All the Best

The first song I wrote [on the latest album] was ‘All the Best,’  If you look at the lyrics, it’s basically saying, ‘We had our moment, it was great. Thanks, everyone. And we hope someone else will pick up the mantle and run with it.’

 --Michael Stipe

So over me.
So pie in my face.
So talk to me
Tell me where to place this in my
Quasimodo heart
That's where I slipped and fell
I rang the church bell'til my ears bled
red blood cells,

I think
I'll sing and rhyme
I'll give it one more time
I'll show the kids how to do it
fine, fine, fine

I hold the mirror up
You tell me what is what
You tell me which part of my story baby,
stuck stuck stuck.
I'm in a part of your dreams
That you don't even understand.
It's just like me to overstay my welcome, man

Let's sing and rhyme
Let's give it one more time
Let's show the kids how to do it,
fine, fine, fine
fine.

I just have to get that off my chest.
Now it's time to get on with the rest,
All the best, all the best,
All the best, all the best, best, best

It's just like me to overstay my welcome, bless.

Let's sing and rhyme
Let's give it one more time
Let's show the kids how to do it,
fine, fine, fine

Let's sing and rhyme
Let's give it one more time
Let's show the kids how to do it fine, fine, fine
fine

R.E.M. 31

31 years ago, R.E.M. performed for the first time.  "Blue", the twelfth and final track on Collapse Into Now, has the feel of "Country Feedback" meets "E-bow the Letter" meets "Belong."  Some of my favorite R.E.M. songs.  "Blue" is the only song on the album whose lyrics are not included in the liner notes.  I found the lyrics online and wanted to share here as part of my R.E.M. birthday celebration.

Feels circus left the stakes a broken ropes useless mug

The ties that bind, ha ha

I can be bad poet

Street poet

Shit poet

Kind poet too

Subway

Almost 4AM

Halloween night

Had enough to drink to make my own party

All my fellow writers in half costume, half asleep

Half silly, gone to seed

I don't mark my time with dates, holidays, faded wisdom, locked karma, whatever's

Convenient

I am made by my times

I am a creation of now

Shaken with the cracks and crevices

I'm not giving up easy

I will not fold

I don't have much

But what I have is gold

I sing in platinum

I dress in brass

I eat in zinc

Let it pass

Compare a toast

I like that

I understand courage

I still roll with the shout of a character I was married to today

I try to see outside myself

I understand the eyes

Excuse all the highs

Sorry

I am sorry

Ha ha

I like you, love you, every coast of you.

I've seen your eddies and tides and hurricanes and cyclones.

Low ebb tide and high, full moon.

Up close and distant.

I read you like the sky, the sea, the ocean, the sun, the moon.

Blue, blue, blue, blue, blue, blue, blue blue, blue, blue, blue, blue.

Naked and blue.

Breathing with you. Touch. Change. Shift. Allow air. Window open. Drift. Drift away. Into now.

I want Whitman proud. Patti Lee proud. My brothers proud. My sisters proud. I want me. I want it all. I want sensational. Irresistible.

This is my time and I am thrilled to be alive.

Living

Blessed

I understand

Twentieth century

Collapse Into Now

Überlin

I watched this lyric video last night and couldn't find a way to post it.  Thankfully, R.E.M. put it up on their YouTube page today; so, here it is.  I haven't been putting up all the other lyric videos R.E.M. has been sharing, but I think this one is definitely worth a listen.  Enjoy!

Best of the season from R.E.M.

R.E.M. is feeling quite generous this holiday season.  Pre-order "COLLAPSE INTO NOW" on iTunes and instantly download It Happened Today.  I figured since I am going to buy the album anyway, I might as well do the pre-order to get the new song.  R.E.M. also released a lyric video for the song, so you can hear it before you buy it.



Also available for your viewing pleasure is a trailer for "COLLAPSE INTO NOW" featuring some live in studio snippets of some of the new songs.  Lots of new and exciting news on the R.E.M. front!  What a nice way to get into the Christmas spirit.

Discovering Discoverer

It's been quite a week to be an R.E.M. fan. First, I received the fan club Christmas package which included a Christmas card, 2011 calendar, and a CD. The CD includes Mike Mills singing "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)," featuring Bill Berry on drums, and an instrumental mashup of three tracks off their next album, COLLAPSE INTO NOW, entitled “IHT>U>EDIYTW (Dubmix).” Based on the title, I assume the three songs are “It Happened Today,” “Uberlin” and “Every Day Is Yours to Win.” It was a wonderful early Christmas present indeed.

Little did I know, R.E.M. was just starting to spread the holiday cheer. On Wednesday, I was browsing through facebook and saw R.E.M. posted a link to download the first track of COLLAPSE INTO NOW. The song is called "Discoverer," and as soon as I got home, I downloaded it. I love the thrill of hearing a new R.E.M. song for the first time. I probably have a goofy smile on my face the whole time. The song does not disappoint, either. I found myself thinking that this song would fit perfectly on the album, Green, it has a "Turn You Inside Out" feel to it; which is definitely a good thing. Have a listen:



You can own the song for free, too. Just go to http://remhq.com/get-discoverer.php, enter your e-mail address and country, and a link to the song will be sent to your inbox. Mine was marked as spam, so I didn't know I had it at first, but it was sent almost immediately.  My excitement for COLLAPSE INTO NOW has increased tenfold, March 8th can't come fast enough!  Free previews to R.E.M. albums don't come along too often, especially in the form of a full length song, don't miss this opportunity!