| The
FAQ Proper:
Questions That
You Don't Need
to Ask (and
Their Answers!)
A. GENERAL QUESTIONS
o A1. "How do I join the
fan club? Is it worth it?"
Write to: R.E.M., PO Box 8032, Athens, GA 30603.
You
will have to renew every year.
For joining, you get a few postcards/newsletters, some
random promo
stuff when a new record comes out (usually a poster,
some buttons,
photos, things of that nature) and a holiday package
containing the
ever-famous Christmas collector's edition fan club
single, and
possibly other goodies like a calendar.
o A2. "What does the 'J' in J.
M. Stipe stand for?"
John. Nobody knows why he dropped the name but
still uses the initial.
Much biographical information on the band members'
full names,
birthdays, home towns, childhood, and educational
backgrounds is
covered in detail in the book _It Crawled from the
South_ by
Marcus Gray.
o A3. "Are there any R.E.M.
fan newsletters I can subscribe to?"
Here is a quick list of a few recently-published R.E.M.
fanzines,
in no particular order (fanzines tend to come and
go, so it's a
good idea to check if it still publishing before sending
money):
_394 Oconee_
c/o Pattie Klienke
P.O. Box 304,
Union City, NJ. 07087-9998
(Single issue: US $3, UK & Europe $5 US)
_Country Feedback_
RR1 North Road
Jefferson, NH 03583, USA
(Single issue: US $3, UK & Europe 5 US dollars;
Payable to Country
Feedback)
_Chronic Town_
27 Oriel Drive, Old Roan
Liverpool, L10 3JL, England
(Quarterly: $5 per issue US$, $25 for 6 issues;
2 pound per issues and
10 pounds for 6 issues.)
_Murmur_
c/o Stephen Rennicks
Church Rd, Ardbraccan, Navan
Co.Meath, Ireland
(Single issue: UK 1.80 pounds, US 6 pounds;
Payable to Stephen
Rennicks)
o A4. "Doesn't R.E.M. stand
for 'rapid eye movement'?"
In the scientific field of sleep research, the acronym
r.e.m.
indeed stands for "rapid eye movement," and refers
to the stage of
sleep in which, among other things, dreaming occurs.
But, in the
case of the band, no, it doesn't. The story
related by Peter Buck
on the band's early 1983 David Letterman _Late Night_
appearance
is that they picked it out of the dictionary (not
all dictionaries
include scientific terms like "r.e.m.," so don't be
disappointed
if you don't find it) and they liked it because it
was so ambiguous.
From _It Crawled from the South_: "'We sat up one night,'
says
Michael, 'and we just got completely drunk and rolled
around the
floor. We had all this chalk, and we took every name
anyone could
think of and we wrote it on the wall in the living
room. When
morning rolled around, we pointed and erased, and
it was between
R.E.M. and Negro Eyes, and we thought *that* probably
wouldn't
go over too well outside our immediate circle of friends!'"
(p. 24)
o A5. "I think that Fables of
the Reconstruction sucks/rules."
"I think ["Stand," "Shiny Happy People", etc.] is
terrible/great."
"I hate/love [_Monster_, _Out of Time_, _Murmur_,
etc.]!!!!!"
"Yeah, well you're a [idiot, moron, dork, assh*le,
etc.]!"
Fables rules/sucks is an old, tired flame war.
Remember, some
people are going to hate a particular work, while
other people
will love it, and still others remain indifferent.
Frankly, *any* simplistic opinion about a song, album
or video
which does not elaborate in support of its stated
opinion
wastes group readers' collective time and bandwidth,
and
should be discouraged (in other words, should *not*
be replied
to by other group members!) Mindless knee-jerk
proclamations serve
only to start tiresome battles that annoy everyone.
o A6. "Do R.E.M. members ever read
the newsgroup, and do they have
email addresses? I want to send them a message
if they have an
email address!"
During August, 1994, Michael Stipe did in fact post
comments, and
answer fans' questions, via the America On Line account
"stipey@aol.com". After much confusion and controversy
regarding
the authenticity of these postings, his identity was
confirmed by
news reports and third party sources. For those interested,
the
complete text of Stipe's net postings, which have
been annotated
with the actual questions asked by fans, is available
(send a
request to me, rgh3@cornell.edu). Bill and Mari
Berry have also
posted from a Prodigy account, and Peter Buck appeared
on an
on-line Q & A session on AOL.
Stipe has also said he deletes ALL email sent to his
AOL account
due to the excessive volume, so don't bother trying
to send
him a message there -- he won't see it!
In late 1995 Stipe posted the lyrics to "Tongue" directly
to
rec.music.rem, wished Happy Holidays to the group,
responded
sarcastically to a post commenting on his sexuality,
and thanked
a poster for defending the band from another posting
accusing the
band of selling out. Most recently, Stipe was
on-line again in
Nov. 1996 on the AOL Webstock forum.
More recently, Warner Brothers has established a web
page at
<http://www.wbr.com/rem> and you can email the
band at the address
<rem@wbr.com> -- though I have not heard whether
the band itself
reads the email sent there.
o A7. "Someone told me that
R.E.M. is going to break up on New Year's
Eve, 1999. Is that true?"
Peter Buck said this as an off-the-cuff joke during
an interview
(mainly in connection with it being a great excuse
for a huge
party), but they have all repeatedly said since then
that long as
R.E.M. keeps making good music together, they will
stay together --
whether that doesn't last until 1999, or goes beyond.
