How can I like a band as much as I like REM and only ever have shared one other song by them? I really should give them a shout out more often. This is one great song and the lyrics are more than a little bit crazy in places! And definitely a good choice for this week’s #SongLyricSunday prompt – ‘find‘.
Find the River is the final track of Automatic for the People, but I didn’t hear it until years after the rest of the album, because (showing my age here) the whole album is 48 minutes, just a shade too long to fit on one side of a 90 minute audio cassette. So the friend who recorded it from her CD for me just edited off the final song, and for years I thought the album ended with Nightswimming.
Anyway, I’ve had a busy Sunday working at an all day theatre type event, and I’m now about to get back on to the work emails – so I’ll keep this contribution brief. The lyrics, to save time, are in the video and the song is by Bill Berry, Peter Buck, Mike Mills, and Michael Stipe. I’ll let you ponder what ‘ocean storm, bayberry moon, bergamot and vetiver’ is all about – did they write it standing at a herbal remedies counter perhaps?!
Have a good week folks!
Imagine if you knocked the final song off every album – no Jungleland, no Darkness on the Edge of Town, no A Day in the Life etc etc….
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It would mean a lot of them would fit better on one side of a 90 minute cassette – although that’s not really an issue these days is it? I’m so sorry for forgetting the other time this was a last song.
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This song is simply exquisite! Always loved it. I seem to recall having seen an interview with Michael Stipe where he was asked about the lyrics. I cannot remember what was said at all!!
I believe they are all fragrances.
Lots of speculation on what the song was about, but who cares really. It is brilliant.
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