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These are interpretations of early R.E.M. songs compiled by Chestnut@cris.com
and others, with the emphasis on "interpretations."  Last revised 1/10/95
 
NARRATOR

When I was watching TV back in '73
A skinny old man sure appealed to me
His name by now, I'm sure you know
The man who played a starring role in Jacques Cousteau
 
And ever since then I've written the dude
Dreaming of swimming around the
coral reef
I'd even bought my camera and my scuba gear
If only Jacques had called to stop a career
 
I wanna be a narrator
For the Jacques Cousteau show
 
Swimming under water with my microphone
I'd record noises in the aqua-zone
Chasing down the killer whale that's eating our crew
Just to bring the story (facts) back to you
 
I wanna be a narrator
For the Jacques Cousteau show
 
I've written the networks, sent my picture too
Done everything I could possibly do
I've given up trying to get through to him
Maybe he knows I don't know how to swim
 
I wanna be a narrator
For the Jacques Cousteau show


BABY, I

Baby I, don't want to be seen with you
Baby, I got better things to do
Baby, I don't wanna hang around with you
Baby, I got better things to do
 
Cause I know you're out with other guys
Well I know you're goin' to tell me lies
 
Baby, I should have held you when I had the chance
Baby I could have blew it when I never learned how to dance
 
Well I know you're out with other guys
And I know you're gonna tell me lies
 
I wait at home every night
I never leave on my back porch light
I'm hoping you won't come back
Cause if you do I'll wanna die
 
Baby, I don't wanna hang around with you
Baby, I got better things to do
Well, I know you're out with other guys
Well, I you're gonna tell me lies
 
Baby, I should have held you when I had the chance
Baby I blew it when I never learned how to dance
Well, I know you're out with other guys
And I know you're gonna tell me lies
 
Baby, I....
 
 
LISA SEZ

Too...too...took her so long
I was only having fun
I guess I'm really hung
I guess you'd better run
 
That's what Lisa said
 
While you running all over town
Why don't you settle down
I told her we were just friends
She believed it till the end
 
That's what Lisa said
That's what she said
 
She's a (cherry?) now
She put me on her
She put you on trial
No I'm in her_______
 
Too...too...Took her so long
I was only having fun
I guess I'm not so hung
I guess you'd better run
 
That's what Lisa said
That's what she said
 
A GIRL LIKE YOU

I get so disturbed...I'm all alone
I feel so funny t-t-t-talking on the phone
 
I fall apart when I hear you speak
Believe me girl, I just feel weak
 
I wonder how I got involved with a girl like...
You want to tell me  that I'm not you're kind of guy
You break the news and I break down and cry...I cry
 
You're having fun...well that's all right
I'm too weak to put up a fight
I wish you'd just tell what was wrong
instead of leading my on
 
I get so disturbed when I'm all alone
I feel so funny t-t-t-talking on the phone
I fall apart when I hear your speak
Believe me girl...I just feel weak
I wish you'd just tell me what was wrong
Instead of leading me on
 
I try to call
(call on the phone)
I try to call
(but nobody's home)
I wonder why
(you lead my along)
 
I wonder how I got involved with a girl like you
 
SHEHERAZADE

You say you make her feel all right
She says she wants you, but not tonight
You know the girl is telling lies
You try some magic in her eye
 
When you not there other guys come sticking around
And when you ask her what's going on
She'll only push you around
 
Say you don't want to talk about it
She'll tell you stories...she can bet
 
You know the girl ...she's telling lies
You try some magic in her eyes
 
But when you're not there other guys come sticking around
When you ask her what's going on
She'll only push you around
Put you down
 
You can say what you want
but she's SHEHERAZADE
And you don't mind
And you call when she calls
You pay the price
You're bound to fall
And all the lies don't matter at all
 
You say you don't want to talk about it
She'll tell you stories
You can die
You know the girl is telling lies
You try some magic in her eye
 
But when you're not there other guys come sticking around
And when you ask her what's going on
She'll only push you around
Put you down
 
You can say what you want
She's SHEHERAZADE

MYSTERY TO ME

Living in cities, living in cars
Living the way you never wanted to
Living in alleys, living it down
Living the way you always thought you'd do
 
Shakin' it up shakin' it down
Shakin' the way you never wanted to
 
Living in cities, living in cars
Living the way you always thought
you'd do
 
You feel so old, I feel so new
Tell me what you want me to...
Do you want me to go all night
Do you want me to tell you you're all
right
 
Living in cities, living in cars
Living the way you never wanted to
 
Lord, I feel so new
Tell me what you want me to do
 
And it's a mystery to me
And it's a mystery to me
 
Well your trying, trying to look so hard
But you want..but you want...but you want to go
 
Living in cities, living in cars
Living the way you never wanted to
Shakin' it up, shaking it down
Shakin' the way you always thought you'd do
 
You feel so old, I feel so new
Tell me what you want me to do

BODY COUNT

All the young kids learn to dance in the combat zone
Never dared to take a chance
Goin' home alone
 
But it gets so very cold
When it's late at night
 
Leave the foxholes on their own
Do you sleep well at night?
 
Bodycount...feeling hot
Bodycount...keeping warm
 
Friends are playing with danger
They don't know where it's found
With their casual letters
It's just another chain
 
You've lost the innocence
That you've never found
Standing in the DMZ
Don't get turned around
 
Body count...feeling hot
Body count...Vietnam
 
It's not the game..well, it's a scar
And they won't let you wear your khakis
And your eyesights anymore
 
You can go get shot to hell
They don't want you anymore because..
 
