\\\///\\\/// It's the ILX SUPER SUMMER R.E.M. POLL OF POLLS RESULTS THREAD \\\///\\\///

#11: Nightswimming
11 votes, 95 points
Highest position: #1 (brontosaur)
Position in Automatic For The People poll: #3 (14 votes)

unless i am very much mistaken (more than likely). there is a prominent oboe in the last half of Nightswimming by REM.

and irrespective of it being an oboe or not, it sounds brilliant!

― Richard H., Sunday, September 2, 2001 8:00 PM Bookmark

― Doctor Casino, Saturday, 17 April 2010 18:14 (3 years ago) Permalink

Some interesting discussion here: Does Michael Stipe write good lyrics? . I love this song for the same reasons as I think anyone else would, so it's interesting to see it tackled more from a craft angle than from a personal/emotional one.

― Doctor Casino, Saturday, 17 April 2010 18:15 (3 years ago) Permalink

girl i fancied as a freshman was an oboe player, and Nightswimming was her favourite song because of that.

― Gee, Officer (Gukbe), Saturday, 17 April 2010 18:22 (3 years ago) Permalink

"I'm not sure all these people understand."

I'll skip the personal/emotional angle (suffice it to say that there's a lot of that for me with this song, so much so that it's almost suffocating to talk about). Such a late summer record: hard to listen to in April! These things, they go away. John Paul Jones' arrangement: a hammer of the quiet gods? Friends of friends played on this song. My wife just listened to it with me, her first time: we've not been nightswimming. She's not sure if it's melancholy or sad: I don't get the difference, but we are side by side in orbit now.

― Euler, Saturday, 17 April 2010 20:34 (3 years ago) Permalink

Anybody who doesn't like the sound of an oboe is dead inside imo

― Bone Thugs-n-Carmody (Noodle Vague), Saturday, 17 April 2010 20:38 (3 years ago) Permalink

I like the sound of an oboe but not "Nightswimming," which arrived too late in my life to resonate with the already-ebbing chord in me of the feeling it's meant to evoke. Encountered for the first time as an adult it reads as maudlin. Or maybe what I'm trying to do is contrast with "These Days" above -- I think some of the lines require selling and the song doesn't sell them, to me.

― Guayaquil (eephus!), Sunday, 18 April 2010 03:11 (3 years ago) Permalink

i hope i never feel that old

― Gee, Officer (Gukbe), Monday, 19 April 2010 10:07 (3 years ago) Permalink

You hope you never feel 21?

― Guayaquil (eephus!), Monday, 19 April 2010 13:55 (3 years ago) Permalink

would say closer to 18 tbh

― Gee, Officer (Gukbe), Monday, 19 April 2010 14:01 (3 years ago) Permalink

#10: Country Feedback
11 votes, 96 points
Highest position: #1 (Lostandfound, Ari (whenuweremine), cwkiii)
Position in Out of Time poll: tie for #1 (10 votes)

i've always thought R.E.M.'s "Country Feedback" was an awesome song title and kinda wished the song sounded more like something that the title (or this thread) describes

― some dude, Thursday, February 25, 2010 8:51 PM Bookmark

(that's on Has any band dared to mix country and noise-rock? )

"Country Feedback" for how evocative the line "these clothes don't fit us right" is...

― Mozarella sticks. Think about it. (kenan), Monday, October 27, 2008 2:41 AM Bookmark

― Doctor Casino, Friday, 30 April 2010 16:09 (3 years ago) Permalink

shuffling through my ipod a few days back and this came on. still amazing.

― Gee, Officer (Gukbe), Friday, 30 April 2010 16:41 (3 years ago) Permalink

I'd like to hear more about why this song is rated so highly. I like it a lot, and love the album it's from, but it's never struck me as a highlight of the album. I like it if I think of it as parody: "here's this kinda dirgy tune, we're gonna sing some vaguely mopey lyrics just to be in character". I guess it's a grungy moment in the year that punk broke?

