Weirdest lyric

[S Gallion]

What's the weirdest lyric in any of R.E.M.'s songs? I'm confining
myself to the post-Reckoning days since, obviously, the lyrics didn't mean
anything from Chronic Town -> Reckoning. Some candidates:

Driver-8: "The powerlines have floaters so the airplanes won't get
stabbed."

Begin the Begin: "Tiger run around the tree / Follow the leader / Run then
churn into butter." (I know that this is from that Little Black Sambo
story [or whatever it's called], but the story was damn weird! Pancakes!!
LOL)

You are the Everything: "Late spring and you're drifting off to sleep,
with your teeth in your mouth."

So there's three. What are the strangest ones?

Steve
---
"Viaduct? Vy not a duck? Vy not an ostrich?"
-Chico Marx, "Animal Crackers"
---

[Gymkata1]

I always get a bit of a giggle at this one:

"Baby this soup doesn't really grab me today I need something more sub sub
sub stantial, a can of beans or blackeye peas, some Nescafe and ice. A
Candy bar, a falling star, or a reading rom Dr. Seuss..."

otherrs:
"Butterfly decal rearview mirror, dogging the scene"

"Throw the walls into the fireplace"

Cynthia

[Ron Henry]

sgal...@aol.com (S Gallion) wrote:

> What's the weirdest lyric in any of R.E.M.'s songs? I'm confining
>myself to the post-Reckoning days since, obviously, the lyrics didn't mean
>anything from Chronic Town -> Reckoning. Some candidates:

>Driver-8: "The powerlines have floaters so the airplanes won't get
>stabbed."

This line is actually:
"The power lines have floaters so the airplane won't get snagged." (Think
of the power line as a fishing line, and the little red balls on them as
being like the bobbers/floaters on fishing line, to keep the low-flying
airplane from getting snagged in the lines.)

I have always thought the weirdest REM line was "Shiny Happy people holding
hands..." Now what the heck is that supposed to mean? ;)

Ron
---
rg...@cornell.edu
Send me email to receive rec.music.rem FAQ
"Wait for dawn and dawn shall come."

[Jana Bergant]

That La-la-la in Endgame quite confused me.
Thanks and best wishes, Basko Galama.

[Michael Moore]

I've often questioned the whole song "Stand." Why?

[TuckCawley]

Regarding your "weirdest lyrics" -

Driver 8 - I think the word is "snared" not stabbed.

You Are Everything - If the person the narrator is singing to is old and
has dentures, the "teeth in your mouth" line isn't odd. Kind of poignant,
I think.

Thanks for listening (reading)

Tucker

[Gary Korhonen]

I've been giving some thought with regards to this latest r.m.r adventure and
the best my head offers is this:

"Bank the quarry river flow...." -Cuyahoga, "Life's Rich Pageant"

The closest it could mean is that it represents that natural scattering of
little rocks that happens when you climb a rocky cliff and your foot finds a
loose place....

"I listen to the sounds they make
on their way down
I follow with my eyes 'til they crash
imagine what my body would sound like
slamming against those rocks

when it lands
will my eyes
be open or closed?" Bjork, hyper-ballad, "Post"

Usually at this point, I try to finger a root to grasp...

All appy polly gies in shades of orange..

y
r
a
g
---

--
--==(gary korhonen, person of sorts, myopic man or squid?)==--
--==(E: gako...@undergrad.math.uwaterloo.ca SBJT:anything)==--
--==(W: www.undergrad.math.uwaterloo.ca/~gakorhon content?)==--
--==(frequent, flippant and how. watch the road & memorize)==--

[Matt MULCAHY]

Hi Ho,

I think that the best reply to this would be to quote "Losing My Religion":

Life is bigger
Bigger than you
And you are not me

Now this sounds really stupid if you just read it, but it sounds great in the
song. This is what Michael is on about when he says that he considers his voice
as an instrument much more important than the lyrics.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------my
mind is racing as it always will
my hand's tired my heart aches
i'm half a world away
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PS. Does anyone know to get my normal sig on here. I normally e-mail using
pine, but I newsgroup using netscape. Thank you.

[Matt MULCAHY]

Hi Ho,

sgal...@aol.com (S Gallion) wrote:
> What's the weirdest lyric in any of R.E.M.'s songs? I'm confining
>myself to the post-Reckoning days since, obviously, the lyrics didn't mean
>anything from Chronic Town -> Reckoning. Some candidates:

>You are the Everything: "Late spring and you're drifting off to sleep,

>with your teeth in your mouth."

I do not find this very strange, as it is the key indication to what the song
is about (ie. the respectful love of an old (eg. with false teeth) friend). The
song makes much more sense once you realise this.

>Steve

--Mulchster