Note that
magazine writers who can't think of anything else
to say about
the band will often trot this factoid out and compel
the band to
comment on it.
o A8. "A friend told me that Michael Stipe
is HIV positive! Is
this true? Has anyone else heard this?"
Uh, yeah, yes, we heard. In fact, every few months
or so
a new contributor decides to share this so-called
"fact" with us.
There is absolutely nothing to substantiate such a
rumor and
questions and comments such are considered by some
newsgroup
readers to be in poor taste. In some recent interviews
Stipe
has mentioned how upsetting and cruel he found this
rumor to
be, and that he feels he is now in the best shape
of his life.
o A9. "Who are/were the Hindu
Love Gods?"
R.E.M. (without Michael Stipe) collaborated on a side
project
with the singer Warren Zevon. (Note that the lineup
also played
on Zevon's own album _Sentimental Hygiene_.)
The HLG album
includes covers of many blues standards as well as
Prince's
"Raspberry Beret." Opinions about the project
vary greatly:
some saw it as a mediocre knock off of some blues
standards
that should not have been released, others as a fun
romp for
the instrumental 3/4 of R.E.M.
o A10. "Where does the title
'Automatic for the People' come from?"
The band borrowed this slogan from a sign in Weaver
D's Delicious
Fine Foods, a popular home-cooking restaurant in Athens,
Ga., which,
incidentally, sells T-shirts, hats, and other such
merchandise
featuring the slogan (address 1016 E. Broad St., Athens
GA, 30601).
The phrase means that people at the restaurant "automatically"
get
what they want (as in: "Do I get fried potatoes with
my chicken?";
"Automatic!").
o A11. "So, what's the story with
those funky suits Mike Mills wore
during the Monster World Tour?"
Actually, the outfits Mike was wearing are known as
"Nudie"
suits, after the late tailor Nudie who designed many
such outfits
for country stars of the 1960's/70's. Nudie
suits became hip with
the rock crowd through their being worn by the band
that's been
credited with initiating the music called country-rock,
the Flying
Burrito Brothers (including the legendary Gram Parsons.)
It's been
mentioned in an interview with the band that the one
Mike wears in
the "Kenneth" video was in fact once owned by Parsons.
o A12. "There's this kind
of wacky song whose lyrics talk about all
the songs on _Reckoning_ and about the guys in R.E.M.
-- what is
that?"
The band Pavement recorded a song for the compilation
CD _No
Alternative_ called, "The Unseen Power of the Picket
Fence," which
is a tribute of sorts to R.E.M., their album _Reckoning_,
and the
defense of Atlanta against General Sherman's march
to the sea in the
Civil War.
o A13. "Is Peter Buck
related to Rob Buck of the 10,000 Maniacs?"
No. There was, however, an amusing story in Musician
magazine once
about Peter getting drunk one night of the Work Tour
(during which
the Maniacs opened); when he stumbled back to his
hotel and
found a room assigned to "Buck," he got into the bed
Rob Buck
was already occupying.
o A14. "Who is that woman prominent
in both the 'One I Love' and 'Pop
Song 89' videos?"
An old friend of Stipe's named Caroline. According
to Marcus Gray,
"Auctioneer (Another Engine)" was written with her
in mind, and Stipe
used to tell anecdotes about her (and her tatoos)
between songs
during the "Reconstruction" tour. Gray does
not provide her last
name, probably to protect her privacy.
o A15. "What is the tattoo under Michael
Stipe's right upper arm that
was visible on the 1995 Letterman show appearance?"
It is a tattoo of Ignatz Mouse and Krazy Kat, who are
the main
characters in the comic "Krazy Kat" by George Herriman,
drawn from
the 1920s-1940s. If you don't know who/what
these are, and like
interesting comics, make a beeline to a library or
good bookstore and
find a compilation of old Krazy Kats. They are
a incredible mix of
quite hilarious and totally surreal (reality-bending)
material.
Berke Breathed's "Outland" (and parts of "Bloom County"
before it)
are the closest contemporary comparison to the style
and attitude.
There's a web page at <http://www.krazy.com/coconino.htm>
which
explains the comic better than I have -- I suggest
surfing over
there if you're interested.
o A16. "Did Michael Stipe work on
a project with Kurt Cobain before
Cobain's death?"
While many people would have looked forward to such
a project and
have hoped something had been accomplished before
the Nirvana
singer's untimely suicide, according to Stipe they
had only traded
correspondance about such a project and nothing was
composed or
recorded. One of the ironic tragedies of Cobain's
final months was
his expression of admiration for the way R.E.M. had
handled their
superstardom, though, as Stipe pointed out, they were
lucky it took
years for them to reach the point and learn to adapt
to the strain
of the media spotlight.
o A17. "I have seen Mike
Mills' name recently as an artist and
as member of other bands besides R.E.M."
The Mike Mills in Butter 08 is not Michael Edward Mills
from
R.E.M., but a graphic artist who has done work with
bands like
Smashing Pumpkins and They Might Be Giants.
According to
rec.music.rem reader <sujan> he does not remotely
look like
the Mike Mills in R.E.M. Note that Butter 08
is Russell Simins
of JSBX, Rick Lee of Skeleton Key, Miho and Yuka from
Cibo Matto
and Mike Mills, graphic artist.
o A18. "Who is Patti Smith, who
sings on 'E-bow' and is in the
video for that song?"
