Based on the fact that R.E.M. is 100% anti-Bush, and that Around the Sun was released a month before the elections, I belive that it is a song about the effects of the pointless war president Bush lead us to. Phrases like "Lost in the moment
The day that the music stopped" and "A man walks away when every muscle says to stay" make reference to the paranoia and insecurity after 9/11 (just as tg73 wrote) and the reluctance of a few American soldiers to go to a foeign country to kill innocent peope.
Based on the fact that R.E.M. is 100% anti-Bush, and that Around the Sun was released a month before the elections, I belive that it is a song about the effects of the pointless war president Bush lead us to. Phrases like "Lost in the moment The day that the music stopped" and "A man walks away when every muscle says to stay" make reference to the paranoia and insecurity after 9/11 (just as tg73 wrote) and the reluctance of a few American soldiers to go to a foeign country to kill innocent peope.