― Euler, Sunday, 2 May 2010 18:55 (3 years ago) Permalink

Listening to it now and it's hard to articulate - just a really evocative song, very old-school Stipe in terms of the indirectness of the lyric but relatively new-school in that it's at least clear that it's a love song (well, relationship/breakup song). All kinds of stuff going on in here - the dregs of sex ("you come to me with a bone in your hand") the general sense of a relationship performing what its participants think it's supposed to be ("these clothes don't fit us right"), and the great repeated finale:

It's crazy what you could have had
I need this

...in which the protag oscillates between trying to throw the breakup in the other's face (you're giving up THIS??? what a fool!) and revealing his own vulnerability. I dunno. I don't have a singular tight reading of this song and it's not my favorite on the record ("Me In Honey" is just unstoppable) but it's a very nice song. Would make a nice comparison with "Tongue" I think.

― Doctor Casino, Friday, 7 May 2010 03:20 (3 years ago) Permalink

Country Feedback was my favourite REM song when I was a teenager. Incredibly evocative - something about the interplay between the roar of the pulled lower E and the over distorted whine of the higher strings while Michael fills in the middle with "I need this", a highly effective yet simple lyrical trope.

― village idiot (dog latin), Friday, 7 May 2010 10:22 (3 years ago) Permalink

It does seem to pre-empt Monster somehow.

― village idiot (dog latin), Friday, 7 May 2010 10:22 (3 years ago) Permalink

I always thought it was "You come to me with the phone in your hand" ...

― timellison, Saturday, 8 May 2010 16:25 (3 years ago) Permalink

I think "evocative" is the key to why this song is so loved by some and others don't get it (like me). "Evocative" is such an ineffable, personal feeling; if it hits you, it hits you hard, but the rest just don't feel it.

I'll put "Sweetness Follows," "World Leader Pretend" and most of Fables of the Reconstruction on my evocative list. "Country Feedback" is a lot of keening and whining to me (though it's not as bad in that regard as "The Wrong Child"--that one I actively dislike).

― Hideous Lump, Sunday, 9 May 2010 00:58 (3 years ago) Permalink

"Country Feedback" isn't so far from the songwriting of New Adventures In Hi-Fi, an album I don't really get (though my heart remains open). Yet I recognize that the latter album is super popular. So I wonder if love of this song is correlated with love of New Adventures.

― Euler, Sunday, 9 May 2010 06:36 (3 years ago) Permalink

I do love New Adventures, but I feel like "Country Feedback," for all its Evocativeness, is still way more directly zeroed-in on the heartstrings than most of the material on that record. Also, the sonic signatures (wailing steel guitar, sad strumming) are more familiar in terms of associations, like I hear those and I know I'm hearing a ballad, y'know?

But I will join Hideous Lump in detesting "The Wrong Child."

― Doctor Casino, Sunday, 9 May 2010 14:05 (3 years ago) Permalink

I think Stipe has often singled out "Country Feedback" as his favorite REM song and tbh I think that's one reason it gets lots of love. I think he sells "I need this." But yeah, it's no "Me In Honey."

― Guayaquil (eephus!), Sunday, 9 May 2010 16:57 (3 years ago) Permalink

Meanwhile though, I really never will get tired of this:

marathonpacks: I think it’s “Country Feedbag”

Matthew Perpetua: I am pretty sure that Michael Stipe wrote it about the closing of a beloved all-you-can-eat country buffet
“it’s crazy what you could’ve had — ribs, chicken, greens!”

― Doctor Casino, Sunday, 9 May 2010 17:24 (3 years ago) Permalink

you come to me with your fork in your hand

― Guayaquil (eephus!), Sunday, 9 May 2010 17:29 (3 years ago) Permalink

These clothes don't fit us right
the buffet's to blame

― Doctor Casino, Sunday, 9 May 2010 17:35 (3 years ago) Permalink

Euler, I fit your theory. "Country Feedback"is maybe my favourite R.E.M. song and NAIHF is my favourite R.E.M. album.

― Lostandfound, Sunday, 9 May 2010 20:39 (3 years ago) Permalink

It would actually be kinda cool to hold the top 4 until each member of R.E.M. dies:

# 4 - Peter Buck RIP
# 3 - Michael Stipe RIP
# 2 - Mike Mills RIP
# 1 - Bill Berry RIP

― Come along, we shall dine at an expensive French restaurant. (Z S), Sunday, 27 June 2010 15:36 (2 years ago) Permalink

Athens, GA finally finishes biodegrading in the year 13,200 AA (after apocalypse), cockroaches and single cell organisms rule the town - full lists/results are posted

― Come along, we shall dine at an expensive French restaurant. (Z S), Sunday, 27 June 2010 15:39 (2 years ago) Permalink

It would be great to see the end of this!

