Chronic Town	Document
Murmur	Green
Reckoning	Out of Time
Fables of the Reconstruction	Automatic for the People
Life's Rich Pageant	Monster
Dead Letter Office	New Adventures in Hi-Fi

AN ANNOTATED HISTORY
annotations to r.e.m. songs
 v.1.0 -- 97.02.05
maintained by Chris [Steve] Piuma
[cafard@brainlink.com]
     It's hard enough to understand what Michael Stipe is singing most of the time.  But even when you can understand the words, it still can be hard to figure out what he's talking about. What's the Southern Crescent? Who's Kenneth? And what the heck is "Tris is sure to shirr the deers out" supposed to mean?
     So in order to help you figure out what R.E.M. is going on about, this document contains some annotations to some of the more obscure lyrics. The annotations have mostly been collected from posts to rec.music.rem. [Some  entries have been slightly edited for purposes of clarity, grammar, or  spelling.]
     If there are any lyrics that you'd like explained that aren't dealt with here, whether you have an explanation or not, write me. If you think any of the explanations are wrong or unclear, and you'd like to correct or rewrite them,  write me. Note that there are many quick note which were benevolently provided  by Ron Henry [rgh3@cornell.edu], many of which could use to be expanded. If you want to elaborate on his notes, write me. Write me at cafard@brainlink.com; I'll be happy to hear from you. Songs are sorted by album; non-album tracks are dealt with at the end. All notes in []s are mine. ICFTS = _It Crawled from the South: an R.E.M. Companion_, by Marcus Gray. Lyrics are taken from the Fables archive; there are a few annotations for alternate interpretations but they are not to be encouraged [unless it's decidedly a homophonic case, like "rap your heel" for "wrap your heel"] and will probably be removed from later versions. CHRONIC TOWN Wolves, Lower: "Suspicion yourself"    Colloquial imperative for 'Be suspicious'. [rgh3@cornell.edu] Wolves, Lower: "House in order."    Idiomatic for 'being prepared'. [rgh3@cornell.edu] Gardening at Night    According to interviews literally refers to a neighbor who worked in his garden at night; note also that R.E.M. publishes their lyrics as 'Nightgarden Music'. [rgh3@cornell.edu] * I thought it was the first real song we ever did. [Stipe, as quoted in ICFTS, Gray] * That it was their "first real song" might explain why their publishing company is named after it. [cafard@brainlink.com] Gardening at Night: "Somewhere it must be time for penitence."    Penitence = punishment for sins. [rgh3@cornell.edu] Gardening at Night: "Call the prayer line for a change.                      The charge is changing every month."    A prayer line is a telephone service to get prayers by toll telephone call. The "charge" is presumably for the call. [rgh3@cornell.edu] Gardening at Night: "The call was 2 and 51."    Presumably two dollars and fifty one cents [is the price] for the call. [rgh3@cornell.edu] Carnival of Sorts (Box Cars): "There's a secret stigma, reaping wheel."    A stigma is a mark or wound that marks one as different. A reaping wheel is part of a harvesting machine, perhaps suggesting a medieval torture device. [rgh3@cornell.edu] Carnival of Sorts (Box Cars): "Diminish, a carnival of sorts.                                Chronic town, poster torn, reaping wheel."    Suggests the traveling carnivals of the early part of the century. According to Stipe a 'chronic' town will never transcend its 'small town' nature, and presumably he is talking about Athens, Ga. "Poster torn" either refers to opposing groups removing each others' political posters, or the practice of band posters being torn to discourage fans from removing them from display. [rgh3@cornell.edu] Carnival of Sorts (Box Cars): "Boxcars (are pulling) out of town."    According to the American Heritage Dictionary, a boxcar is a fully enclosed railroad car, typically having sliding side doors, used to transport freight. [cafard@brainlink.com] * Presumably [the boxcars] transport the traveling carnival. [rgh3@cornell.edu] Carnival of Sorts (Box Cars): "Cages under, cages under, cages under cage."    The repetition of 'cages' suggests the animal cages of a carnival train passing. [rgh3@cornell.edu] 1,000,000: "Secluded in a marker stone"    A "marker stone" is a stone along a road with distance to the next town carved on its face. [rgh3@cornell.edu] * Presumably this could also mean a tombstone. [cafard@brainlink.com] Stumble: "We stumble through the A-P-T"    I read that APT stood for Athens Party Telephone. Allegedly it was a number that hooked you to an answering machine that said where the party was. [harrierj@aol.com] Stumble: "It was round about midnight.  Hipster town."    'Round About Midnight is a jazz classic [by Miles Davis]. [rgh3@cornell.edu] * [The] spoken passage in 'Stumble' would appear to have come from [a 1957 issue of _Cavalier_, a low-budget skin [i.e., porn] magazine]. [Gray, ICFTS] MURMUR Radio Free Europe    A radio organ of U.S. propaganda to Eastern Europe during the Cold War. [rgh3@cornell.edu] Radio Free Europe: "put that up your wall"    Perhaps referring to the Berlin Wall. [rgh3@cornell.edu] Radio Free Europe: "That this isn't country at all"    "Country" being wordplay on the type of music, and a nation. [rgh3@cornell.edu] Radio Free Europe: "Raving station, beside yourself"    "Raving" with propaganda. "Beside yourself" suggests other side is same as 'yourself'. [rgh3@cornell.edu] * To be "beside oneself" is to be agitated at something. [cafard@brainlink.com] Radio Free Europe: "push that to the hull"    According to the American Heritage Dictionary, a hull is "The frame or body of a ship, exclusive of masts, engines, or superstructure." [cafard@brainlink.com] * The hull is perhaps of a warship. [rgh3@cornell.edu] Radio Free Europe: "Straight off the boat"    Colloquial term for someone recently immigrated to U.S. [rgh3@cornell.edu] Pilgrimage: "a two-headed cow"    Perhaps an omen of good luck (Chinese?). [rgh3@cornell.edu] Pilgrimage: "Speakin' in tongues"    A charismatic Christian sign of possession by Holy Spirit. [rgh3@cornell.edu] Laughing: "Laocoon and her two sons"    Laocoon was in fact the Trojan seer who told them that taking the horse into the city wasn't very bright by saying....."Beware of Greeks bearing gifts."  Apollo sent the serpents which gobbled him [and his two sons] up. There's an excellent Greek bronze of the serpent with Laocoon and his sons in its coils. [kbanta@saims.skidmore.edu] * Note that Laocoon was, in the original myths, male. [cafard@brainlink.com] Laughing: "Martyred, misconstrued"    Laocoon and his two sons were martyred. "Misconstrued" means "misinterpreted." [rgh3@cornell.edu] Laughing: "Ran the gamut"    An idiom meaning "to span the whole range of something". [rgh3@cornell.edu] Talk About the Passion    The "Passion" might refer to the suffering of Christ [during the Last Supper and the Crucifixion]. [rgh3@cornell.edu] Talk About the Passion: "combien reaction"    French for "how much (of a) reaction". [rgh3@cornell.edu] Talk About the Passion: "combien de temps?"    French for "how much time?". [rgh3@cornell.edu] Moral Kiosk    A kiosk is a stand that sells things; a 'moral kiosk' would house peddlers of morality. [rgh3@cornell.edu] Moral Kiosk: "She was laughing like a Horae"    The Horai [are] "the seasons". [...]  Zeus begot them on Themis, the Titan- goddess of cosmic order.  Names: Dike, Eirene, and Eunomia (Justice, Peace, and Lawfulness).  "Horae" is the Latin spelling. [dickeney@access1.digex.net] Catapult: "don't try to turn it off"    Presumably referring to a television. [rgh3@cornell.edu] Catapult: "Cowered"    Note the play on words: cowered/coward. [rgh3@cornell.edu] Catapult: "opie mouth"    Opie was a character on The Andy Griffith Show, played by a young Ron Howard. It was a sweet show, adorable sitcom pabulum from the 50s. At the very least, Opie was a child on television. [...] Consider, Murmur being the phonemic album that it is, what Opie sounds like. Open. An open mouth, agog at the evening's (it's 9:00) entertainment. Opium. A numbing drug. There's a famous quote that "Television is the opiate of the masses." (It's a rip off of the "Religion is the opiate.." one by some famous person whose name eludes me.) [cafard@brainlink.com] Sitting Still: "Up to buy, Katie buys a kitchen-size"    There's something to this lyric that comes from the old saying "Katie bar the door". It's used a lot in the south meaning, "something unstoppable". [gerbil@usit.net] * 'Katie bar the kitchen door' is a southern term that meant you better watch out. [Stipe, on AOL] 9-9    As far as I can tell, it's not 9 [minus] 9 but 9 [to] 9. Proof? It's twofold: first, check out the setlist printed on page 155 of ICFTS, where the song is written out 9->9. Second, notice that Michael sings "nine to nine" during the bridge. [cafard@brainlink.com] 9-9: "Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep.       If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord, hesitate."    See Lightnin' Hopkins. 9-9: "Gotta stripe down his back"    Perhaps the mark of a skunk? [rgh3@cornell.edu] Shaking Through: "Yellow like a geisha gown"    A "geisha" is a Japanese female entertainer / call girl (lit. "Art girl"). [rgh3@cornell.edu] We Walk: "Up the stairs to the landing, up the stairs into the hall"    According to Stipe, a literal quote of a neighbor's daily singsong while going upstairs. [rgh3@cornell.edu] We Walk: "Marat's bathing"    Marat was a French revolutionary murdered in his bath. [rgh3@cornell.edu] * There is a famous painting depicting Marat being stabbed to death in the bath: the "Death of Marat" by Jaques-Louis David. [particle@servtech.com] West of the Fields: "Dreams of Elysian"    Just random noodling, I went "West of the Fields" this morning.  