The background singer on the song "E-bow the Letter",
Patti
Smith, is an important figure from the late 70's punk/new
wave
scene in New York whose albums (especially _Horses_
and
_Easter_) are considered by many people essential
milestones
in the development of American rock music. She has
also
published several books of Beat-influenced poetry
over the
years. Her influence on the members of R.E.M.,
especially
Michael Stipe and Peter Buck, has long been noted
in interviews
with the band.
o A19. "Why isn't long-time manager
Jefferson Holt mentioned in
the _New Adventures in Hi-Fi_ credits?"
A recent press release from the band announced that
Holt had left
his position of manager. No further details
about the split were
confirmed by R.E.M./Athens Ltd., and much speculation
on why and
what happened remains rumor. In fact it has
been reported that
one of the terms of the dissolution is that none of
the parties
make public comment, so don't expect any further details.
o A20. "Is the song 'The Wake Up Bomb'
about the band Oasis?"
Not according to R.E.M. Peter Buck said in an
interview
in 1995 that Stipe wrote the lyrics about the Glam
Rock period
of the 1970's (characterized by bands like T-Rex,
Mott the Hoople,
the NY Dolls, and David Bowie) after visiting a club
in NY with
a Glam Rock theme decor, and that the supposed Oasis
references
are being read into the song and not intended.
B. ALBUM COVERS, NOTES, AND
OTHER PACKAGING QUESTIONS
o B1. "What are those phrases inside
the liner notes for 'Monster'?"
Possible alternate names, and working titles, both
for the album
itself and various tracks from the album. In
interviews the band
has described its process of naming albums this way:
they tape a
big sheet of paper up on the studio wall and then
variously they
write down random ideas when they occur to them. One
might
speculate that at least some of this list is derived
from that
process.
o B2. "What are the strange symbols
on the cover of CD-single for
'What's the Frequency, Kenneth?'"
The packaging for the CD single for "What's the Frequency,
Kenneth?"
the first single off "Monster," displays some interesting
features
that newsgroup members have already remarked upon.
Each letter
of the title is surrounded by a circle. A dot at the
upper right
corner of each circle contains the rank of the frequency
(e.g.,
"E" the most common letter in English, equals 1) of
that letter's
occurrence in the English language. Also, found below
each
title letter, appears the Morse Code (in dots and
dashes) for
that letter. Notched into the circle around
the letter are the
semaphore positions (hand-held flags at various angles)
of that
letter. (See Section C below for info on the
"Kenneth" lyrics.)
o B3. "Why is there a '4' superimposed
over the 'R' on the Green album?"
The story told in interviews is that *someone* (most
likely Michael
Stipe) was typing the name of the album and hit the
'4' key instead
of the 'R' (note their proximity on the "qwerty" keyboard).
Somebody
(again, most likely Michael Stipe) thought it was
a neat idea and
carried it on to the packaging as a faint transparent
"4" over the
"R" in both "GREEN" and "REM" on the CD notes, and
by “numbering”
the fourth song (“Stand”) with an “R”. Some
later pressings
(notably CD club versions) may not have the “4”s on
the cover.
Some newsgroup readers have connected this to the fact
that _Lifes
Rich Pageant_ has "OR" in place of "04" in the track
listing.
When remarking on oddities in R.E.M. packaging and
publicity,
always bear in mind the band's eccentric creative
bent. (See also
the answer to the next question.)
o B4. "There's a '5' on Document and
a '4' on Green, and wait, there's
a '10' on Chronic Town, and a '9' on Murmur and an
'8' on Fables,
and a '7' on Reckoning! Is this some kind of
countdown?"
This is an urban legend which even the band are weary
of denying.
The topic has also been the subject of many flame
wars, and most
newsgroup members don't want to hear any more about
it. On AOL in
August 1994, Stipe said this about the so-called countdown
theory:
"the countdown is a silly coincidence.
i swear it. pb
[Peter Buck] sez were going
into neg.#;s next, so there.
i did put the #7 on each record
for a while but started
getting strange mail in volumes
about it and so we quit.
no reason for 7, it was just
a cool typo thing [like
typefaces on fables]."
o B5. "Who painted the cover art for
_Reckoning_?"
The folk or "naive" artist (the term art critics use),
Rev. Howard
Finster, is a friend of Michael Stipe who painted
the intricate
snake design for the band. (Presumably Stipe
added the song titles.)
Rev. Finster also appears in the video for "Radio
Free Europe" (at
the end, when they tumble the little figure down the
wooden ramp;
note it was filmed at his home). Also, Michael
Stipe has dedicated
the song "Maps and Legends" on FotR to Finster when
playing it live.
(Some may want to note that Finster later was asked
to do the cover
of the Talking Heads album _Little Creatures_, too.)
o B6. "My copy of the Green LP has names
for each side. Are the
sides named on other albums?"
Almost every R.E.M. album bears creatively-named sides.
Here's
a list:
Chronic Town
Chronic Town / Poster Torn
Murmur
(side 1 / side 2)
Reckoning
L / R
Fables
A Side / Another Side
Lifes Rich Pageant
Dinner / Supper
Document
Page / Leaf
Dead Letter Office
Post Side / Script Side
Eponymous
Early / Late
Green
Air / Metal
Out Of Time
Time Side / Memory Side
The Best of R.E.M. (UK)
Us / Them
Automatic For The People
Drive Side / Ride Side
Monster
C / D
New Adventures in Hi-Fi
Hi / Fi
o B7. "Why is the actual
song order on _Lifes Rich Pageant_ different
from that listed on the back cover? And do some
copies actually
list the song 'Superman' as 'Superwoman'?"
