rikdad, you are completely right. I'd like to look at the last few lines:
Long, low time ago, people talk to me
A pistol hot cup of rhyme,
The whiskey is water, the water is wine
R.E.M. is a band from Georgia, so it is quite likely that they grew up hearing stories about the civil war. People talk to them about things that happened a "long, low time ago", yet for the people telling the stories the events still feel as real and recent as a pistol still smoking from firing, or a hot cup. Soldiers substituted whiskey for water, but "the water is wine" because at the last supper Jesus turned the water into wine (I think? Either way, I think it refers to the last supper). The soldiers remember drinking every night thinking it was their "last supper".
Some other lines:
Hey captain don't you want to buy
Some bone chains and toothpicks?
The bone chains and toothpicks sounds weird, but I think it's saying that that's all that was left - death, the chains of slavery, and worthless things like toothpicks. R.E.M mocks the captain who has fought a war to be left with just this.
Wooden beams and dovetail sweep
Dovetails are the corners of buildings. This line is talking about Reconstruction following the Civil War, and about the South trying to pull itself back together.
Honestly, I have no idea what most of the specific lines are about. What the heck is the stuff about noisy cats? Why "swan swan hummingbird?" Overall though, it's about the Civil War and Reconstruction
I read that the song was written on the tour bus at 3 o'clock in the morning on the "Reconstruction" tour. Buck came up with what he called "fake Irish music", and Stipe quickly (20 mins) fitted words to it that he lifted from an old (1920s) book he had on post-Civil War slave hymns.
I read that the song was written on the tour bus at 3 o'clock in the morning on the "Reconstruction" tour. Buck came up with what he called "fake Irish music", and Stipe quickly (20 mins) fitted words to it that he lifted from an old (1920s) book he had on post-Civil War slave hymns.
It was the last in a series of "Southern folk" songs they wrote in 1984-5 (e.g. Wendell Gee, Good Advices, Green Grow the Rushes, Maps and Legends) because Stipe was going through a nostalgic phase in his lyric writing.
It was the last in a series of "Southern folk" songs they wrote in 1984-5 (e.g. Wendell Gee, Good Advices, Green Grow the Rushes, Maps and Legends) because Stipe was going through a nostalgic phase in his lyric writing.
Turning water into wine was actually the first miracle Jesus ever performed at a wedding in Cana. So that line probably doesn't have anything to do with soldiers thinking every night was their last. I would guess it probably has more to do with the reconstruction theme.
Turning water into wine was actually the first miracle Jesus ever performed at a wedding in Cana. So that line probably doesn't have anything to do with soldiers thinking every night was their last. I would guess it probably has more to do with the reconstruction theme.
"bone chains and toothpicks, night wings, or hair chains" may refer to memento mori or the common practice in the 17th-19th centuries of creating mementos (in the form of jewelry) of the dead from their bodies -- most commonly hair.
"bone chains and toothpicks, night wings, or hair chains" may refer to memento mori or the common practice in the 17th-19th centuries of creating mementos (in the form of jewelry) of the dead from their bodies -- most commonly hair.
rikdad, you are completely right. I'd like to look at the last few lines:
Long, low time ago, people talk to me A pistol hot cup of rhyme, The whiskey is water, the water is wine
R.E.M. is a band from Georgia, so it is quite likely that they grew up hearing stories about the civil war. People talk to them about things that happened a "long, low time ago", yet for the people telling the stories the events still feel as real and recent as a pistol still smoking from firing, or a hot cup. Soldiers substituted whiskey for water, but "the water is wine" because at the last supper Jesus turned the water into wine (I think? Either way, I think it refers to the last supper). The soldiers remember drinking every night thinking it was their "last supper".
Some other lines:
Hey captain don't you want to buy Some bone chains and toothpicks?
The bone chains and toothpicks sounds weird, but I think it's saying that that's all that was left - death, the chains of slavery, and worthless things like toothpicks. R.E.M mocks the captain who has fought a war to be left with just this.
Wooden beams and dovetail sweep
Dovetails are the corners of buildings. This line is talking about Reconstruction following the Civil War, and about the South trying to pull itself back together.
Honestly, I have no idea what most of the specific lines are about. What the heck is the stuff about noisy cats? Why "swan swan hummingbird?" Overall though, it's about the Civil War and Reconstruction
I read that the song was written on the tour bus at 3 o'clock in the morning on the "Reconstruction" tour. Buck came up with what he called "fake Irish music", and Stipe quickly (20 mins) fitted words to it that he lifted from an old (1920s) book he had on post-Civil War slave hymns.
I read that the song was written on the tour bus at 3 o'clock in the morning on the "Reconstruction" tour. Buck came up with what he called "fake Irish music", and Stipe quickly (20 mins) fitted words to it that he lifted from an old (1920s) book he had on post-Civil War slave hymns.
It was the last in a series of "Southern folk" songs they wrote in 1984-5 (e.g. Wendell Gee, Good Advices, Green Grow the Rushes, Maps and Legends) because Stipe was going through a nostalgic phase in his lyric writing.
It was the last in a series of "Southern folk" songs they wrote in 1984-5 (e.g. Wendell Gee, Good Advices, Green Grow the Rushes, Maps and Legends) because Stipe was going through a nostalgic phase in his lyric writing.
I'm pretty sure the lines about "noisy cats" are just filler.
I'm pretty sure the lines about "noisy cats" are just filler.
Turning water into wine was actually the first miracle Jesus ever performed at a wedding in Cana. So that line probably doesn't have anything to do with soldiers thinking every night was their last. I would guess it probably has more to do with the reconstruction theme.
Turning water into wine was actually the first miracle Jesus ever performed at a wedding in Cana. So that line probably doesn't have anything to do with soldiers thinking every night was their last. I would guess it probably has more to do with the reconstruction theme.
"bone chains and toothpicks, night wings, or hair chains" may refer to memento mori or the common practice in the 17th-19th centuries of creating mementos (in the form of jewelry) of the dead from their bodies -- most commonly hair.
"bone chains and toothpicks, night wings, or hair chains" may refer to memento mori or the common practice in the 17th-19th centuries of creating mementos (in the form of jewelry) of the dead from their bodies -- most commonly hair.