Actually, I never thought of the lyrics in "literal" terms because so much of R.E.M. lyrics are metaphorically driven. I have always felt this was a song about a young person realizing he/she is gay. Michael Stipes uses so much of his personal life in creative ways with their songs, why not this topic? Perhaps because I am gay I can hear the loneliness in Stipes' voice as he sings almost lamentingly, thinking back about his own childhood. In addition to the lyrics, just the sound of his voice hearkens back to my teen years when I began to realize I was not like, nor would I ever be like, the majority of my friends.
The descriptions of the kids playing in the first verse, to me, simply represent that the other kids are doing "normal" things because they are, by society's standards, "normal". The person singing is obviously "not normal" in some way. The description in the second verse about never having been outside... again, I don't read that in a literal sense but in a figurative one... I've never been outside and I never will, to me, is more of describing the most absolute normal activity of a human being... to go outside... but in this case, meaning being "normal" like the other kids... and knowing that I am gay I will never experience what they are experience. In that sense, I will never go outside of what I know is my world.
The other kids are "looking at me" and laughing (presumably at him) as they are running over there. They seem to be making fun of him but as he says, although (by society's standards) he is not supposed to "be like this... it's ok".
As I mentoined, I am gay myself. While society is more and more accepting of homosexuality, at the time this song was written, it was still not accepted at all. It was not considered "normal".
Just my two cents. One of the things I love about their songs is that there can be so many interpretations and meanings to anyone who takes the time to really listen beyond the music and into the lyrics.
Actually, I never thought of the lyrics in "literal" terms because so much of R.E.M. lyrics are metaphorically driven. I have always felt this was a song about a young person realizing he/she is gay. Michael Stipes uses so much of his personal life in creative ways with their songs, why not this topic? Perhaps because I am gay I can hear the loneliness in Stipes' voice as he sings almost lamentingly, thinking back about his own childhood. In addition to the lyrics, just the sound of his voice hearkens back to my teen years when I began to realize I was not like, nor would I ever be like, the majority of my friends.
The descriptions of the kids playing in the first verse, to me, simply represent that the other kids are doing "normal" things because they are, by society's standards, "normal". The person singing is obviously "not normal" in some way. The description in the second verse about never having been outside... again, I don't read that in a literal sense but in a figurative one... I've never been outside and I never will, to me, is more of describing the most absolute normal activity of a human being... to go outside... but in this case, meaning being "normal" like the other kids... and knowing that I am gay I will never experience what they are experience. In that sense, I will never go outside of what I know is my world.
The other kids are "looking at me" and laughing (presumably at him) as they are running over there. They seem to be making fun of him but as he says, although (by society's standards) he is not supposed to "be like this... it's ok".
As I mentoined, I am gay myself. While society is more and more accepting of homosexuality, at the time this song was written, it was still not accepted at all. It was not considered "normal".
Just my two cents. One of the things I love about their songs is that there can be so many interpretations and meanings to anyone who takes the time to really listen beyond the music and into the lyrics.