Reportedly, the song order on _LRP_ was changed at
the last minute,
too late for the cover art to be changed. While
it's anybody's guess
why this was not subsequently corrected for later
domestic vinyl and
CD pressings, it *has* been corrected for many foreign
and record club
versions. Bear in mind that the off-beat creativity
of the mixed-up
list, and the cryptic "lyrics clues," is typical of
the band.
Note also that some European issues of LRP have the
proper track order,
but list "Superman" as "Superwoman."
On a related note, the song "When I was Young" is listed
on the sleeve
of _Fables of the Reconstruction_, but was dropped
at the last minute,
destined to reappear later in quite revised form on
_LRP_ as "I
Believe."
o B8. "What is the name of that last song
on _Green_?"
The instrumental version on the CD-single for "Stand"
is called
"The Eleventh Untitled Song (Instrumental)."
One can therefore infer
that it's simply called "Eleventh Untitled Song."
Reportedly,
however, some of this cut's lyrics were included in
a Fan Club
mailing under the title, "So Awake Volunteer," so
some people
consider that to be its intended title. Recently,
an industrious
group reader posted that while browsing the Library
of Congress,
he discovered that the song is copyright-registered
under the title
of "11", its track number.
o B9. "What is that on the front
cover of 'Chronic Town'?"
The Spitting Gargoyle on Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris.
o B10. "Whose half-face is on Lifes
Rich Pageant?"
Bill Berry's. Gruesome makeup and photography
courtesy Stipe.
The spliced-together photos constitute a visual pun
("buffalo
bill").
o B11. "The spine title of my copy of
_Fables_ is _Reconstruction
of the Fables_, not the other way around! Do
I have a limited ed.
or something?
Alas, no. It's neither a misprint, nor rare,
and the "two" titles
indeed refer to one and the same album. The
"real" title of the album
is circular, you might say ("Fables of the Reconstruction
of the Fables
of the Reconstruction of ... [ad nauseam]").
You'll notice that on
one side of the CD booklet, it says "Fables of the"
and on the other
side it says "Reconstruction of the." You can
flip the booklet and
use either cover you wish. The spine of the
CD says "Reconstruction
of the Fables," whereas the face of the disc itself
says "Fables of
the Reconstruction," but with "Reconstruction" printed
upside-down,
and "of the" printed vertically, it can be read either
way. (However,
note that the newer European reissue discs just have
"Fables of the
Reconstruction")
Anyway, it's a play on words, like much of Stipe's
genius. Does it
mean "tales about the post-Civil War period in American
history," or
does it mean "putting back together those tales of
old in our own weird
way"...? It all depends on which way you
show the cover.
o B12. "Who is that on the cover of
_Document_?"
Michael Stipe, hiding behind a camera. Note there
are several
images superimposed over each other at different angles.
The car
is a black Checker Marathon (the kind of car most
cabs used to be)
which Michael used to drive.
o B13. "On the _Reckoning_
liner, it says 'Help Carl Grasso.' Who
was he?"
Carl Grasso was reportedly the art director (or product
manager) for
IRS back then; supposedly the band used to drive him
nuts with what they
would and wouldn't allow on the album covers. Grasso
is also
credited for album design on _Murmur_.
o B14. “Is the _Chronic
Town_ EP available separately?”
As a regular release, it is only available as part
of the _Dead Letter
Office_ compilation album. However, there are
reportedly a number of
limited edition box sets that include CT on a separate
disk within
the entire multi-album package. An example of
this is the UK set
called _The Originals_ released in 1995 with
CT, _Murmur_, and
_Reckoning_ included with new packaging.
o B15. "Why isn't the song 'Revolution'
on _New Adventures in Hi-Fi_,
like all the other new songs they were performing
on the Monster
World tour?"
The choice of whether to include a song on an album
is one
only the band itself can really comment on, but recall
that
'Revolution’ really dates back to the time of _Monster_'s
release (some of the "possible song names" on the
album notes
of _Monster_ refer to versions of "Revolution", so
it really
should be considered an outtake of that album.)
Besides, most
of the song's many contemporary political references
(O.J.,
Ollie North, etc.) had become outdated by the time
of the
release of NAIHF, and this is also a likely reason
for the song
not having been included. (Nonetheless, I'd
look for it as a
track on a future maxi-single release.)
o B16. "I thought there was a R.E.M.
song called 'Sponge' that was
on the radio in 1995. I don't see it on _New
Adventures_."
The song "Sponge" recorded by R.E.M. is actually a
composition
by Georgia singer-songwriter Vic Chesnutt, and R.E.M's
cover
of the tune is included on the compilation record
_Sweet
Relief II_ along with other Chesnutt songs performed
by
various bands. The proceeds of the album go to a charity
fund
that assists musicians with medical expenses (Chesnutt
himself
is a parapalegic). The song “Sponge” comes from his
album
_West of Rome_ (which Stipe produced) and he did an
interesting (if loose) "cover" of R.E.M.'s "It's the
End of
the World..." for the _Surprise Your Pig_ R.E.M. tribute
album.