It refers to west of Elysian Fields avenue, mostly cemeteries filled with the pretty mausoleums this town is famous for. [bellaire@cs.tulane.edu] * Elysian Fields, heaven, reward for the dead, located in the distant west. [rgh3@cornell.edu] * "Elysian Fields" [...] was the Ancient Greek equivalent of Heaven. [particle@servtech.edu] West of the Fields: "Listen through your eyes when we die."    Synaesthesia [confusing one sense with another, e.g. "hearing" colors], suggests sensory overload. [rgh3@cornell.edu] RECKONING Harborcoat    A coat that is one's refuge. [rgh3@cornell.edu] Harborcoat: "Metal shivs on wood"    ["Metal shoes on wood"] are presumably horseshoes on police horses. [rgh3@cornell.edu] * The dictionary says "shiv" is a Gypsy term for a small knife. [rgh3@cornell.edu] Harborcoat: "There's a splinter in your eye"    This alludes to the Biblical proverb, Luke 6:41: "Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?" [rgh3@cornell.edu] Harborcoat: "the statues for harboring ghosts"    That is, the memorials to dead heroes. [rgh3@cornell.edu] 7 Chinese Bros.    [5 Chinese Brothers is] a story about five Chinese brothers who can each do one marvelous trick. One Chinese brother can swallow the whole ocean and is persuaded to do so by a young child wanting seashells. The brother makes the child promise to return quickly and not go out of sight. The child does not heed him, of course, and dies when the brother can hold it in no longer. The brother is brought up on charges and sentenced to death. They first try to hang him, but his brother with an extendible neck replaces him and escapes injury. Then they try to chop off his head, but his brother with an iron neck saves him in the same manner as before. They try to burn him, but his inflammable brother lives through the flames in his stead. They finally put him in a closed space with marshmallows or something to try to suffocate him, but the brother that can hold his breath forever comes through that all right. The authorities give up after that. [bragar@comp.uark.edu] * The final Chinese Brother swallowed the ocean in to try to save his brothers from the evil Emperor. [rgh3@cornell.edu] 7 Chinese Bros.: "Wrap your heel in bones of steel"    ["Rap your heel"] means to tap in time to music? [rgh3@cornell.edu] So. Central Rain: "Eastern to Mountain"    Those are time zones. [rgh3@cornell.edu] So. Central Rain: "third party call"    An indirect message, relaying a message through another party. [rgh3@cornell.edu] Time After Time (Annelise)    From what I've heard, TAT is about a night Mike Mills had with these two girls (one of which was alleged to be Mari, now Pete's wife) where they got stoned, climbed up a water tower in Athens, partied, took some of their clothes off, and ended up getting arrested.  Whether that's true or not, I honestly don't know... [omega305@aol.com] * Actually, Mari is Bill's wife. Peter is married to a Stephanie Dorgan, but was married to Barrie before, which is either mentioned in ICFTS or Remarks by Tony Fletcher. maybe both [00032330@bigred.unl.edu] Time After Time (Annelise): "If your friends took a fall"    According to the anecdote, Mills et al. were arrested. [rgh3@cornell.edu] Time After Time (Annelise): "the bull's on his hooves"    Colloquial for "things are happening". [rgh3@cornell.edu] Letter Never Sent: "vacation in Athens is calling me"    Athens meaning Athens, GA, which is Stipe's hometown. Hence the irony of the vacation being going home. [cafard@brainlink.com] Letter Never Sent: "The thought of the catacombs"    Catacombs are underground cemeteries. [rgh3@cornell.edu] Letter Never Sent: "Heaven's yours"    ["seven shores"] Traditionally there were 7 continents, seven seas, etc. [rgh3@cornell.edu] Camera: "I should keep myself in between the pages"    As a leaf pressed for safe-keeping. [rgh3@cornell.edu] * Also as in reading between the lines; that is, I should keep myself implied, not directly stated. [cafard@brainlink.com] (Don't Go Back to) Rockville    There was a girl at UGeorgia that everyone (including Mills) was infatuated with who was from Rockville, MD.  Stipe wrote the song because of the hullabaloo her summer departure was causing on campus.  As I understand it was kinda tongue in cheek, especially "you'll wind up in some factory" since Rockville is a rather well-to-do area and not much in the way of industry. [bduncan@gwis2.circ.gwu.edu] Little America    The title implies small towns as microcosms of America, perhaps also alluding to the Confederacy as a "little" America when it tried to be secede? [rgh3@cornell.edu] Little America: "I don't buy a lacquered thirty                  Caught like flies, preserved for tomorrow's jewelry"    Lacquered = coated with lacquer to preserve. Flies are preserved in amber resin. Jewelry is often made from pieces of amber. [rgh3@cornell.edu] Little America: "a green shellback, green shellback"    [A] shellback in the sixteenth and seventeenth century was the term for a world-travelling sailor, usually one who has crossed the equator. A "green" shellback then would be a naive (or sick to his stomach? ;) world traveller, which describes the perspective of "Little America" to a tee. [rgh3@cornell.edu] * Someone else emailed me [...] about "shellback" suggesting that it was derived from the practice of keeping large galapagos turtles to be used for food immobilized on their backs in the holds of ships. [rgh3@cornell.edu] Little America: "in tree beer tar-black brer sap"    Brier sap, a type of resin, appears in some Uncle Remus stories (e.g. "Bre'r Rabbit and the Tar Baby"). [rgh3@cornell.edu] Little America: "The consul a horse, Jefferson I think we're lost"    According to Stipe, the Roman Senate once elected a horse to occupy a seat. Jefferson refers to Jefferson Holt, the band's then-manager; perhaps alludes to Jefferson Davis [or Thomas Jefferson]. [rgh3@cornell.edu] Little America: "hedging near the givens"    Givens are assumptions that form basis of a logical argument. See also King of Birds. [rgh3@cornell.edu] Little America: "Diane is on the beach, do you realize the life she's led?"    Perhaps referring to Diana, the Roman goddess of hunting? [rgh3@cornell.edu] Little America: "Sky-lied, sty-tied, Nero pie-tied"    Sty-tied = "hog-tied"? Nero was a Roman emperor, got mostly undeserved blame for Rome's fall. [rgh3@cornell.edu] Little America: "Reason has harnessed the tame"    See also Feeling Gravitys Pull. [rgh3@cornell.edu] Little America: "Another Greenville, another Magic Mart,                  Jeffer, grab your fiddle"    Many southern states have a city named Greenville. Magic Mart is a discount department store chain. [rgh3@cornell.edu] * Nero was said to have played his fiddle while Rome burned. [cafard@brainlink.com] FABLES OF THE RECONSTRUCTION Feeling Gravitys Pull: "It's a Man Ray kind of sky"    The line [...] refers to that artist's work, _Observatory Time: The Lovers_. [Gray, from ICFTS] * The notable thing about the sky in _The Lovers_ is that there's a big pair of lips in it. A woman languors beneath on a couch. [cafard@brainlink.com] Feeling Gravitys Pull: "Reason had harnessed the tame"    See also Little America. [rgh3@cornell.edu] Maps and Legends    A "legend" is not only a fable, but also the key to symbols on a map. [rgh3@cornell.edu] Maps and Legends: dedicated to the Rev. Howard Finster    Rev. Howard Finster is [...] a folk artist based outside Athens who did the cover of "Reckoning." He's best known for his Paradise Garden and is extremely prolific. He also did Little Creatures by Talking Heads. [harrierj@aol.com] Maps and Legends: "refer to the yellow, red and green"    As in the colors of various countries on a map. [rgh3@cornell.edu] Driver 8: "The power lines have floaters so the airplanes won't get snagged."    Floaters are presumably the orange balls on power lines to warn aircraft, reminiscent of fishing floaters (bobbers). [rgh3@cornell.edu] Driver 8: "Bells are ringing through the town again"    These are presumably the bells at the railroad crossing gate. [rgh3@cornell.edu] Driver 8: "Way to shield the hated heat."    Perhaps the heatshield in a locomotive? [rgh3@cornell.edu] Driver 8: "the Go Tell crusade"    A semi-educated guess would be that Go Tell is short for "Go Tell it On the Mountain," and is the theme song of some evangelical Christian revival crusade in the South. (I am picturing people under large tents witnessing and raising their hands.)  But without scouring a history of Southern Church history, I can't confirm the hunch. [rgh3@cornell.edu] Driver 8: "Southern Crescent"    The 'Southern Crescent' [...] is a real railway line, running through Georgia on its way to New Orleans. [Gray, from ICFTS] Life and How to Live It    mr.mekis, of life and how to live it, had actualyy divided his 1 house into 2 apts, each outfitted diff. than the other, on meigs str. in tinytown.i made it 2 houses for hyperbolic clarity. [Stipe, on AOL] * This is the title of book written by a Mr. [Mekis] of rural Ga., whose schizophrenic behavior the song narrates. [rgh3@cornell.edu] * If I have my story correct, a man died, and when they went into his house, they found one half decortated one way and the other half completely differently.  It seems as though the man lived life through two distinctly different personalities. and the book, oh yeah the book, was discovered (like 200 or so copies) in the back of the house. [jlocke41@maine.maine.edu] * [At] the LA Universal Amphitheatre 9-86 show [...] Michael just told this story [...]: "A man had a house, he built a wall down the middle of it, he had an apartment on *this* side, he had an apartment on *this* side. [To a screaming person in  the audience:] Shut up. In *this* apartment he had furniture, clothes, food, books... a cat.  