying "Why not smile?!" (instead of getting prey to depression and committing suicide, eventually).
Great song. Yet so sad.
I don't think 4 min does this song justice. The mood created by REM ...the opening shock, the emptiness, deep sadness, emergence and ultimately hope...I wish the instrumental part of the song was longer. Buck's guitars create the beauty, then the tension and Mills' piano determinedly lifts it up. Great songwriting.