C. THOSE DARN LYRICS; AND OTHER
MUSIC-RELATED QUESTIONS
o C1. "What are the words to the
chorus of 'Sitting Still?'"
A few years ago, Michael Stipe claimed in a Rolling
Stone interview
that the chorus begins "Up to par, Katie bar the kitchen
door but not
me in." Careful listening, however, leaves some
listeners dubious about
"door" at least. Check the lyrics file for the best
guesses of long-
time newsgroup readers.
In an AOL posting regarding this song Stipe said,
"Sit. still -- come on now,
that is an embarrassing collection
of vowels that i strung together
some 400 yrs ago! Basically
nonsense... 'Katie bar the
kitchen door' is a southern term
that meant you better watch
out."
The second line of the chorus has been confirmed by
a friend of the
band as being, “Setting trap for love, making a waste
of time,
sitting still.”
o C2. "How exactly do you people think
Michael Stipe could have written
lyrics for some songs on Murmur, Reckoning, etc. without
having
specific words in mind? He is often quoted as
saying 'the earlier
songs don't have lyrics _per se_.' How does
he do that? Seems
ridiculous, but at the same time... witty."
Chris Piuma suggested, on r.m.r: "Take a song that
you like but can
remember only a few lines to. Now, while not listening
to it, sing
it. Most people either sing 'la la la doo doo
doo' or they start
making up nonsense words. Now record yourself doing
this. Write
down what you sang. It will probably come out
as more or less
meaningless stuff that revolves around that line you
did know.
OK, now take your lyrics and edit them so that they
fit the song
(syllable-wise) and so that the words make sense and
the sentences
make an odd sense but the paragraphs make no sense.
Then, when
you sing the words, distort them into sounds which
might seem
like completely different words. Use this process
as an editing
tool."
"Voila! You soon have a lyric that isn't a lyric per
se."
No one is saying this exactly how Stipe created his
early lyrics (or
versions one hears on live tapes from early shows),
but it's an example
of how this sort of thing could evolve. (Note
that this speculation does
not extend to lyrics for Document and beyond, whose
enunciation on the
album and denotative meaning are obviously more clear
and deliberate.)
R.E.M. lyrics (or at least our collective best guesses)
are available
via WWW at <http://www.inmind.com/people/teague/remlyrics.html>,
<http://www.svs.com/rem/index.html>, or from the
infamous lyrics
archives at cs.uwp.edu (or its mirror sites); or retrieve
the lyrics
by e-mail from the fables lyrics server (send the
one-word message
LIST to the address <fables@lynchburg.edu> for
instructions.)
o C3. "What the heck is the chorus
of 'The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonight'?"
Well, it's *not* "Call me in Jamaica," or even "Only
in Chalawaika."
The chorus is "Call when you try to wake her up, call
when you try to
wake her." (Stipe's alternate version related
on AOL was "Call me
if you try to wake her up.")
o C4. "What is that weird sound/voice
at the beginning of 'Superman'?"
It's reputed to be the sound that occurs when you pull
the string on
a certain talking Japanese Godzilla doll. (Translated:
"This is a
special news report. Godzilla has been sighted
in Tokyo Bay. The
attack on it by the Self-Defense Force has been useless.
He is
heading towards the city. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh....")
o C5. "What do the
lyrics to 'What's the Frequency, Kenneth?' mean?"
Stipe was quoted in several interviews at the time
of _Monster_'s
release as saying it is written from the perspective
of a person
who's getting older trying to understand current youth
culture.
Note that the lyric (printed inside) contains a quote
from
Richard Linklater, director of the film _Slacker_:
"Withdrawal
in disgust is not the same as apathy" -- a rebuttal
of sorts to
those of older generations who would claim that Generation
Xers,
or "slackers," are merely spoiled, lazy brats.
(This line of
argument would say that "slackers" have *chosen* to
exclude
themselves from mainstream society as a protest against
its empty
values.)
It has also been noted that 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?"
o C6. "What is the connection between 'WTF,K?'
and Dan Rather?"
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 Scheafer,
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).
Please note that the supposed reference to Rather and
CBS news in
the "Ignoreland" lyric was incorrect, so there is
*no* tie-in that
we know of between the two songs regarding the newsanchor.
Mr.
Rather, meanwhile, has taken the "tribute" in good
spirits and has
been quoted as saying he has always liked R.E.M.,
that he owns the
_Monster_ CD, and suggested jokingly that the band's
name really
stands for "Rather's Excellent Musicians," before
proceeding to
sing the chorus of "It's the End of the World As We
Know It,"
during a David Letterman appearance. Also, before
the band’s
1995 appearance at New York’s Madison Square Garden,
Rather joined
them onstage during a sound check for a quick rendition
of WtFK?
Also note in passing that the album _Lolita Nation_
by Game Theory,
released in 1987 and produced by Mitch Easter (there's
another R.E.M.
connection) contains a similarly titled song: "Kenneth
-- What's the
Frequency?"; WTF,K? is not a cover of that, of course
-- the resemblance
pretty much stops at the title. Other newsgroup
readers here have noted
that the phrase may also have popped up in the movie
"The Conversation"
and in Dan Clowes' comic "Eightball".
o C7. "Who is Michael
Stipe referring to in the song 'Can't Get There
from Here,' in the lines, 'Brother Ray can sing my
song,' and the
last line, 'Thank you, Ray'?"
In _It Crawled..._ Bill Berry and Peter Buck are quoted
discussing
this song, which they refer to as a "jazz ballad."