― I think Mick Jagger has suffered plenty. (Euler), Sunday, 27 June 2010 17:41 (2 years ago) Permalink

Agreed, I am ready.

― ilxor has truly been got at and become an ILXor (ilxor), Sunday, 27 June 2010 19:15 (2 years ago) Permalink

It might be quicker if we all just post our ballots here and work it ourselves.

― I Ain't Committing Suicide For No Crab (Nasty, Brutish & Short), Sunday, 27 June 2010 20:19 (2 years ago) Permalink

no no, i will do it!!! Sorry guys! I am on extended archi-tourist vacay right now but i promise I will get these results out by the end of July. SUPER SUMMER 2010!!!

― Doctor Casino, Tuesday, 29 June 2010 09:01 (2 years ago) Permalink

What, surely Buck outlives the rest. I see him starring in "It Might Get Loud 10" in 2045.

― Guayaquil (eephus!), Tuesday, 29 June 2010 14:56 (2 years ago) Permalink

no no, i will do it!!! Sorry guys! I am on extended archi-tourist vacay right now but i promise I will get these results out by the end of July. SUPER SUMMER 2010!!!

― Doctor Casino, Tuesday, June 29, 2010 2:01 AM (2 weeks ago)

im holding YOU to this!

― Bee OK, Friday, 16 July 2010 06:31 (2 years ago) Permalink

it's still the plan! i have been screaming around europe on a bus full of architecture students but the POLL OF POLLS has never left the corner of my mind!

― Doctor Casino, Sunday, 18 July 2010 21:56 (2 years ago) Permalink

yeah!, as nice a song as it is, please don't leave us with country feedback as the highest-ranked all-time rem song.

― Daniel, Esq., Sunday, 18 July 2010 22:22 (2 years ago) Permalink

i'm so jealous. you should be having the time of your life!

in that case don't worry about it, have fun, it will be here when you come back from holiday.

― Bee OK, Tuesday, 20 July 2010 04:42 (2 years ago) Permalink

#9: Wolves, Lower
10 votes, 97 points
Highest position: #2 (Daniel Esq)
Position in Chronic Town poll: #3 (10 votes)

I'm not sure what the fuck "urgent" is but I'll volunteer "Wolves, Lower."
― joseph cotten (joseph cotten), Thursday, January 27, 2005 4:50 PM Bookmark

― Doctor Casino, Tuesday, 20 July 2010 13:36 (2 years ago) Permalink

i had that as no. 2? hm. well, it is a fantastic -- and, j. cotten is right -- "urgent" song. the beginnings of the southern gothic rock vibe, and "that beat."

― Daniel, Esq., Tuesday, 20 July 2010 14:03 (2 years ago) Permalink

Love the hell out of this one - Mills's background vocals, the drumming, and especially the opening, things sort of gearing up slowly with the mysterious jangle, then kicked in by Berry and Stipe's yelping. Plus: "Suspicion yourself, suspicion yourself, don't get caught."

― Doctor Casino, Tuesday, 20 July 2010 14:08 (2 years ago) Permalink

The "in a corner garden" bit makes the song for me: obv. not the lyric on paper but the way that he sings it, wistful but with the bucolic menace of wolves: there is something dangerous just beneath the surface.

― Euler, Tuesday, 20 July 2010 14:13 (2 years ago) Permalink

yeah, by "hm," i just meant that i thought i rated another song from chronic town even higher. but that would be a pretty heavy concentration of songs from their debut ep at the top of my ballot. i'll have to go back and check my ballot.