In *this* apartment he had different food, different clothes,  different furniture, different books. And a gerbil.  ...No that's not true. He  would live over on this side for a while, until he got tired of it, then he  would take off his clothes and put his books down on the counter, and he'd  move over to *this* side for a while until he got tired of it and then move  back over to *this* side and he flip-flopped back and forth until he died.  When he died they went into the house and they crawled back in the back  apartment, back in this closet, over *here*... And the whole closet was  filled, floor to ceiling, with [someone in the crowd yells 'Gerbils!'] -- this  is *my* story, c'mon you guys... This is true, by the way, this is  incidentally a *true* story. Peter can confirm it for you [Peter Buck, wryly:  'This is indeed true.'] Must be getting old.... When he died they went back in  this part *over here* and in the closet they found these books piled up, from  the floor to the ceiling, packed in, and it was this book that he wrote and every single copy of the book that was ever printed was in there, he never  gave one away or showed it to anybody so nobody ever knew that he wrote it. He  just kept it there. And the name of the book was 'Life and How to Live It.'"  [Furious guitar intro to song.] [rgh3@cornell.edu] Life and How to Live It: "Two doors to go between the wall"    [Mekis] divided his house into two apartments, each outfitted differently, so that he always had one that fit his changing mood. [rgh3@cornell.edu] Life and How to Live It: "Keep these books well stocked away"    At his death, a closet full of copies of the book were found stashed away. [rgh3@cornell.edu] Life and How to Live It: "My carpenter's out and running about"    The carpenter is presumably doing the work of dividing the house. [rgh3@cornell.edu] Life and How to Live It: "what I have hidden there"    What's hidden is the stash of books. [rgh3@cornell.edu] Life and How to Live It: "Can't you see you made my ears go tin?"    Tin ear = deaf. [rgh3@cornell.edu] Old Man Kensey    A resident of Athens who reputedly did many of the things mentioned in the song. [rgh3@cornell.edu] * I know there's a relevant passage from ICFTS here. The reason Stipe wrote the song about him was because he was the kind of person who had a thousand and one little anecdotes about his eccentric behavior floating around. Also, he was the Rev. Howard Finster's assistant... [particle@servtech.com] Old Man Kensey: "Drink up the lake"    Perhaps a reference to 7 Chinese Bros.? [rgh3@cornell.edu] Old Man Kensey: "Old Man Kensey wants to be a dog catcher"    According to Stipe, Kensey tried to kidnap dogs once for ransom money. [rgh3@cornell.edu] Cant Get There from Here    The title is a stereotyped response of rural folks when asked for directions to someplace they don't know. [rgh3@cornell.edu] Cant Get There from Here: "Philomath they know the lowdown"     "Philomath is located between Lexington and Crawfordville and used to have its own post office."  That would be Lexington and Crawfordville, Georgia, just down the road from the town of Athens, Georgia. [m.rankin@ix.netcom.com; the quote is from the liner notes of "eponymous".] * It's in Georgia, in Oglethorpe County, southeast of Athens. [erwright@uga.cc.uga.edu] * A philomath is also one who is learned in many disciplines. [rgh3@cornell.edu] Cant Get There from Here: "Tris is sure to shirr the deers out."    Tris doesn't mean anything, but may be short for Tristram. To "shirr", according to the American Heritage Dictionary, means "To gather (cloth) into decorative rows by parallel stitching" or "To cook (unshelled eggs) by baking until set." (How these two things got filed under the same word is beyond me.) The plural of "deer" is, of course, "deer". [cafard@brainlink.com] * Someone offered a colloquial definition of "shirring deer" as meaning flushing them out of hiding for those who are hunting them. [rgh3@cornell.edu] Cant Get There from Here: "Land locked, kiss the ground"    A land locked region is one that has no access to the ocean. Kissing the ground is a traditional way to honor a place you have never been before. [rgh3@cornell.edu] * Kissing the ground also represents a symbolic way of expressing joy at returning to your native land after a long absence. [particle@servtech.com] Green Grow the Rushes    [The title] may refer to the poem, "Green Grow The Rashes," by the Scottish poet Robert Burns (1759-1796) [...] A historically-unconfirmed story says that immigrants to the New World from the British Isles were especially fond of the song, and to the Spanish born population the Anglo-Americans who sang this work song became known as "greengrows" (later shortened to "gringos"). [rgh3@cornell.edu, from the r.m.r FAQ] Green Grow the Rushes: "surplus, cheaper hands"    According to Stipe, migrant day-workers. [rgh3@cornell.edu] Green Grow the Rushes: "Pay for your freedom, find another gate"    This refers to illegal immigrants paying for passage into US; the "other gate" is presumably along the guarded US/Mexican border. [rgh3@cornell.edu] Green Grow the Rushes: "The grasses that hide the greenback"    A "greenback" is a U.S. dollar. [rgh3@cornell.edu] Green Grow the Rushes: "The amber waves of gain"    A play on the "amber waves of grain" from "America the Beautiful". [rgh3@cornell.edu] Kohoutek    [...] The song was inspired by [...] a comet first sighted on 7 March 1973 by Dr. Lubos Kohoutek, a Czech astronomer working in the Hamburg Observatory. The comet, duly named in his honour, promised to be one of the great spectacles of the century, and whipped up all kinds of End Is Nigh hysteria among the doom-mongers. In mid-January 1974, however, when it arrived at its closest point to Earth, it was revealed to be rather pale and uninteresting. [...] To add to the sense of anti-climax, it was revealed that Kohoutek would not grace our skies again for another 10 million years. [Gray, from ICFTS] Kohoutek: "Like a flyin' friend"    Presumably referring to the comet. [rgh3@cornell.edu] Kohoutek: "Scissors, paper, stone"    Refers to the children's game. [rgh3@cornell.edu] Kohoutek: "If you stand and holler, these prayers will talk"    This suggests the Biblical saying that if someone is kept quiet the very stones will cry out. [rgh3@cornell.edu] Kohoutek: "Michael built a bridge...Michael tore it down"    Presumably Michael Stipe. [rgh3@cornell.edu] Auctioneer (Another Engine): "Take this penny and make it into                               a necklace when I leave"    This refers to the tradition of making a pendant out of a penny that has been flattened on railroad tracks. [rgh3@cornell.edu] Wendell Gee    Wendell Gee was a local businessman in the Athens, Ga area. [rgh3@cornell.edu] * He was a used-car salesman, if I remember correctly. In the "Shiny Chatty People" interview, the guys say there is a little town near Athens where there are a bunch of businesses owned by people named "Gee" -- pool hall, bail bondsman, etc. "You just know it must be some kind of family," Peter says. He doesn't quite explain why they used the name in the song, though. [delcol_l@ab.edu] LIFES RICH PAGEANT Begin the Begin    The title is play on Cole Porter's song Begin the Beguine. [cafard@brainlink.com] Begin the Begin: "Birdie in the hand"    According to Mills, a middle finger gesture ("The bird"); it's also play on "A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush" (i.e., it's better to have possession of a little of something than the potential to have a lot). [rgh3@cornell.edu] Begin the Begin: "The insurgency began"    An "insurgency" is a political revolt. [rgh3@cornell.edu] Begin the Begin: "Miles Standish proud"    Miles Standish was a soldier who accompanied the Pilgrims to the New World. [rgh3@cornell.edu] Begin the Begin: "A philanderer's tie, a murderer's shoe"    A philanderer is someone who is sexually promiscuous. [rgh3@cornell.edu] * The original version of this lyric was supposed to be "a philanthropist¹s tie, a murderer's shoe", but according to Gray, Stipe "got it mixed up". [cafard@brainlink.com] Begin the Begin: "Life's rich demand creates supply in the hand                   Of the powers, the only vote that matters"    This is an echo of line 1 and wordplay on the economic "supply and demand" theory. The "only vote that matters" is presumably the "supply in the hand", economic power. [rgh3@cornell.edu] Begin the Begin: "Silence means security silence means approval"    "Silence means security" was a WWII slogan. [rgh3@cornell.edu] * I believe this predates the AIDS slogan "Silence = Death". [cafard@brainlink.com] Begin the Begin: "On Zenith, on the TV, tiger run around the tree                   Follow the leader, run and turn into butter"    It's a direct reference to the book [Little Black Sambo].  Though it may sound politically incorrect in the '90's, "Little Black Sambo" displayed both the universal struggle of man against nature and the universal appeal of pancakes. [William_T._Anderson@learnlink.emory.edu] * I'd imagine [it refers] to watching a cartoon of the story on tv. [...] The story as I recall it is that to avoid being attacked by the tiger, Sambo gets the tiger chasing him around the tree and then jumps out of the whirlwind (seems to me Bugs Bunny used to pull this stunt a lot too); the tiger, being butter-colored after all, after churning around and around the tree, turns into butter -- not only unthreatening, but nutritious!  