Night Garden: Berry, Buck, Mills, Stipe [R.E.M.]1981-1996 Song-by-song*

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Lance LaSalle, May 23, 2021.

  1. Mr. D

    Mr. D Forum Resident

    As stated above.

    Sometime the big, grand gesture with the straight forward approach works best. 5/5
     
  2. Roman Potato Chip

    Roman Potato Chip Forum Resident

    Location:
    United States
    Lyrical deep dive incoming:

    This song is about December 26th 1991. Santa sits in his home exhausted from his yearly run. The day of the 25th keeps him fulfilled since he sees the joy on children's faces, but every year the 26th is a huge let down. He sits on his recliner with a pervasive sense of existential dread washing over him. We all like to think of Santa as this mythical creature, but he has feelings too. As Santa sinks deeper into his chair, his eyes fix upon a bottle of Candy Cane Schnapps sitting on the counter. He glides over like a ghost and presses the bottle to his cold dry lips. The first gulp makes him wince, but everything after only serves to pacify his psychological dilemma. Alone in his room, the wallpaper of green and red congeal in his vision as the liqueur numbs his senses into an ineffectual stupor. Like a top facing the inevitable friction of the universe, he spins to the ground and falls. The clouds in his eyes subside long enough for him to catch a glimpse of a cocked and loaded gun sitting under the couch. It must've been lost there in the great Elf Wars of 1983. He picks up the gun slowly, and puts it under his chin. His heart rate accelerates as he considers embracing the inevitable.

    Just then an alarm goes off at R.E.M. headquarters. The Elves haven't seen Santa. Luckily, Michael put a tracker on him in case of such Post-Yuletide Depression. Michael dashed into gear and grabbed his band mates. He threw a special batch of Christmas snow on all of them as they were instantly transported to Santa's location. Seeing Santa on the ground with a gun under his chin, smelling of liqueur and shattered dreams, Bill began picking out some chords on the acoustic guitar he was holding. The group launched into the song that became "Everybody Hurts." Tears streamed down Santa's face as the gun slipped out of his hands. With great effort, he stood up and embraced all four men. Santa was saved.
     
  3. Roman Potato Chip

    Roman Potato Chip Forum Resident

    Location:
    United States
    Never thought it might be a reference to 8 1/2. Interesting. Nobody flies off in the R.E.M. video though do they?
     
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  4. AlienRendel

    AlienRendel Senior Member

    Location:
    Chicago, il
    now I like the song better.
     
  5. fspringer

    fspringer Forum Resident

    Location:
    New York City
     
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  6. Roman Potato Chip

    Roman Potato Chip Forum Resident

    Location:
    United States
    Another acclaimed movie I didn't like much at all. I enjoyed Woody Allen's parody/tribute Stardust Memories more.
     
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  7. fspringer

    fspringer Forum Resident

    Location:
    New York City
    The R.E.M. video also paid tribute to Wim Wender's Wings of Desire with the sub-titled thoughts people were having in their cars. In the movie it was to illustrate the unseen angels having access to people's thoughts, especially when they were deeply troubled and questioning their existence.

    I like this now, but it annoyed me at the time as noted above!
     
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  8. Roman Potato Chip

    Roman Potato Chip Forum Resident

    Location:
    United States
    I love that Peter Falk played himself as a former angel in that movie.
     
  9. Brian Kelly

    Brian Kelly 1964-73 rock's best decade

    It may have hurt a bit, but when it was used in THE OFFICE when Dwight was upset, it elevated the status of the song again for me!
     
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  10. Brian Kelly

    Brian Kelly 1964-73 rock's best decade

    Everybody Hurts
    This is a great song. I knew it would be huge when I first heard it. It isn't the best song on the album (I'll reveal that choice later) but it is still excellent.
    (5/5)
     
  11. Black Cat Surfboards

    Black Cat Surfboards Forum Resident

    Location:
    Delaware, USA
    Not my cup of tea at all. To me, "Everybody Hurts" is REM's take on a power ballad with the big chords, slow tempo, production values, song length, dramatic vocals and strings.

    1.5/5
     
  12. Stillin Rockville

    Stillin Rockville "it's not the band, it's the fans"

    Location:
    a farm in Iowa
    By the end of "Everybody Hurts" the transition of R.E.M. from their early impressionistic days- think Manet, Renoir, et al- to a more specific and linear mode of expression a la Norman Rockwell is complete. This is not a slam on either the band or Rockwell, who was a marvelous craftsman and a great humanist whose work was full of wit and subtlety. I would like it to serve as a partial explanation of those of us who do not regard this song or Automatic for the People as the ultimate in artistic achievement, though.
     
  13. ARK

    ARK Forum Miscreant

    Location:
    Charlton, MA, USA
    Sidewinder… 3/5
    Hurts…. 3/5
     
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  14. renderj

    renderj Forum Resident

    Everybody Hurts: This isn’t my favorite song either, but I’d be a mere contrarian if I gave it less than the highest accolades. This song is successful in everything it attempts. It may have been a minor chart hit, but it’s a shared piece of pop culture now.