Bill says, "We
wanted to get an Otis [Redding] sound on that one,"
and Peter
elaborates, "It's like a tongue-in-cheek tribute to
Ray Charles
and James Brown and all the great Georgia music giants."
Given
these quotes, a probable answer is "Ray Charles."
(Remember too
that Michael Stipe often cites, among his musical
influences, singers
whose records were in his parents' record collection
when he was
young, like Elvis, Henry Mancini, and possibly Ray
Charles.)
o C8. "Where did Stipe get the words
in 'Voice of Harold' (from _Dead
Letter Office_)?"
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." See the .gif files
of the front and
back covers of the album on the WWW Home Page for
more information
about actual text <http://www.svs.com/rem/gif/revelaires-back.gif>
(there is also a text transcription for those without
graphics,
see <http://www.svs.com/rem/other/voice-of-harold.txt>).
This graphic file and transcribed text were obtained
from a
photocopy of the actual album still in the possession
of Reflection
Studios where the song was recorded. 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.
o C9. "Who is 'Monty' in 'Monty Got a
Raw Deal' on _AfTP_?"
Montgomery Clift, actor. He was considered to be one
of the most
handsome movie stars ever in Hollywood at his prime,
though he
lost much of those looks in a car accident.
His films included
"Raintree County," "A Place in the Sun," and "The
Misfits." He died
fairly young due to depression and alcohol abuse.
A biography of
Clift, written by Robert Laguardia, was published
in 1977.
Answers to questions about other real people mentioned
in R.E.M.
lyrics can be found in the document, "Real People
Mentioned in REM
Songs, v.1.2" researched by Gary Nabors and periodically
posted
to the group (email rgh3@cornell.edu for a copy if
you missed it).
o C10. "Who speaks during
the break in 'Exhuming McCarthy'?"
From Marcus Gray's _It Crawled From The South_:
"...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?'"
o C11. "What does the
title of 'Green Grow the Rushes' refer to?"
It may refer to the poem, "Green Grow The Rashes,"
by the Scottish
poet Robert Burns (1759-1796), whose opening verse
reads,
Green grow the rashes, O;
Green grow the rashes, O;
The sweetest hours that e'er I spend,
Are spent among the lasses, O!
It has been noted that Burns' was but one of many variations
of
a then-popular lyric by this name, many of them bawdy,
and most
sung by workers or soldiers to while away the hours.
A historically-
unconfirmed story says that immigrants to the New
World from the
British Isles were especially fond of the song (their
"finest
worksong"?), and to the Spanish born population the
Anglo-
Americans who sang this work song became known as
"greengrows"
(later shortened to "gringos"). Since Stipe
has been quoted as
saying the song concerns American exploitation of
migrant
(Mexican) workers by U.S. corporations, one might
speculate he
had some or all of these possibilities in mind.
Rec.music.rem reader <ihooker@inforamp.net> suggested
another song
of the title might be alluded to. The folk song called
"Green Grow
the Rushes, O" completely unconnected to the Burns
lyric, is very,
very old; it was first written down in Hebrew in the
16th Century
and is probably much older. There are many versions
and it is a
popular Christmas Carol and harvest song.
GREEN GROW THE RUSHES,
O
I'll sing you one, O
Green grow the rushes,
O
What is your one, O
One is one and all alone
and evermore shall be so.
Whichever song Stipe is alluding to, the premise that
it was
identified with Anglo-American colonist is probably
still valid.
o C12. "What is the snippet of music
heard on some versions of
Reckoning, but which is not on current CD recordings
of the album?"
The snippet in question is at the end, after "Little
America" on early
versions of the LP pressing of Reckoning, not the
intro to "Rockville".
This somewhat abstract sequence fades in, lasts about
ten seconds,
then fades out, and has vocals with no discernible
lyrics. Mitch
Easter (producer) called this studio outtake "found
art", and it
was drawn out and edited by Mitch and Don Dixon at
Reflection
Studios. (For those who have the R.E.M. _Succumbs_
video
collection, it plays during the clip before "Left
of Reckoning"
that depicts a person trying to walk through a hurricane
rain
storm.) The recent “gold CD” re-issue of _Reckoning_
restored
this clip to the album.
o C13. "What is that song 'Photograph'
that Michael Stipe sings, and
why wasn't it on an R.E.M. album?"
The compilation "Born to Choose" CD features,
among other things, the
track "Photograph," co-written and performed by R.E.M.
and Natalie
Merchant. The album was put together to raise funds
for the non-profit
Pro-Choice organization NARAL (the National Abortion
Rights Action
League).
o C14. "What is that song
where Michael Stipe sings 'You were in
my dream'?"
Stipe sang background vocals for the song "Your Ghost"
which
appears on the solo album _Hips & Makers_ (Sire/4AD)
by Throwing
Muses' lead vocalist Kristin Hersh.
o C15. "What is the R.E.M. song
with the line 'First we take Manhattan,
then we take Berlin...'?"
This is a cover of the Leonard Cohen song "First We
Take Manhattan,"
which first appeared on the Cohen tribute album _I'm
Your Fan_ and
later appeared as a b-side on a single for "Drive"
(see the disco-
graphy for more details about releases).
o C16. "Has Michael Stipe done a duet
with Tori Amos?"
Amos was quoted as saying, '...we're talking about
doing a duet for
a film called 'Don Juan de Marco and the Centerfold.'"