Sambo's mother makes breakfast and they eat the butter on his griddle cakes. (Hence Wm's comments above about pancakes...) [rgh3@cornell.edu] * "Zenith" is both a brand of TV set and a word meaning "a culminating point or peak". [cafard@brainlink.com] * Follow the leader is a children's game of blind obedience to the leader. [rgh3@cornell.edu] Begin the Begin: "like Martin Luther Zen"    Martin Luther lead Protestant protest against Catholicism. Zen is an Eastern philosophy of non-attachment to material world. [rgh3@cornell.edu] These Days: "(Take away the scattered bones of my meal)"    This is a line from a Patti Smith song (?). [rgh3@cornell.edu] Fall On Me: "Feathers hit the ground before the weight can leave the air"    bury magneyts ha. its a ref. to the towrer of pisa and some exper. about dropping lead weights and feathers. but you all knew that. [Stipe, on AOL] Fall On Me: "Bargain buildings"    I.e., unsafely built buildings. [rgh3@cornell.edu] Fall On Me: "It's gonna fall"    This is a reference to the Chicken Little story, where Chicken Little gets hit on the head with something and assumes it was a piece of the sky, and runs around telling everyone that the sky is falling. [cafard@brainlink.com] Fall On Me: "(melt the statues in the park)"    An acid rain reference. [rgh3@cornell.edu] Cuyahoga    Cuyahoga is a native American tribe and river in northern Ohio. [rgh3@cornell.edu] Cuyahoga: "start a new country up"    I.e., American replacement of native culture with a new country. [rgh3@cornell.edu] Cuyahoga: "we burned the river down"    The Cuyahoga River in Cleveland caught fire in the 1970's, fueled by the massive pollutants. [rgh3@cornell.edu] Hyena: "The only thing to fear is fearlessness"    An inversion of Franklin Roosevelt's phrase "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself". [rgh3@cornell.edu] Flowers of Guatemala    In a nutshell, the CIA overthrew a democratically-elected government because it was restricting U.S. corporate interests (The United Fruit Company) there.  That happened in the 1950s under Eisenhower.  Since then, the CIA has supported and planted a succession of military dictators in power.    Those dictators and the military machines they upheld have slaughtered a total of 110,000 Guatemalan peasants over the years.  All documented by human rights groups, though not (surprise, surprise) by the U.S. press. [bery@uclink2.berkeley.edu] Flowers of Guatemala: "Amanita is the name"    Amanita is a scientific name, the genus of the most poisonous mushrooms in the world. [wjboelem@mtu.edu] * I remember that one species of Amanita (A. muscaria) is used to induce hallucinations, tho these visions stem from the delirium induced by the severe illness ingesting these things cause. [hooverdam4@aol.com] Flowers of Guatemala: "The flowers cover everything"    According to Stipe, the flowers on graves of the dead killed by the government. [rgh3@cornell.edu] I Believe: "When I was young and full of grace"    "Grace" is divine influence in a person. [rgh3@cornell.edu] * It also means effortless charm or beauty. [cafard@brainlink.com] I Believe: "and spirited--a rattlesnake."    "Spiriting a rattlesnake" refers to snake handling Christian cults of US Appalachian region who incorporate the handling of poisonous snakes into services as fulfillment of Biblical verse about the holy taming the serpent. [rgh3@cornell.edu] I Believe: "on your honor"    This is taken from a Boy Scout oath. [rgh3@cornell.edu] I Believe: "I believe in coyotes"    "Coyote" being the wild canine, but also the Native American holy trickster spirit. [rgh3@cornell.edu] I Believe: "What you want and what you need"    See also Finest Worksong. [rgh3@cornell.edu] I Believe: "the horns of the day"    That is, dawn and dusk. [rgh3@cornell.edu] * According to Gray, the original version of this lyric was "the hours of the day", but someone misread Stipe's handwriting, and Stipe preferred the new version. [cafard@brainlink.com] I Believe: "Silly rule golden words make"    This refers to the Golden Rule, "Treat others as you would have them treat you". C.f previous line: "Think of others and the others will think of you." [rgh3@cornell.edu] I Believe: "Perfect is a fault, and fault lines change"    This is word-play linking fault=character flaw to fault=geologic seam. [rgh3@cornell.edu] I Believe: "Example is the checker to the key"    The "checker" is a Checker Marathon cab, which Stipe drove, but according to Stipe not significant except for rhythm and sound of line. [rgh3@cornell.edu] I Believe: "And I believe the poles are shifting"    Major geologic and climactic shifts in the Earth's history have been accompanied by a reversal of the north and south magnetic poles. [rgh3@cornell.edu] Just a Touch    According to Stipe, "Just a Touch" was the name of the show of an Elvis impersonator. [rgh3@cornell.edu] * The show apparently took place right when Elvis died. [cafard@brainlink.com] Just a Touch: "Women in black"               "Kevin heard it on the radio", etc.    [These] bits reference Elvis' death. The title of the song (and the irony which probably lead to its writing) came from the poster advertising the event, which said "Is it the King...or just a touch?" [particle@servtech.com] Just a Touch: "I can't see where to worship Popeye, love Al Green"    Popeye is the comedic/heroic cartoon character. Al Green is a soul and gospel singer. [rgh3@cornell.edu] Just a Touch: "I'm so young, I'm so god damn young"    Taken from [Patti Smith's] song "Privelige (Set Me Free)" [rgh3@cornell.edu] Swan Swan H    I have a live version where Michael Stipe says "This next song is about a part of our American history that was very, very ugly." [cb2749@student.law.duke.edu] * According to Stipe the song inspired by a book of post-civil war correspondence of former slaves. [rgh3@cornell.edu] Swan Swan H: "Johnny Reb, what's the price of fans"    Johnny Reb was the name that Northern Troops used to refer to the Rebels in the South. [erankin@sallie.wellesley.edu] * It's the southern answer to Yankee Doodle. [rgh3@cornell.edu] Swan Swan H: "Some bone chains and toothpicks?"    "Bone chains and toothpicks" are rather gruesome souvenirs made from casualties' bones. [bellaire@cs.tulane.edu] Swan Swan H: "Here's your wooden greenback"    A greenback is US (Union) currency. [See also Green Grow the Rushes.] "Wooden" suggests fake. [rgh3@cornell.edu] Swan Swan H: "Wooden beams and dovetail sweep"    A "dovetail" is a joint between two wooden beams with interlocking tongue and grooves (tenon and mortises). [rgh3@cornell.edu] * If it means anything, guitars have dovetail joints. [cafard@brainlink.com] Swan Swan H: "The whiskey is water, the water is wine"    See "Water from wine" under How the West Was Won... Swan Swan H: "Six in one, half dozen the other"    "Six of one, half dozen of the other" is colloquial for "it's all the same". [rgh3@cornell.edu] Superman    Comic book hero with super powers such as X-ray vision and flight. [rgh3@cornell.edu] DEAD LETTER OFFICE Burning Down: "Going under but they've got your goat"    To "go under" is to suffer defeat or to fail; to "get one's goat" is to make one angry. [cafard@brainlink.com] Voice of Harold    Stipe used the liner notes to a gospel album in the studio during the recording of _Reckoning_ with the same backing music track as "Seven Chinese Brothers." [...]  If you are familiar with the lyrics, you can now see that Stipe didn't sing the entire text, and what he did sing wasn't always in sequence. [rgh3@cornell.edu, from the r.m.r FAQ] Ages of You: "Pristine indigo without"    For indigo, see Find the River. Bandwagon    According to the American Heritage Dictionary, a bandwagon is "[...] An elaborately decorated wagon used to transport musicians in a parade [or a] cause or party that attracts increasing numbers of adherents [or a] current trend." [cafard@brainlink.com] DOCUMENT Finest Worksong: "To throw Thoreau"    "Throw" in the sense of "reject". Henry David Thoreau was an American naturalist and essayist who advocated withdrawal from urban life and structured labor for simpler rural existence. [rgh3@cornell.edu] Finest Worksong: "What we want and what we need"    See also I Believe. [rgh3@cornell.edu] Welcome to the Occupation: "Hang your collar up inside"    Perhaps a clerical collar? [rgh3@cornell.edu] Welcome to the Occupation: "Listen to the causeway"    A causeway is a raised highway. [rgh3@cornell.edu] Welcome to the Occupation: "Sugar cane and coffee"    These are major crops of Central America. [rgh3@cornell.edu] Welcome to the Occupation: "Copper, steel and cattle"    These are major products of North America. [rgh3@cornell.edu] Welcome to the Occupation: "the forest for the fire"    A play on "can't see the forest for the trees". [rgh3@cornell.edu] Exhuming McCarthy    To "exhume" is to dig up the remains of the dead. Joseph McCarthy was a right wing Senator who led anti-Communist witch hunt in the 1950's and who wrongly accused many Americans of treason. [rgh3@cornell.edu] Exhuming McCarthy: "Loyal to the Bank of America"    The Bank of America is a giant banking corporation. [rgh3@cornell.edu] Exhuming McCarthy: "You're sharpening stones, walking on coals"     Sharpening stones as in making primitive spear heads. Walking on coals is a test of bravery. [rgh3@cornell.edu] Exhuming McCarthy: "To improve your business acumen"    "Acumen" is knowledge and skill. [rgh3@cornell.edu] Exhuming McCarthy: "Vested interest united ties, landed gentry rationalize"    Vested interest as in owned share, as in a company. The landed gentry is the land-owning upper class. To rationalize is to invent seemingly plausible but false explanations for one's culpable actions, esp. by finding a way to blame others. [rgh3@cornell.edu] Exhuming McCarthy: "by jingo"    A colloquial interjection of agreement; also, jingo=chauvanistic patriotism. [rgh3@cornell.edu] Exhuming McCarthy: "Enemy sighted, enemy met"    Military jargon for attacking the enemy. [rgh3@cornell.edu] Exhuming McCarthy: "I'm addressing the realpolitik"    According to the American Heritage Dictionary, realpolitik is "a usually expansionist national policy having as its sole principle advancement of the national interest." [cafard@brainlink.com] Exhuming McCarthy: "Let us not.."    "...the spoken-word middle eight, lifted from a McCarthy documentary the band watched during the album's mixing stage.  The film, _Point of Order_, takes as its climax a key moment during the televised army-McCarthy hearings of 1954 (the Senator was engaged in trying to root out subversives in the armed forces).    "On June 9th, McCarthy repeatedly tried to ruin, by associating him with a left wing group, a young law associate of the Army counsel Joseph N. Welch. The associate was not involved in the hearings, and Welch replied to McCarthy's irrelevant and spiteful harangues thus: 'Let us not assassinate this lad further, Senator. You have done enough.  Have you no sense of decency, sir?  At long last, have you no sense of decency?'" [Gray, from ICFTS, as quoted by rgh3@cornell.edu in the r.m.r FAQ] Exhuming McCarthy: "(Meet me at the book burning)"    Book burnings were political rallies of the 1950-60's by conservatives to destroy books and records that were considered either morally or politically dangerous. [rgh3@cornell.edu] Disturbance at the Heron House: "A meeting of a mean idea to hold"    See also King of Birds. [rgh3@cornell.edu] It's the End of the World...: "Lenny Bruce is not afraid"    Lenny Bruce was a controversial American comedian. [rgh3@cornell.edu] It's the End of the World...: "with the furies breathing down your neck"    The Furies are mythological figures. [rgh3@cornell.edu] It's the End of the World...: "listen to your heart bleed"    As in, "Bleeding heart", a phrase for one who believes in liberal social programs. [rgh3@cornell.edu] It's the End of the World...: "with the rapture"    The "rapture" is the salvation of the faithful at the end of the world. [rgh3@cornell.edu] It's the End of the World...: "You vitriolic"    "Vitriolic" means sharply critical. [rgh3@cornell.edu] * See also Ignoreland. It's the End of the World...: "light a votive"    A "votive" is something done in remembrance (like lighting a candle in a church) or accompanying a vow. [rgh3@cornell.edu] It's the End of the World...: "this means no fear cavalier"    To be "cavalier" means to be haughty or offhand. [rgh3@cornell.edu] * A cavalier is also a mounted soldier, or a gentleman escort to a woman of high status. [cafard@brainlink.com] It's the End of the World...: "continental drift"    This is the very slow movement of parts of the Earth's crust. [rgh3@cornell.edu] It's the End of the World...: "Leonard Bernstein.  Leonid Brezhnev,                                Lenny Bruce and Lester Bangs."    This part of the song was inspired by a dream Stipe had in which he was at a party where everyone's initials were L.B. [cafard@brainlink.com] * Leonard Bernstein was a famous classical conductor [and composer]. Leonard Brezhnev was the former leader of Soviet Union. Lester Bangs was a 1970's rock music essayist. [rgh3@cornell.edu] Fireplace    The lines derived from speech given by (Mother Jones?) [rgh3@cornell.edu] Lightnin' Hopkins    I.e., Sam Hopkins, blues legend. [rgh3@cornell.edu] Lightnin' Hopkins: "When I lay myself to sleep pray that I don't go too deep"    A reference to the prayer "Now I may me down to sleep. I pray the Lord my soul to keep. And if I die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take". This is not, I believe, from the Bible, but is probably in the Book of Common Prayer. [dnooter@haverford.edu] Lightnin' Hopkins: "pan the track"    "Panning" is a film term for slow sweep across a scene. [rgh3@cornell.edu] Lightnin' Hopkins: "Close up hands"    "Closeup" is another film term; much of the song reads like film notes. [rgh3@cornell.edu] King of Birds    The title refers to Aesop's Fable; perhaps also to Dr. Seuss's "Yertle the Turtle". [rgh3@cornell.edu] * The most likely source of inspiration for 'King of Birds', however, is William Wharton's book _Birdy_, which Michael had read on the UK leg of the Reconstruction tour in 1985. [Gray, ICFTS] King of Birds: "A thumbnail sketch, a jeweler's stone"    A thumbnail sketch, in art, is a small preliminary sketch. A jeweler's stone is used in cutting of precious gems. [rgh3@cornell.edu] King of Birds: "A mean idea to call my own"    See also Heron House. [rgh3@cornell.edu] King of Birds: "Standing on the shoulders of giants leaves me cold"    Though usually attributed to Newton, [this quote] is not his originally. The following appeared in "The Decline and Fall of Footnotes" by Bruce Anderson, in _Stanford_: [...] As Sir Isaac Newton modestly noted in a letter to Robert Hooks. "If I have seen further [than you and Descartes] it is by standing upon the shoulders of Giants." [Footnote:] Not only did Newton's work build on that of others, his comment to Hooke did, too.  This aphorism was apparently a commonplace in the 17th century.  It has been used for almost 2,000 years, by writers ranging from Lucan to George Herbert, from Bernard of Chartes to Samuel Taylor Coleridge.  Robert K. Merton explored it fully in his short book, _On The Shoulders of Giants: A Shandean Postscript_ (Free Press, 1965). [calbear@po.EECS.Berkeley.EDU] King of Birds: "Singer sing me a given"    See Little America. King of Birds: "my kingdom for a voice"    See also Shakespeare's King Richard III, V.iv:7, "A horse! a horse! my kingdom for a horse!" [cafard@brainlink.com] Oddfellows Local 151    An Oddfellows Local is a branch of a large fraternal organization Independent Order of Odd Fellows. 151 is the alcohol proof content of a strong brand of rum. [rgh3@cornell.edu] Oddfellows Local 151: "Peewee gathered up his proof"    Peewee, according to Stipe/Buck, was a real vagrant who lived in his car in Athens. "Proof" here plays with its meanings of "a supporting argument" and of "the amount of alcohol in liquor". [rgh3@cornell.edu] GREEN You are the Everything: "(say, say, the light)"    The background "Save save your life" in "You are the Everything" [...] is (according to Stipey@AOL.com) from a line of Eliz Frazer of the Cocteau Twins. [rgh3@cornell.edu] You Are the Everything: "Eviscerate your memory"    To eviscerate is to disembowel; that is, to remove the innards of. [cafard@brainlink.com] * Stipey had referred to the way many people wrote songs which poured out their deepest emotions as "gut-spilling" and possibly "eviscerating" before (in reference to why the early lyrics were so impersonal). [particle@servtech.com] You Are the Everything: "You're in the backseat laying down"    Stipe has said that when he wrote it he was thinking about how peaceful it was to ride in the backseat of your car with your parents, and how trusting he always was at that moment [ethank@gte.net] You Are the Everything: "...you're drifting off to sleep                          With your teeth in your mouth"    [This] refers to falling asleep with your dentures still in. [particle@servtech.com] World Leader Pretend: "It's high time I've razed the walls"    This song plays with "raise" and "raze", which are homonymic antonyms. [rgh3@cornell.edu] The Wrong Child    The song was written by Stipe after he read an article in the newspaper about a burn-victim's (a child) first outing and reintroduction into outside life. [nauthiz@ix.netcom.com] Orange Crush   It derives (at least in part) its title from Agent Orange, a chemical dropped on the forests of Vietnam as a defoliant to reveal enemy positions and roads. Environmentally speaking, it was a huge disaster, directly affecting pristine tropical rain forest in ways napalm never could--literally killing off a good deal of unique flora and fauna, as well as polluting streams and rivers, eventually winding up in the bodies of native Vietnamese. As a dioxin, Agent Orange is able to affect people (and nature) in long term ways. I don't have statistics, but I do know that in some parts of Vietnam, incidences of miscarriage and spine and neural defects are (or were) so common, that populations have declined. [bstephenson@jack.clarku.edu] * Literally, Orange Crush is a brand of soft drink; also, perhaps colloquial for heroin? [rgh3@cornell.edu] Hairshirt    yes a hairshirt is a real thing, and yes it has religious connotations and yes it is a painful garment and yes it is like a inverted fur shirt with really rough fur and yes several saints in the roman catholic canon were hairshirt wearers because somehow inducing pain brought them closer to gd. go figure.  