POLL: "Never Tear Us Apart" (INXS) vs. "Everybody Hurts" (R.E.M.)

i agree that neither song really hits an ironic register, but they both seem pretty self-aware and are playful with that awareness instead of distancing

I had never particularly thought about EH lyrics and yes they are basic but listening to the song with that in mind, I wish I had been able to say such simple words to a dear friend who didn’t hang on, for instance... so maybe they’re not that bad.

xp - yeah, i think i was "turned off" by what I felt was "schmaltzy" - like it was R.E.M. doing "wind beneath my wings" or "bridge over troubled water" after everyone associated "bridge over troubled water" with commercials for casualty insurance or something

Yeah, not saying it does, but I think a couple of the lines are throwaways and he could done something better. Specifically talking about "Don't throw your hand" (?) and "Sometimes everything is wrong/Now it's time to sing along."

― timellison, Sunday, January 6, 2019 1:44 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

"don't throw your hand" is actually pretty specific suicide reference, it's a reference to playing cards, when you just throw your hand into the middle and quit to cut your loses instead of trying to bluff while holding bad cards by continuing to bet

Yeah, I think that's the best line in the song.

Definitely the best line!

I never considered the folding a hand of cards, I always just took "throw your hand" as some sort of dramatic gesture of despair, like maybe punching a hole in the wall, or shaking one's fist at God. What makes it so great is its unexpectedness and obtuseness, something you almost never find in the top 40.

I mean they were Southern boys I'm p sure it's cards

that basic guitar arpeggio on everybody hurts just bores me, it doesn't do the lyric any favours

"don't throw your hand" is actually pretty specific suicide reference, it's a reference to playing cards,

I mean, I thought this was obvious(!); and it’s why I was agreeing w/Tim about that line. “Don’t commit suicide” seems like somewhat... clumsy advice to a severely depressed person. But if it helped some people to hear it in this song, ok!

(Incidentally, I recall some mishearing this line as an even more specific suicide reference: “Don’t blow your head off”!)

there might be a UK/US divide wrt to poker?

FWIW, I actually like “Sometimes everything is wrong/Now it's time to sing along” — it feels like a glimmer of the “self-aware inspirational song” thing

this is an interesting genre, the explicitly palliative/consoling song