Whether it's about college radio, pirate radio or American propaganda station broadcasting to Eastern Bloc coutries is anybody's bet, but it was a shrewd commercial choice for a debut- songs about the radio are almost guaranteed to get airplay. And it did, if only on college stations. Also got voted 'Single of the year' by the critics of New York's Village voice.
The first track recorded, as a 'test track'; almost a psychedelic rocker. According to Easter, there are even more of Michael's multi-layered vocals lurking deep in the mix "to make it sound like a Georgian chant. They're still there, way buried." The line seems to be about the line between superstition and religion. Michael in '85: "'Pilgrimage' still baffles me. At one point after we recorded it I heard it and it made perfect sense. I was so exhilirated. I thought I had accomplished what I set out to do. And then I forgot!".
Gently baroque psychedelic folk-rock, with buzzy bass, delicate guitar and perplexing lyrics. Michael had said that the opening line of this song is about Laocoon, a priest of Apollo who tried to stop the Trojans from taking the wooden horse into Troy and who was later - along with both his sons - devoured by sea serpants. He's also claimed the song is a "rewrite" of Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel The scarlet letter, and has described it as "violent and brutal". It has been jokingly introduced live as 'Hot as a dick'.
Catchy rock-protest, a song about hunger. The title, plus the line "Not everyone can carry the weight of the world" conjure images of Christ; it's been said that this is also about religious hypocrisy. Features an uncredited female cellist. Peter Buck: "We'd never played it all the way through before. It was just a rehearsal take, and Mitch Easter said, 'That's fine'".
Choppy riffs, surf licks, booming drums, a weird call and response chorus - this one rocks. Buck has said it too is also about religious hypocrisy. Is the title a pun on moral chaos? Or an Athens in-joke about student notice boards? Why are the banging bits of wood together?
Folky psychedelia, complete with backwards guitar. This also features dual pianos (a grand, played by mike, and an out of tune upright played by Bill), with drums added later. Stipe says it was written about an old girlfriend, while Buck has claimed it had been written about a game of touch football he'd witnessed from the porch of his house one night. He'd been so moved by the spectacle (and frazzled from touring) that he just burst into tears - and later asked Stipe to capture that feeling in a song. Whatever, it's still beautiful, though Stipe's explanation makes more sense - it's the closest thing to a straight-out love song on the record. Years later, he called it a "gut-spiller".
Underrated ode to childhood, with an infectiously dumb chorus. They sound concerned at having been too young to appreciate the Sixties: "Did we miss anything?" Nothing they didn't catch up on later...
Another call to action ("Don't waste your time sitting still") with Stipe sounding nasally Dylannish. The B-side to 'Radio free Europe' (the original Hib-Tone release), remixed and slowed down by Easter, with new backing vocals added. Peter's guitar sound almost like a harpsichord here.
A meanderring mess, but it has its moments. Stipe: "A song about talking, about conversation and fear of conversation." He's also said it's "not meant to be understood." He gets his wish.
Pete Townshend-like introduction, George Harrison-style picking, 'Layla'-style piano, Velvet underground bass, Roger McGuinn-style vocals- this one must be their shopping list! It all adds up to something unique and great, especially when the vocal harmonies blend together towards the end of the second chorus, though only God and Michael Stipe know what it's about.
A really strange one, this. It sounds like a cross between a vaudeville song-and-dance number and a Syd Barrett song, evoking A.A.Milne-like images of childhood. Mitch Easter: "A problematic song. We had a hard time getting it to work. We had a hard time getting it to work. We had to do some funny stuff to get the basic track to work." This includes taping Bill Berry playing pool (recorded in the room below the studio). Easter: "It was a little song- almost too littl. Somehow the pool balls just made sense." Allegedly about Michael's friend Dory Duke (who would walk five steps behind him).
The fields being the Elysian fields of Greek myth. They go for a suitably epic approach to their subject, but it doesn't really come off. Michael's friend Neil Bogan gets a co-composer credit as lyricist.