― Daniel, Esq., Tuesday, 20 July 2010 14:13 (2 years ago) Permalink

I'm happy to see the poll going again btw: I'm on a big REM kick, listening through all the singles with their b-sides (for the first time!). And I listened to Reveal last week for the first time since, er, it came out, and liked parts of it a lot ("The Lifting", "I've Been High", "Saturn Return") (about the rest let's pass over in silence). Also I listened to Around The Sun for the first time ever & cannot remember anything off it to say anything. A first listen to Accelerate is coming soon too: I've finally worked up the nerve to get to the newer stuff. Why not smile.

― Euler, Tuesday, 20 July 2010 14:17 (2 years ago) Permalink

summer's the season for golden-era (i.e., early) rem.

― Daniel, Esq., Tuesday, 20 July 2010 14:20 (2 years ago) Permalink

Euler, I think Accelerate is better than either Reveal or Around, neither of which I ever need to hear again.

"Wolves, Lower" -- can't think of anything to say about this near-perfect song except that it's near-perfect.

― Guayaquil (eephus!), Wednesday, 21 July 2010 01:22 (2 years ago) Permalink

#8: Find the River
11 votes, 99 points
Highest position: #1 (G00blar)
Position in Automatic For The People poll: #2 (15 votes)

I will say that REM consistently has killer final songs on their albums. Usually the last two are among the best two. "Nightswimming" and "Find the River" are an incredible pair. My take on the latter was always that the youthful skinnydipping escapades of the latter evolve into the poignant if painful reflections about going out to seek one's way without the company of all the party people from your college days. The water imagery the two songs share, and stories the various band members have told in interviews about "Nightswimming," lead me to jump to these conclusions.

― the consular horse, Wednesday, March 15, 2006 1:46 AM Bookmark

I remember reading an interview with Stipe when the album came out, and he said that he and Mike Mills (I think) would drive around Miami (I think) during the recording, in a convertible with the top down, just singing this song together at the top of their lungs. I always think of this scene, and the pure joy of singing implied, whenever I hear this song. Whenever Stipe's voice breaks on the high notes, I get chills.

― gooblar (gooblar), Wednesday, March 15, 2006 11:23 AM Bookmark

and more here: R.E.M. Find the River. Your thoughts.

― Doctor Casino, Thursday, 22 July 2010 17:39 (2 years ago) Permalink

I don't have anything to say about "Find The River" (it's the wrong time of year for that song) but just listening to the new deluxe Fables and holy shit does "Feeling Gravitys Pull" kick: the end of the song is apocalyptic, disoriented madness as you all know, but the disorientation is now more, er, disorienting; oh never mind, just listen to it. btw it is a Man Ray kind of a sky right now.

― Euler, Wednesday, 28 July 2010 19:43 (2 years ago) Permalink

it's the wrong time of year for that song

100% otm.

also, fables of the reconstruction is very -- very -- underrated. i like it more than murmur or reckoning, tbh. it hits the southern-gothic rock vibe better than it's album predecessors and captures the band in a fragile, tenuous, almost-jittery, state. absorbing, hypnotic songs throughout this album.

― Daniel, Esq., Wednesday, 28 July 2010 19:52 (2 years ago) Permalink

wow, the "Feeling Gravitys Pull" on the second disk of the rerelease sounds like "The Hanging Garden", or at the least the drumming does at about 2/3 through the song, and again at the end; first time I've heard I've heard the Cure in REM I think?

― Euler, Wednesday, 28 July 2010 20:30 (2 years ago) Permalink

Haven't heard the whole thing, but mentioned yesterday on the Rolling Reissues thread how great I thought the Fables remaster sounds.

― timellison, Wednesday, 28 July 2010 21:40 (2 years ago) Permalink

also, fables of the reconstruction is very -- very -- underrated. i like it more than murmur or reckoning, tbh.

I completely agree, and "Lifes Rich Pagent" continues that uber-high quality. I like Fables and LRP much better than Murmur and Reckoning.

― Gerald McBoing-Boing, Wednesday, 28 July 2010 22:39 (2 years ago) Permalink

Liked "Find The River" when it came out, but now don't feel the need to hear it ever. There are a lot of explicit indications of poignancy on AFTP but in the end it's kind of a cold, gestural record -- e.g. no expression of regret on the entire album displays 1/10 as much feeling as does "Me In Honey."

― Guayaquil (eephus!), Thursday, 29 July 2010 02:27 (2 years ago) Permalink