All the young kids learn to dance
In the combat zone
Never dare to take a chance
You're going home alone
Military metaphors
Are metaphors no more
 
Keeping up with protocol
You're dancin' off to war
 
Body count feeling hot
Body count  Vietnam
 
Do you sleep well at night?
 
Body Count...Vietnam
 
They can say what they want
But you have your doubts
 
It's not what you've lost
It's what your without
 
When I ran so far
And they just turned away
 
I doesn't bother me by the light of day
But at night...I hear your call
Late at night...I hear your call
 
I saw the mirror that you broke today
I saw the ceiling falling down your way
 
When they looked at you, you could turn away
 
You didn't bother then by the light of day...you'll stay
 
But at night...I hear your call
Late at night...I hear your call
 
You said that you could turn away
I knew that you going to stay
 
The walls are falling all around
They pinned you down onto the ground
But at night...I hear your call
Vietnam...I hear you call
 
PERMANENT VACATION
 
Gotta get away..gotta get away
I'm on a permanent vacation
Nothing left to move
I want a revelation
Nothing left to prove
 
I could take it with me
Leave you all behind
Got some kind of feeling
Burnin' on my mind
 
Sleeping late in the morning
Stay out all night long
Every day is like the one before
I'm going wrong
 
I'm on a permanent vacation
Nothing left to lose
I want a revelation
Nothing left to prove
 
I can take it with me
Leave you all behind
Got some kind of feeling
Burnin on my mind
 
There's only one thing you can do
This I gotta do
_______________
I got nothing to win...nothing to lose
Nothing left to prove
One thing to do
 
Well, I'm on a permanent vacation
Permanent vacation
 
ACTION

I do the dancin'
You do the hoppin'
You do the boppin'
I do the shakin'
 
I'm just romancin'
You do the dancin'
I see your sequence
It's looking smashing
 
You make the action, action
happen happen
Action, action
happen happen
 
I'm finger poppin'
You do the dancin'
You do the shakin'
You're looking right now
 
You make the action, action
happen, happen
You make the action
happen, happen
 
I'm finger poppin'
You do the hoppin'
I see your sequance
It's looking right there
You do the dancing
I do romancing
You call it hoppin'
There's no stoppin'
 
You make the action, action
happen, happen


HEY, HEY, NADINE
(a.k.a. SMALL TOWN GIRL)
(version from the THAT BEAT IN TIME boot)

Pretty blond hair singing as she walks
China-like smile bitchin' as she talks
Dangerous eyes on a small town girl
Seen everything all around the world
 
If I could only let her see my way
Maybe we should spin a watch all day
in a place far away from here
 
repeat
 
She's such good girl
Got me in a whirl
She's okay
 
Pretty blond hair singing as she walks
China-like smile bitchin' as she talks
Dangerous eyes on a small town girl
Seen everything all around the world
 
If I could only let her see my way
Maybe we could spin the watch all day
in a place far away from here
 
She's such good girl
Got me in a whirl
She's such a pretty girl
She's such good girl
Got me in a whirl
She's okay
 
 
HEY, HEY, NADINE
(a.k.a. SMALL TOWN GIRL)
(version from 20th CENTURY BOYS boot with improvised changes)

Pretty blonde hair singing as she walks
Short, short sweater, dancing as she talks
Tiny little girl in a small town world
Seen everything around  all the world
 
If I could only make her see my way
Maybe we could spin the watch all day
In a place far away
 
Small town girl in a small town place
Dirty eyes dancing as she walks
Dangerous eyes in a small town ( leg?)
Seen everything around the ( peg?)
 
If I could only make her see my way
Maybe I could spin the watch all day
In a place far away from here
 
She's a good good girl
Got me in a whirl
She's such a pretty girl
 
Contact lenses on a small town girl
Seen everything all around the world
Died long hair dancing as she walks
Seen everything while as she talks
 
If I could only make her see my way
Maybe we could spin the watch all day
In a place far away from here
 
She's a good good
Got you in a whirl
She's such a pretty girl
 
Pretty blonde hair singing as she walks
Small town shoes danicing as she talks
Small town whistles in a small town girl
Seen everything in this small town
 
If I could only make her see my way
Maybe we could spin the watch all day
In a place far away from here
 
Hey, hey, hey, hey
She's a good good girl
She's got me in a whirl
She's such a pretty girl

 
DANGEROUS TIMES

These are dangerous times
Nothing to care or die for
These are dangerous times
What you want, someone will buy for you
 
Don't get away
 
It's so easy to wait
You've been wearing the green
I've been wearing the fall
And you said that all was just agreed
 
But, don't get away
 
I saw a guy out on the street
Said, I know what you need, BOY
I can set you fine
I didn't buy his line, because
 
These are dangerous times
I don't want to get old
You say that everything's fine
Then you leave me standing in the cold
All alone
 
But, don't get away
 
It's so easy to fall
You've been trying to gain
I've been trying to stop
But it's catching up with me again
 
But, don't get away
 
These are dangerous times
It's a dangerous time

 
ALL THE RIGHT FRIENDS

I know you say
Maybe some day
I need never be alone
I know I say
It's the right way
But you'll never be the one
 
I've been so alone now
For a long long, long time
I don't wanna hang out now
With the folks that just stopped by
 
While you party
You've been looking
But your searching never ends
You've been going
With the wrong crowd
You've got all the right friends
 
I've been walking alone now
For a long, long time
I don't want to spend now
With the folks...that just aren't
mine
 
I don't wanna be with you anymore
I just don't want you anymore
I d