polyester makes me itch as it is, so why in the hell would i wear it inside out? [mdshriver@aol.com] Hairshirt: "Run a carbon-black test on my jaw"    Carbon-black is a  pigment (suggests beard stubble?), also used in filtration; also, by association with the word "test", the carbon-dating process by which ancient objects are dated. [rgh3@cornell.edu] I Remember California: "I remember redwood trees, bumper cars and wolverines"    A "wolverine" is a type of (missile/jet?); also, shaggy mammal of weasel family. [rgh3@cornell.edu] I Remember California: "The ocean's Trident submarines"    A Trident is a model of nuclear-powered submarine carrying ICBM missiles. [rgh3@cornell.edu] I Remember California: "Lemons, limes and tangerines"    These are citrus fruits that grow in California but not in Stipe's native Georgia. [rgh3@cornell.edu] I Remember California: "Progress fails pacific sense"    Pacific as in the ocean, but also, literally, "calm" [or "peaceful"]. [rgh3@cornell.edu] OUT OF TIME Radio Song: "The world is collapsing"    This is perhaps a paraphrase of "It's the end of the world as we know it". [rgh3@cornell.edu] Losing My Religion    ["Losing my religion" is] a southern phrase meaning something like "I'm at the end of my tether". [mills@iafrica.com] * i guess pop.notion was that lmr was autobiographical.in fact, i was just trying to top everybreathe you take for obsessive love song. [Stipe, on AOL] Low: "in a still frame"    This is a film term for an un-moving camera shot. [rgh3@cornell.edu] Belong: "Her world collapsed"    See also Radio Song. [rgh3@cornell.edu] Belong: "Those creatures jumped the barricades          and have headed for the sea"    Reminiscent of lemmings' mass suicide. [rgh3@cornell.edu] Belong: "Opened the window"    According to Stipe, the song is "not about defenestration". [rgh3@cornell.edu] Texarkana    Texarkana is a border town between Texas and Arkansas; "-arkana" is perhaps reminiscent of "arcane". [rgh3@cornell.edu] * [It's] a play on the work "arcana," which refers to forgotten or mysterious lore. [particle@servtech.com] Country Feedback: "EST, psychics, fuck all"    The Est in "Country Feedback" is probably the self-assertiveness encounter therapy called EST, which stood for "Erhard Sensitivity Training".  A man, Werner Erhard, in the seventies, concocted weekend "self-improvement" seminars to make people "tougher" and more "responsible." He made tons of money by locking large groups of future yuppies in Holiday Inn convention rooms, yelling at them a lot, and refusing to let them leave, even to go to the bathroom. [rgh3@cornell.edu, from the r.m.r FAQ] Me In Honey    Written as a response to 10,000 Maniacs's song Eat For Two. [cafard@brainlink.com] AUTOMATIC FOR THE PEOPLE Drive: "Smack, crack, bushwhacked."    Smack [i.e., heroin] and crack are [narcotics]. "Bushwhacked" literally means ambushed, but is also a play on the then-current conservative President's name, Bush. [rgh3@cornell.edu] Drive: "Tie another one to the racks"    The rack was a medieval torture device. [rgh3@cornell.edu] Drive: "Hey kids, rock and roll."    This is a quote of 1970's hit "Rock On". [rgh3@cornell.edu] Drive: "What if you rock around the clock?"    "Rock around the clock" is a quote from a 1950's Bill Hailey hit. [rgh3@cornell.edu] Drive: "Ollie ollie in come free"    This is a line from children's Tag game; also, Oliver North, conservative military strategist implicated in the Iran Contra "guns for drugs" scandal. [rgh3@cornell.edu] Drive: "Tie another one to your back"    As in, monkey on your back, colloquial for addiction. [rgh3@cornell.edu] Try Not to Breathe: "I need something to fly over my grave again."    This refers to a folk saying that when you get a chill an angel has flown over your grave. [rgh3@cornell.edu] The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite    The title is a play on the folk song title, "Lion Sleeps Tonight (Wimoweh)". [rgh3@cornell.edu] * R.E.M. has covered "The Lion Sleeps Tonight", and the opening vocalise is from that song. (In fact, they couldn't get the rights to put those notes in the songbook, so it's listed as "vocal ad lib." instead.) [cafard@brainlink.com] The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite: "The sidewinder sleeps, sleeps, sleeps in a coil"    A sidewinder is a small rattlesnake that moves in an odd looping motion. It's also a type of punch. [cafard@brainlink.com] * The "sidewinder" is a funny metaphor for a telephone cord. [sgallion@aol.com] * A rattlesnake indigenous to the Arizona region of the United States, or an air-to-air missile, 5 feet in length with a top speed of about mach 3. Used on Navy airplanes and other military planes and helicopters. Known as Fox 3 (I think) when fired. [ethank@murmurs.com] The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite: "You can't lay a patch by computer design."    A patch is a fix to a mistake in a computer program or hardware system. [rgh3@cornell.edu] The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite: "a reading of Doctor Seuss"    Dr. Seuss was a children's book author. [rgh3@cornell.edu] * Stipe laughs after this line because he had kept pronouncing the name "Zeus" on previous takes. [cafard@brainlink.com] The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite: "The cat in the hat came back"    The Cat in the Hat is a Dr. Seuss character. [rgh3@cornell.edu] Monty Got a Raw Deal    Monty refers to Montgomery Clift, actor. [rgh3@cornell.edu] Monty Got a Raw Deal: "I saw you strung up in a tree."    Strung up in a tree as in martyred. [rgh3@cornell.edu] * As can be seen in the Far Side where deputies commanded to "string him up" stick the outlaw in a huge ball of string, to "string someone up" means to hang them. [particle@servtech.com] * I think it's more like "lynched" than "hanged" "martyred". [cafard@brainlink.com] Monty Got a Raw Deal: "for the silver screen"    "The silver screen" is metonymous for "the movies". [cafard@brainlink.com] Monty Got a Raw Deal: "Put this on your reel to reel."    A reel to reel is a type of movie projector (?) or tape recorder. [rgh3@cornell.edu] Ignoreland: "the Us v. Them years"    Presumably the Cold War. [rgh3@cornell.edu] Ignoreland: "The undermining social democratic downhill slide"    Social democratic refers to a left wing political party (socialist). [rgh3@cornell.edu] Ignoreland: "into the trickle down runoff pool"    "Trickle-down" is an economic theory of the 1980's conservatives that huge profits by the very rich would "trickle down" to eventually benefit the working class. [rgh3@cornell.edu] Ignoreland: "Nineteen seventy-nine"    The year of [the start of] the Presidential election [campaign] between Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan. [rgh3@cornell.edu] Ignoreland: "Defense, defense, defense, defense."    A play on a football cheer (Reagan played the Gipper, a football coach, in a movie role), as well as national military Defense, which Reagan advocated strengthening in winning his election. [rgh3@cornell.edu] Ignoreland: "The information nation took their clues              from all the sound-bite gluttons."    A major economic shift of the 1980-1990's is from an industrial economy (one based on primarily on manufacturing) to one more based on information and service economies. A "sound-bite" is, colloquially, short clips of news events that convey no substance of a political issue. [rgh3@cornell.edu] Ignoreland: "Nineteen eighty, eighty-four, eighty-eight, ninety-two"    These were election years. [rgh3@cornell.edu] Ignoreland: "How to be what you can be"    "Be [all that] you can be" is a recruiting ad jingle for U.S. Army. [rgh3@cornell.edu] * Stipe sang the "Be all that you can be" theme just before Orange Crush on the Green tour. [particle@servtech.com] Ignoreland: "How to walk in dignity with throw-up on your shoes"    President Bush fell ill during a visit to Japan and vomited at a state dinner. [rgh3@cornell.edu] Ignoreland: "They amplified the autumn"    The autumn is the presidential campaign season. [rgh3@cornell.edu] Ignoreland: "Calculate the capital"    "Capital" is economic wealth. [rgh3@cornell.edu] * It's also "capital" as in a seat of government, i.e. Washington, D.C. [cafard@brainlink.com] Ignoreland: "I know that this is vitriol.  No solution, spleen-venting"    "Vitriol" is harsh criticism. [See also It's the End of the World...] "spleen-venting" refers to ridding oneself of ill-moods. [rgh3@cornell.edu] Ignoreland: "They desecrated winter, Nineteen seventy-nine."    Winter is the season in which Presidential election is held. [rgh3@cornell.edu] * Except of course that the Carter/Reagan election took place in 1980. [cafard@brainlink.com] Ignoreland: "Capital collateral"    "Collateral" are finances securing a loan. [rgh3@cornell.edu] Star Me Kitten    The "star" is a play on the fact that vulgar language is often edited out with stars/asterisks. [The actual line in the song is "Fuck me kitten".] [rgh3@cornell.edu] Man on the Moon: "Mott the Hoople and the game of Life."    Mott the Hoople is a 1970's rock band ("All the Young Dudes"). [rgh3@cornell.edu] * Life is a game where you go through life and try to earn as much money as possible. [cafard@brainlink.com] Man on the Moon: "Andy Kaufman in the wrestling match."    Andy Kaufman was 1970's comedian/performance artist. [rgh3@cornell.edu] * At one point, he went around challenging women to wrestle him (for cash, IIRC). Kaufman would then wrestle the women violently. [cafard@brainlink.com] Man on the Moon: "Monopoly, Twenty one, checkers, and chess."    These are all games. [rgh3@cornell.edu] Man on the Moon: "Mister Fred Blassie in a breakfast mess."    Fred Blassie was Andy Kaufman's manager. Kaufman made a short film called "My Breakfast with Freddie". [rgh3@cornell.edu] Man on the Moon: "Let's play Twister, let's play Risk."    Yet more games from the 1970's. [rgh3@cornell.edu] Man on the Moon: "See you heaven if you make the list."    That is, St Peter's list of those who get into heaven. [rgh3@cornell.edu] Man on the Moon: "Hey Andy are you goofing on Elvis?"    One of Kaufman's routines was an Elvis impersonation. [rgh3@cornell.edu] Man on the Moon: "If you believed they put a man on the moon"    Referring to a belief by some people at the time of the 1970's moon landings that they were staged by the government. [rgh3@cornell.edu] Man on the Moon: "Moses went walking with the stalk of wood"    I can't decide whether it was Moses or Charlton Heston who wandered the desert parting seas with the cool walking staff.  (I think it must have been Chuck.) Not that I would put it past JMS to allude to a Biblical scene via a popular film like _The Ten Commandments_, esp in this song. Oh, wait, here... I didn't even have to look very long to find the parting of the Red Sea episode: "The Lord said to Moses... 'And you shall raise high your staff, stretch out your hand over the sea, and cleave it in two so that the Israelites can pass through the sea on dry ground.'" Maybe it would be enough to say that Moses taking off from the center of the civilized world at the time (i.e. Egypt) on some seemingly bizarre idealistic wild-goose-chase resonates well with MotM's themes of truth, illusion, law, and identity. [rgh3@cornell.edu] Man on the Moon: "Newton got beaned by the apple good."    Referring to a folk story that Isaac Newton conceived of the idea for the laws of gravity after an apple fell out of a tree and hit him on the head. [rgh3@cornell.edu] Man on the Moon: "Egypt was troubled by the horrible asp."    Perhaps referring to the punishment by plague of asps (snakes) for having enslaved Israelites? [rgh3@cornell.edu] Man on the Moon: "Mister Charles Darwin had the gall to ask."    Charles Darwin developed the theory of natural selection. [rgh3@cornell.edu] * Live, this line is often changed to "had the balls to ask". [cafard@brainlink.com] Man on the Moon: "Here's a little agit for the never-believer."    Agit-prop (agitation-propaganda) is language designed to agitate people. [rgh3@cornell.edu] Man on the Moon: "Here's a truck stop instead of Saint Peter's."    St. Peter's is a famous cathedral. [rgh3@cornell.edu] * This may also be referring to the gates of heaven, where St. Peter holds the list of who gets in. [cafard@brainlink.com] Find the River: "bayberry moon"    "Bayberry" is a reddish pink tint. [rgh3@cornell.edu] * It's also the name of a small fruit whose waxy covering is used to make fragrant candles. [cafard@brainlink.com] Find the River: "We're closer now than light years to go."    A light year is the distance light travels in a year, approximately 9.46 trillion (9.46 x 10^12) kilometers or 5.88 trillion (5.88 x 10^12) miles. [cafard@brainlink.com] Find the River: "bergamot and vetiver"    Bergamot is a fruit (a rather ugly one) whose core is used in perfumes. Vetiver is a kind of grass whose roots are used in perfumes. [jrs999@nwu.edu] * Bergamot is a citrus fruit used in perfume making and as a flavoring agent. Most people are familiar with it as the stuff that makes Earl Grey Tea taste so good. [dillo@ohww.firmware.com] * Bergamot- an orange with a pear-shaped fruit whose rind yields an essential oil in perfumery: or any of several mints. Vetiver- khuskhus; also the oil made from the khuskhus root, used in perfumes and soaps. [document@ix.netcom.com] * There's apparently a bergamot pear and a bergamot mint as well as the bergamot citron everyone knows and loves. The citron is what's used in perfume. [cafard@brainlink.com] Find the River: "Ginger, lemon, indigo"    Ginger is a spice/root used in cooking and perfume. Indigo is a dark purple dye. [rgh3@cornell.edu] Find the River: "Coriander stem and rose of hay"    Coriander is a herb of carrot family with aromatic fruit. [dyancey@ix.netcom.com] MONSTER What's the Frequency, Kenneth?    The title of the song itself, it needs to be explained, refers indirectly to the incident in  Oct. 1986 in which Dan Rather, anchor for C.B.S.'s network news broadcast, was attacked by two unknown men in the street in New York City wearing suits and sunglasses.  The men kept asking Rather "What is the frequency?" and called him "Kenneth" while they shoved and accosted him; to date the incident has never been explained completely (though some have theorized that "Kenneth" might be Ken Schafer, an electronics expert with whom Rather had worked in connection with Soviet TV broadcasts).  Since the incident, "What's the frequency?" and calling a clueless person a "kenneth" have become a trendy youth culture catch-phrases (which is probably, why Stipe wanted to use it, rather than an interest in Rather). [rgh3@cornell.edu, from the r.m.r FAQ] What's the Frequency, Kenneth?: "is your Benzedrine"    ben-ze-drine(n.) amphetamine, a derivative of ephedrine, used as an inhalant to relieve nasal congestion, and as a stimulant of the central nervous system. [boink@usa.pipeline.com] What's the Frequency, Kenneth?: "an idiot's dream"    Compare Macbeth, "life is like a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing". [rgh3@cornell.edu] What's the Frequency, Kenneth?: "Richard said, 'Withdrawal in disgust...'"    A quote from Richard Linklater, director of the film _Slacker_ [rgh3@cornell.edu, from the r.m.r FAQ] What's the Frequency, Kenneth?: "tooth for a tooth"    This is from a Biblical saying that wrongs must be retaliated with like reaction ("an eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth"). [rgh3@cornell.edu] What's the Frequency, Kenneth?: "You wore a shirt of violent green"    The "shirt of violent green" mentioned in the lyric may by a reference to a Spider Robinson short story entitled "Lady Slings the Booze," which also makes use of the phrase "What's the frequency, Kenneth?" [rgh3@cornell.edu, from the r.m.r FAQ] Crush with Eyeliner: "She's three miles of bad road"    "Three miles of bad road" is colloquial for "a rough woman". [rgh3@cornell.edu] Crush with Eyeliner: "Oh my kiss breath turpentine"    Turpentine is a strong smelling solvent. [rgh3@cornell.edu] Crush with Eyeliner: "I'm in like."    "In like", as opposed to "in love". [rgh3@cornell.edu] I Don't Sleep, I Dream: "Are you coming to ease my headache?"    Playing off the old excuse for not having sex: "I have a headache". In fact, there was a study a few years ago that showed that having sex was in fact a good way to get rid of a headache. [cafard@brainlink.com] Star 69    * 69 is a telephone service that allows one to call back the last party that called your number. [rgh3@cornell.edu] * The reference to the sexual act of 69ing is probably intentionally misleading. [cafard@brainlink.com] Star 69: "what you've done is ignoramus 103"    Ignoramus 103, as in a law school course to teach you about being an ignoramus. [rgh3@cornell.edu] Star 69: "petty larceny"    "[Petty] larceny" is theft of less than $500 (?), as opposed to grand larceny. [rgh3@cornell.edu] Star 69: "I know squirrelys didn't chew the wires"    According to Lin Wright on rmr, the Univ of Ga had many communications problems due to wires chewed partially through by squirrels. [rgh3@cornell.edu] Star 69: "I don't like to tell-tell but I'm not your patsy."   To "tell tell" is to be a "tattle-tale". A "patsy" is a colloquial term for one who takes the blame for another. [rgh3@cornell.edu] Star 69: "why'd you put your quarter down on me?"   That is, why'd you spend 25 cents, the cost of a phone call. [rgh3@cornell.edu] Star 69: "this reads like some dork inside edition hard copy."    Inside Edition and Hard Copy are tabloid television "news" shows. [rgh3@cornell.edu] Star 69: "I can't be your character witness"  A "character witness" is a witness in a trial who testifies that the defendant is trustworthy. [rgh3@cornell.edu] Star 69: "we learned spy vs. spy"   Spy vs. Spy is the Mad magazine comic where two spy characters plot endlessly to destroy each other. [rgh3@cornell.edu] Strange Currencies    A "currency" is any medium of exchange. [rgh3@cornell.edu] Strange Currencies: "the fool might be my middle name"   The Fool, in myth and Tarot symbols, is an Everyman who naively goes through life unaware of the larger forces around him. [rgh3@cornell.edu] Strange Currencies: "I tripped and fell."    On the Tarot card, the Fool is about to trip over a ledge and fall to his death. [rgh3@cornell.edu] Tongue: "90 to nothing"    This is colloquial for "all out, full speed". [rgh3@cornell.edu] Tongue: "you want a room with a fire escape."    Presumably as an alternative exit to an apartment. [rgh3@cornell.edu] Tongue: "caramel turn on a dusty apology."    "Caramel" in the sense of overly sweet; literally, caramel is a concentrated sugar candy. [rgh3@cornell.edu] I Took Your Name: "I signed your living will"     A "living will" is arrangements for one's death made beforehand, witnessed and countersigned by family or friends. [rgh3@cornell.edu] I Took Your Name: "I'm ready to close the book on NASA in outer space"    "NASA" runs the American space program. [cafard@brainlink.com] * [NASA stands for] National Aeronautics and Space Administration. [rgh3@cornell.edu] I Took Your Name: "I sequenced your arrival"    "Sequenced" in the sense of "scheduled". [rgh3@cornell.edu] I Took Your Name: "erased your master tape"    The master is what a commercial recording is made from. [rgh3@cornell.edu] I Took Your Name: "I wrote the sales pitch"    A sales pitch is an argument made by salesman to sell something. [rgh3@cornell.edu] I Took Your Name: "I threw the brake switch"    A brake switch is a lever in a locomotive that activates the brake. [rgh3@cornell.edu] I Took Your Name: "daddy roth car"    A car like the exaggerated dragsters and race cars drawn by comic artist "Daddy" Roth. [rgh3@cornell.edu] I Took Your Name: "I crossed your great divide"    A great divide is a point in a continental mountain range where the rivers being flowing toward the other ocean. [rgh3@cornell.edu] I Took Your Name: "I'll be your albatross"    An albatross is a symbol of punishment or burden; from the Coleridge poem "Rime of the Ancient Mariner" [rgh3@cornell.edu] I Took Your Name: "I don't wanna be Iggy Pop"    Iggy Pop is a sensational early punk singer. [rgh3@cornell.edu] Let Me In: "Yeah, all those stars drip down like butter"    Compare Patti Smith's "Birdland": "It was if someone had spread butter on all the fine points of the stars/ 'Cause when he looked up they started to slip." [rgh3@cornell.edu] Circus Envy: "My pyro acrobat ball and chain"    "Pyro" as in pyromaniac, one who loves fire. [rgh3@cornell.edu] Circus Envy: "I'm getting tired of your dodgeball circus act"    Dodgeball is a children's game where you remove members of the opposing team by throwing a dense rubber ball as hard and fast as possible at them. [cafard@brainlink.com] Circus Envy: "The strong man kicked sand"    This alludes to comic book ads for [1950's?] Charles Atlas's bodybuilding course, where a "skinny wimp" gets sand kicked in his face by a strong bully and his girlfriend taken away. [rgh3@cornell.edu] Circus Envy: "I'd spelled your name with Oatios"    Oatios are a cereal shaped like little "O"s. [rgh3@cornell.edu] You: "Let me watch you, Hollywood and Vine."    