Song for Day 45 - "Losing My Religion" by R.E.M.

Day 45 - "Losing My Religion" by R.E.M.

R.E.M.:  Peter Buck, Mike Mills, Michael Stipe, Bill Berry.

     Imagine, in a "bite the bullet" test, a caudillo forces you to eulogize the beloved democratic president he'd just overthrown (in English, for international propaganda consumption).  If your speech is too sympathetic the despot will kill you;  if not supportive enough, the resistance will turn your life insurance policy into a liquid asset, post haste. 

     No pressure here, right?

     In "Beans", the heroine responds with a masterpiece of duality (analysis here), satisfying both sides. 

September came like winter's
ailing child but
left us
viewing Valparaiso's pride. Your face was
always saddest when you smiled. You smiled as every
doctored moment lied. You lie with
orphans' parents, long
reviled.

As close as coppers, yellow beans still
line Mapocho's banks. It
leads them to the sea;
entwined on rocks and saplings, each
new vine recalls that
dawn in 1973 when
every choking, bastard weed grew wild.

"Poetry is a well-planned accident." - Earl Gray's 182nd Law.

     As we see with the video, these nuances and the wider audience they access are lost once the more gormless partisans enter the conversation. Without resorting to dog whistles, we need more breadth of expression--more subtlety and ambiguity, less obscurity and vacuity--in our politics.  More meaning[s], not more clichés.  Our words need more ignition.  We need more “well-planned accidents.”

     R.E.M. (Rapid Eye Movement) is an Athens, Georgia, band formed in 1980 when [lead vocalist] Michael Stipe kept buying albums that Wixtry Records store clerk [and lead guitarist] Peter Buck had ordered for himself.  Drummer Bill Berry and bassist/vocalist Mike Mills rounded out the foursome.  Their breakthrough single, "The One I Love",  didn't come until 1987.

     While watching television and trying to learn how to play a mandolin he'd just purchased, R.E.M. guitarist Peter Buck wrote the group's greatest hit, "Losing My Religion", for their 1991 album, "Out of Time".  The song currently rests at 170th on the Rolling Stone's "500 Greatest Songs of All Time" list.  IMHO, it should be at least 150 positions higher. 

    Within the southern states, the title is an expression, meaning losing one's restraint and composure.  Others might simply say "losing it".  Elsewhere, some may think "losing my religion" refers to the macroscopic decline in theism.  Indeed, this does parallel the importance of faith in the south, where newcomers are routinely asked their names and then which church they plan to attend.  Everywhere else, people learn in childhood not to talk to strangers about sex, politics, or religion.  This is the first in a string of posts on the latter two subjects, culminating in the single greatest song of our time.

    Passenger's cover is an interesting video but lacks the spirit of the original, largely because it doesn't foreground the mandolin.  Nothing comes close to the R.E.M. version here:

Lyrics:

Life is bigger
It's bigger
And you, you are not me
The lengths that I will go to
The distance in your eyes
Oh no, I've said too much
I set it up

That's me in the corner
That's me in the spotlight
Losing my religion
Trying to keep up with you
And I don't know if I can do it
Oh no I've said too much
I haven't said enough

I thought that I heard you laughing
I thought that I heard you sing
I think I thought I saw you try

Every whisper
Of every waking hour
I'm choosing my confessions
Trying to keep an eye on you
Like a hurt lost and blinded fool
Oh no, I've said too much
I set it up

Consider this
The hint of the century
Consider this
The slip that brought me
To my knees failed
What if all these fantasies
Come flailing around
Now I've said too much

I thought that I heard you laughing
I thought that I heard you sing
I think I thought I saw you try

But that was just a dream
That was just a dream

That's me in the corner
That's me in the spotlight
Losing my religion
Trying to keep up with you
And I don't know if I can do it
Oh no I've said too much
I haven't said enough

I thought that I heard you laughing
I thought that I heard you sing
I think I thought I saw you try

But that was just a dream, try, cry, why, try
That was just a dream, just a dream, just a dream
Dream