(Rolling Stone
#691, p. 20). News reports indicated, first,
that the song (entitled
"It Might Hurt a Little Bit") was not included because
Ms. Amos
was unhappy with some of the other cuts on the album,
and then that it
wasn't included because the producers of the movie
had dropped it in
favor of a more marketable Bryan Adams song.
Later, it was reported that that the cut would appear
on a soundtrack
album for a new film called "Empire Records" sometime
late in July (but
it did not), and then that it would be on the soundtrack
for the Winona
Ryder film "How to Make an American Quilt" (which
it was not). As of
this writing, sometime after the release of Amos'
_Boys for Pele_ album,
it is still not clear if the song will be released
(one might
do well to keep an eye out for it on the many Tori
Amos b-sides and
EP releases).
Recently, rec.music.rem regular <rfox@ultranet.ca>
reported the
following information from Tori Amos on the single.
“She told me
the record companies are ‘fighting over it,’ and she
seemed pretty
down about the possibility of anything happening with
this song.”
o C17. "In 'Country Feedback,"
what is 'Est' in the line, 'Self help, self
pain, EST, psychics, fuck all'? Are they referring
to electro-shock
therapy?"
No. Electro-Shock Therapy, usually called Electro-convulsive
therapy
(ECT) is not pronounced like a word, but is pronounced
as separate
letters ("E-C-T" rather than "EST"). The EST
in "Country Feedback" is
probably the self-assertiveness encounter therapy
called EST, which
stood for "Erhard Sensitivity Training". 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 (this was supposed to make them more successful
in life).
o C18. "Where is Rockville, in '(Don't
Go Back to) Rockville'?"
From the book _Remarks, The Story of R.E.M._
by Tony Fletcher:
"Mike Mills too was improving [his songwriting]. He
wrote a plea to ...
a new girl in Athens who had been making a big impact
on all the
boys, begging her not to spend the summer of '80 in
Maryland.
'Don't Go Back To Rockville', with its memorable chorus
and frantic
pacing, became an instant live favorite." The
original version of
“Rockville” had a harder rock sound; the band worked
up the country
and western style as a joke for friend and band lawyer
Bertis Downs.
This new version was so successful they recorded it
that way.
o C19. "What does the term 'Star 69'
refer to, in the song of
that name on _Monster_?"
For those who don't have the service in their area,
many phone
companies now offer a service that allows one to dial
directly back
to the number from which your most recent incoming
caller dialed. The
sequence of buttons to activate this service is "*
- 6 - 9", and some
of the phone companies offering the service just call
it "Star 69,"
while others just refer to it as "Last Number Callback"
or something
similar. It presumably was developed to allow
people to more easily
track down the perpetrators of prank, obscene, telemarketing,
and
other types of harassing calls, as well as to allow
you to recontact
someone who has called you, whose number you don't
have, and from
whom you might have accidentally been disconnected.
o C20. "Who was Andy Kaufman and
why does Michael Stipe sing about
him in 'Man on the Moon'?"
Andy Kaufman was a celebrated conceptual comedian
from the 1970's
who, while most popularly known for his role on the
sitcom "Taxi,"
also became infamous through his stand-up comedy routines
for a
performance-art style of character creation, audience
manipulation,
and general strangeness. His act was as much
an indirect commentary
on the act of performing itself (which would obviously
interest
Michael Stipe) and perhaps even the act of believing
in something,
or reality, itself (which seems to be what 'MotM'
is largely about).
More information on Kaufman can be found on the web
at URL
<http://fly.hiwaay.net/~bkm/akhome.htm>.
o C21. "What is an e-bow, from
‘E-bow the Letter’?"
A hand-held electronic gadget that -- when held over
the strings
of an electric guitar -- produces a characteristic
sustained tone
(yes, it is used by Peter Buck on the track). [For
more information
surf to www.ebow.com.]
o C22. "What is that being said before
'Be Mine'?"
It sounds like someone saying, perhaps on a CB radio,
"...Uh,
speed zone up here, too." Mike Mills mentioned
in an interview
that he recorded a demo version of the song on the
tour bus,
so perhaps the clip is meant to allude to this.
D. QUESTIONS ON R.E.M.'s LIVE
PERFORMANCES
o D1. "What is all this talk
about Bingo Hand Job? Who are they?"
Bingo Hand Job was the name that R.E.M. went under
when they played
two "secret" gigs at a London club called The Borderline
around
the time of the release of Out Of Time. There
are many bootlegs
of the show.
The band’s only “official release” under this name
was the cover
of the Susanne Vega song “Tom’s Diner” that they (with
Billy Bragg
and Robyn Hitchcock) did for the compilation album
of covers of
that song.
o D2. "Who is Peter Holsapple
-- is/was he a member of R.E.M.?"
Peter Holsapple was the unofficial "fifth member" of
the band during
the Green tour and the promotional tour for Out Of
Time. At last
report, Peter was in The Continental Drifters, along
with ex-Bangle
Vicki Peterson and singer Susan Cowsill. Peter,
Vicki, and Susan
also opened Go-Go's shows in L.A., with two others,
billed as
"Psycho Sisters." He was also a member of the
band the dB's.
Note also that Peter is wrote the song “Neverland”
that R.E.M.
has covered live.
o D3. "What is the name of that song
in _Tourfilm_ that goes 'Hey
man I'm making moves, and I am so much stronger than
you...'?"