Hollywood and Vine is an intersection of famous streets in Hollywood. [rgh3@cornell.edu] You: "I can see you there with luna moths"    Lunar moths are very large moths. [rgh3@cornell.edu] You: "I can wing around your Saturn smile"    In mythology, Saturn was associated with peace and prosperity. [rgh3@cornell.edu] You: "And I want you like a Pisces rising"    That is, under the influences of astrological sign Pisces. [rgh3@cornell.edu] * Of course, the symbol for Pisces looks like a 69. This may make up for Star 69's false alarm sexual reference 69. [cafard@brainlink.com] NEW ADVENTURES IN HI-FI How the West Was Won...: "Blood from stone/Water from wine"    It's a reversal, of course, of "water from a stone" and "blood from wine": the first is a reference to Moses' miracle of bringing forth water from the rock during the exodus from Egypt [Ex 17:1-7]; the second is a reference to transubstantiation, where the wine becomes the blood of Jesus. Reversed as it is in these brilliant lines, however, the first phrase becomes resonant of the first plague that God inflicts upon the Egyptians before the Exodus: the plague of blood, which makes the water undrinkable [Ex 7]. The second phrase becomes a parody of Jesus' miracle of making water into wine. [dnooter@haverford.edu] How the West Was Won...: "Canary got trapped, the uranium mine.                           A stroke of bad luck, now the bird has died."    Miners would put canaries into mines, and if the bird died, they knew the air was too toxic. [cafard@brainlink.com] The Wake-Up Bomb: "Get drunk and sing along to Queen                    Practice my T-Rex moves and make the scene"    Queen and T-Rex are both bands popular in the early 70s. [cafard@brainlink.com] The Wake-Up Bomb: "I had a neutron bomb."    A neutron bomb was an experimental weapon which would kill humans while leaving structures intact. [particle@servtech.com] The Wake-Up Bomb: "I had to teach the world to sing by the age of 21"    In the early 70s Coca-Cola's theme song was "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing". [cafard@brainlink.com] New Test Leper: "'Judge not lest ye be judged.'"    Jesus says this in Matthew 7:1 -- see also Matthew 8:1-4, where Jesus cures a leper. [cafard@brainlink.com] E-Bow the Letter    An E-Bow is an interesting little device for your guitar that uses electromagnets (hence the "E"-Bow name) to vibrate the strings, making a sound not unlike an underwater violin. That's what Buck uses to play the main guitar part. [jlunger@itw.com] * Check out http://www.ebow.com [greg@ebow.com] E-Bow the Letter: "Aluminum tastes like fear"    people smoke crack off of it...  also they smoke heroin... and im pretty sure thats a way to speedball too...  river phoenix was speedballing when he died...  he was drunk and he was speedballing and hitting downers... [jroemer@smart.net] * When people get afraid, a chemical reaction often occurs which causes them to taste metal. [cafard@brainlink.com] * Speaking from a psychology background, the emotion centres of the brain send messages to the conscious bit using the same neural pathways that deliver sensory input (especially pain) - it means that important messages (in the case of fear "get the hell out of there") can be made stronger by mimicking bodily sensations. Anyway, against that background, its quite feasible for fear to invoke a taste of aluminum. [jrwhyte@ibm.net] E-Bow the Letter: "Adrenaline, it pulls us near"    Adrenaline is a hormone the body releases when stressed that increases metabolic rate. [cafard@brainlink.com] E-Bow the Letter: "Seconal, spanish fly, absinthe, kerosene"    Seconal (secobarbital) is a sedative-hypnotic from the group called barbiturates. Sedative-hypnotics are drugs which depress or slow down the body's functions. They are often referred to as tranquilizers and sleeping pills or sometimes just sedatives. They CAN cause dependence. Combining sedatives with alcohol can be especially dangerous. [melora@buzzard.csrv.uidaho.edu] * I personally don't think it would enhance sex, but the use of barbiturates might lower your inhibitions (and standards) to the point where you might sleep with someone you would ordinarily reject if you were not under the influence. [Antoinette.M.Niebieszczanski@lerc.nasa.gov]    Spanish fly - aphrodisiac preparation of crushed green beetle. [macrae@rikaxp.riken.go.jp] * Also known as cantharsis. [cafard@brainlink.com]    Absinthe:  a green liqueur made from wormwood and other herbs, 70-80% alcohol, supposed to taste like bitter licorice; all those French existentialists used to sit around in their cafes sipping the stuff until it was discovered to cause nerve damage, and it's now banned in most western countries. [dawne@cris.com] * Known for its hallucinogenic properties. [macrae@rikaxp.riken.go.jp] Departure: "car crash, ptomaine, disposable lighter"    Ptomaine - chemical associated with rotting flesh, and mistakenly thought responsible for food poisoning at one time. [macrae@rikaxp.riken.go.jp] Be Mine    The title comes from the original intention of the song, to take all the lyrics from the little Valentine's Day candy hearts. [particle@servtech.com] Be Mine: "I'll pluck the thorns out of your feet."    [This] refers to the story of Daniel and the lion, where he befriended the lion that was going to eat him by pulling a painful thorn from it's paw. [particle@servtech.com] Be Mine: "I'll want to wash you with my hair."    Mary [Magdalen] washed Jesus's feet with her hair as a form of penance. [mdshriver@aol.com] Be Mine: "I'll eat the lotus and peyote."    Lotus - resembles a water-lily. common symbol in eastern religions. in Greek myth, the lotus-eaters were proto-junkies living in lotus-induced euphoria and caring naught for the world. Peyote -  also known as mescal, a drug derived from the lophophora williamsii plant, hallucinogenic, much favoured by Aldous Huxley and William S. Burroughs. [macrae@rikaxp.riken.go.jp] Binky the Doormat    [This gets its inspiration from] "The Citizen Kane of Alcoholic Clown Movies" AKA "Shakes The Clown" with Bobcat Goldthwait... I refer to a scene about 1/2way through, where the "bad" coke-snortin' clown "Binky" starts going off in a self-pitying rage... "Binky the doormat!! Binky the doormat!!. That should be my name. Not Binky the clown.. Binky... the... doormat!" [billg3man@aol.com] Binky the Doormat: "Seconal and astroglide"    [Seconal: see E-Bow the Letter.]    Astroglide is a sexual lubricant. [ldrake@pobox.com] Zither    The Collector's Edition contains the following "lyrics" for Zither:       sweet candy popcorn strung like a beaded       curtain hung over your door. I guess the heat got       to it all stuck together and dripped on the floor.       chocolate covered cherries in tin foil boats float in       formation around the baseboard. i had to fight not to laugh. [particle@servtech.com] So Fast, So Numb: "I let it go at Kill Devil Hill"    Kill Devil Hill is the location on coastal North Carolina where the Wright brothers first got off the ground for a significant period of time in a plane (1903 I think).  The town nearby is called Kill Devil Hills. [nabors@pobox.upenn.edu] So Fast, So Numb: "You're drinking the raw Drano baby"    Drano is a cleanser which is toxic to consume. [cafard@brainlink.com] * Drinking Drano is a rather common (and painful) way to commit suicide. [particle@servtech.com] Low Desert: "Gravity pulls on the power line."    Possibly a reference to two FotR songs, Feeling Gravitys Pull and Driver 8 ("The power lines have floaters...")? [particle@servtech.com] Electrolite: "You're Pleistocene."    In the Pleistocene Epoch, the first ancestors of human beings appeared. [cafard@brainlink.com] Electrolite: "Mulholland Drive."    It's a road in Los Angeles. [cafard@brainlink.com] NON-ALBUM TRACKS Wall of Death    You know the carnival ride that's kind of like a big flat cylinder, and you go inside and stand up against the wall, and it spins around real fast and the bottom drops out and you're held there by centrifugal force? That's a Wall of Death. [delcol_l@ab.edu] Wall of Death: "The switchback will make you crazy"    'Switchback' (also mentioned in the song) is a British word for 'roller coaster.' [delcol_l@ab.edu] Wall of Death: "You can fly away on the rocket or spin in the mouse"    A "(mad) mouse" is a kind of roller coaster too - but one where the thrill of the ride comes from the way the whole thing feels as if it is about to fall apart, rather than speed/acrobatics. [mwogden@msn.com] Wichita Lineman    A "lineman" is a person who works for the power or telephone company inspecting and repairing transmission lines [rgh3@cornell.edu] * I've also heard lineman used to refer to someone who does railroad work. [rtompkin@indiana.edu]