    I said about Drive that it felt in part a commentary on rock and roll itself, and here we have more such commentary with the arpeggios referencing early rock and soul. It’s not a love song in the obvious sense; but it implies that love is indeed all around us in spite of the pain and loss. Don’t let yourself drown in grief, just know it’s all part of the human experience. That’s what I think Stipe is saying, and who can’t get behind that?

    last thought: part of the charm of the song and performance is how sincere and earnest it is. Much modern (post 60s) rock (including much of REMs work) is distant and ironic. This song has no time for that. It’s heartfelt. It’s confident. It’s mature. They mean it, man. 5/5
     
  15. robcar

    robcar Forum Resident

    Location:
    Denver, CO
    If I had to pick my favorite movie ever, that’s the one I’d go with.
     
  16. redmedicine

    redmedicine Pop Punk Psych Prog

    Location:
    Portland, OR
    I don’t begrudge them writing a straightforward, heartfelt, and sincere song. I just wish a little more was going on musically. 3/5
     
  17. jalexander

    jalexander Forum Resident

    Location:
    Canada
    I’d like to hope I’m not too cynical, but this song has never been for me, and I was a teenager when it was released.

    I simply find it too simplistic. Bill is great and introduced some great experimentation to the band. But this time he provides a song that sounds like a drummer wrote it. Straight I-IV arpeggios ad nauseum, save for the occasional II-V change up. I’m assuming the more complex changes of the bridge were Peter’s work?

    The lyric is equally simplistic. Now, if this song has saved someone’s life, wonderful. But I’ve never understood how it provides any comfort to anyone with severe depression. Stipe’s answer is, “don’t worry… we all have pain”? How is that supposed to make me feel better. And just so you don’t think I’m entirely heartless, Jeff Tweedy’s You Are Not Alone (written for Mavis Staples) has brought me to tears many times. This one just doesn’t dig deep enough for me.

    Obviously I’m the minority, though, and REM finally got a song that can be sung on American Idol and used in season finales of TV dramas.

    For me, if I want a simple ballad with a I-IV chord progression that evolves into soaring strings, I’ll take U2’s All I Want is You (which has an even better artsy video imo).
     
  18. pocketcalculator

    pocketcalculator Forum Resident

    Location:
    New York City
    "Everything Hurts" - the first good song on this album, though far from the top tier of their songs. R.E.M. now eschews subtlety, which used to be their stock in trade. If they had stuck to a Stax/MG's style arrangement, maybe adding some horns as it went along, this would have worked better, but the shift into the strings takes a simple and direct plea into the maudlin. This also suffers from the lack of urgency that live drumming could have given it. If this had a better arrangement, I might give it a 4.5, but as it is: 3.5.
     
  19. brownie61

    brownie61 Forum Resident

    Rough day? :)
     
  20. pocketcalculator

    pocketcalculator Forum Resident

    Location:
    New York City
    I'm middle-aged - Every Day is Like "Everything Hurts". (Sunday is 10 minutes away).
     
  21. JoseUnidos

    JoseUnidos Forum Resident

    Location:
    Bluefield, WV
    Everybody Hurts
    All those folks stuck in the traffic jam in the video? That's how I feel when I hear this song.
    1/5
     
  22. dlemaudit

    dlemaudit Forum Resident

    Location:
    France, Paris area
    Everybody hurts : 2/5 the only REM song that see me changing channel when it comes up on the radio in the car .
    i do not get the Stax / Otis references either .
     
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  23. Rose River Bear

    Rose River Bear Senior Member

    Everybody Hurts

    It roots are overly evident with the R and B progression and the arpeggios but I think it is well done. The bridge shifts to the relative minor (B) for a short time but then shifts back to major for the final line and it really works. A fine fit of chords and lyrics in the bridge. Already mentioned that Rock and Roll Suicide was probably an influence. The chromatics in the strings to round it out give it some edge as well. I am OK with it regardless of the heart on the sleeve aspect. 4/5
     
  24. Instant Dharma

    Instant Dharma Dude/man

    Location:
    CoCoCo, Ca
    Sorry to be the bad guy here but Sidewinder and Hurts is where these guys totally lost the plot. Absolutely horrible songs. Sorry but not sorry.
    There. Said. Goodnight. ;)
     
  25. Vagabone

    Vagabone Forum Resident

    Location:
    UK
    The "you're not alone" part of "Rock and Roll Suicide" was inspired by, or even loosely based on, "Jef" by Jacques Brel. I think the English language version in the show "Jacques Brel is Alive and Well..." which Bowie was a fan of, also goes, "oh no love, you're not alone".

    To me, the original French version of "Jef" is a towering work of art with a very similar theme of consolation and sympathy, so I'm pleased to think there might be an indirect connection.
     
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