Michael is singing the first verse of "Future 40's
(String of Pearls)".
It was a duet that Michael sang with Syd Straw (ex-Golden
Palominos)
on her solo album _Surprise_.
o D4. "What about the one
that goes 'If we close the door, the night
could last forever...'?"
"The After Hours", by the Velvet Underground.
o D5. "What about the other
one that goes 'We live as we dream alone,
To break the spell, we mix with the others...'"
Originally by the Gang of Four, "We Live As We Dream,
Alone."
o D6. "And what about the acapella thing
JMS sings that begins, 'Evenin'
a-comin' soon....' done before 'I Believe' in some
shows?"
That is the beginning of "Harpers" by Hugo Largo, from
their album
_Drum_, which Stipe both produced and performed on.
o D7. "I heard a version of U2's song 'One'
with Michael Stipe
singing. What was that?"
Michael Stipe and Mike Mills, along with U2's Adam
Clayton and Larry
Mullen, Jr., appeared at the Inaugural Festivities
in January, 1993 under
the name Automatic Baby, performing U2's "One".
Michael Stipe also
performed that evening with the 10,000 Maniacs on
the numbers "Candy
Everybody Wants" and "To Sir With Love." It
also appeared on a
limited edition promotional CD put out by an Atlanta
radio station.
o D8. "And what about that
song on 'MTV Unplugged' which Mike Mills
sings, that goes, 'Love is all around us...'?"
It is a cover of the Troggs' song, "Love Is All Around."
(Note the
group Wet Wet Wet recently did a cover of the tune
as well, rather
different in style.) It can be found on the CD single:
Radio Song
(Tower Of Luv Bug Mix)/Love Is All Around (Live Acoustic)/Belong
(Live) [Warner Brothers 9-40229-2 (CD) November 1991
(US)], as well
as bootleg recordings of the MTV Unplugged appearance.
o D9. "What is that thing in Michael
Stipe's ear, a hearing aid -- is he
going deaf or something?"
Stipe, like many other performers, wears an earpiece
monitor when the
band performs live on stage. It is an earphone
connected to the mixing
board, and allows him to hear himself singing, and
is analogous to the
small angled loudspeakers you see on stage in front
of the other
musicians. In a large amphitheater filled with
very loud noise, one
can well imagine how easy it would be for the singer
to get drowned out
and not be able to hear him or herself, and this earpiece
monitor helps
prevent that.
o D10. "So what *are* all the songs by
other artists which R.E.M.
has recorded?"
On _official_ releases, the following songs have been
covered.
Song
Original Artist
_____________________________________________________________
(All I Have To Do Is) Dream Everly Brothers
Academy Fight Song
Mission of Burma
The After Hours
Velvet Underground
Arms of Love
Robin Hitchcock
Baby, Baby
The Vibrators
Christmas Time is Here
The Vince Guaraldi Trio
Crazy
Pylon
Dark Globe
Syd Barrett
Deck the Halls
(traditional)
Femme Fatale
Velvet Underground
First We Take Manhattan
Leonard Cohen
Funtime
Iggy Pop/ David Bowie
(Ghost) Reindeer in the Sky The Outlaws,
(orig. "Ghost Riders...")
Ghostrider
Suicide
Good King Wenceslas
(traditional)
I Walked With a Zombie
Roky Erikson
I Will Survive
(Ferakis/Perran, perf. Gloria Gaynor)
King of the Road
Roger Miller
Last Date
Floyd Cramer
Love is All Around
The Troggs
Moon River
Jerry Butler
Only in America
Leiber/Stoller/Mann/Weil
Pale Blue Eyes
Velvet Underground
Parade of the Wooden Soldiers (Tchaikovsky, orig.
"March of...")
See No Evil
Television
Sex Bomb
Flipper
Silver Bells
(writer Jay Livingston/Ray Evans)
Skin Tight
Ohio Players
Sponge
Vic Chesnutt
Strange
Wire
Summertime
(writer Gershwin)
Superman
The Clique
The Lion Sleeps Tonight
(trad.; made popular by The Weavers)
There She Goes Again
Velvet Underground
Tighten Up
Archie Bell and the Drells
Tom's Diner
Susanne Vega
Toyland
(writer Glen MacDonough & Victor Herbert)
Toys in the Attic
Aerosmith
Wall of Death
Richard Thompson
Where's Captain Kirk?
Athletico Spizz
Wichita Lineman
Jimmy Webb (perf. By Glen Campbell)
Of course, those with recordings of R.E.M.'s live shows
know that
the band has performed covers of even more songs than
this; browsing
the Bootleg Discography will give you an idea of some
of these (see
Net Resources to find out how to obtain this file).
o D11. "What's everyone's favorite song/album?"
Click here to veiw
my poll
PLEASE be aware that asking everyone on the group to post what their
favorite song, or album, or favorite five songs, or favorite
two albums,
or favorite combination of video and song, or favorite song
R.E.M. has
covered, etc., etc., is considered poor netiquette.
Hundreds to
thousands of people read this newsgroup every day; “favorite”
posts
will get incredibly boring after about the third respondent.
No one can
remember what everyone has said, and in the end it's really
pointless.
If for some reason you just HAVE to know what the entire
group's
consensus is on something, be a good net-citizen and please
ask people
to email to YOU all responses, and then YOU compile the
results into
a single, neat, informational post that will actually mean
something to
everyone. |
