Maps And Legends

I feel that this song actually describes what it is that I love about R.E.M. I'm always captivated by the conviction in their songs - a sense that they're singing about vital stuff - exultant! And yet, I usually can't tell specifically what it is that they're singing about!

Where he ought to be, he sees what you Can't see, can't you see that

There's something that the subject of the song (Reverend Howard Finster, the visionary minister/artist that others have mentioned?) sees, something that we don't see, and

Maybe he's caught in the legend Maybe he's caught in the mood Maybe these maps and legends Have been misunderstood

Maybe he understands in a way that conventional understanding is unable to do - by disregarding convention, by following his own muse:

Called the fool, and the company On his own, where he'd rather be Where he ought to be, he sees what you Can't see, can't you see that

... he's found, transcendence? Grace? At the least, conviction.

I believe that this is the secret of R.E.M.'s compelling beauty. The ability to recognize and cultivate their own sense of conviction, in their songs.

With so many other artists, we can identify the subject of their exultation, and believe that we understand what moves them, is moving us. But I think that understanding is an illusion. Love songs, rebellion, the blues, I suspect the overt sentiments are just vehicles for a sense of vitality, of being compelled, that the artists recognize and convey in their works.

I don't know exactly what R.E.M. does to arrive so reliably at that sense of conviction, without the overt sentiments - I think it's a deeply poetic skill, shared by some other New Wave favorites like The Talking Heads, XTC - but in any case, they do it so well, and I love it. (At least, to my ears, until Document - they lost me after that.)