R.E.M. called it quits last week after roughly thirty years as a band. That’s a long life for a rock band, especially since three of the original four members were there for the duration. It’s been some time since they were musically interesting although they’ve still been commercially successful, sort of like a postpunk Eric Clapton. They certainly released a lot of interesting music over the years, some of which is covered in this post.

Liz Durrett “The One I Love” (R.E.M.)
You can learn the most interesting things on Wikipedia. For instance, did you know that the director of photography for this song’s video went on to be a chef on the Food Network? The same article also has a great quote from Michael Stipe that “it’s probably better that they just think it’s a love song at this point.”

This hushed lyrics and spacious arrangement really up the creepiness quotient. And I mean that in a good way.

Penn Shabbatones “Shiny Happy People” (R.E.M.)
One of R.E.M.’s big hits after they became more interested in traditional song structure and songcraft. Despite its popularity the song received a decidedly mixed reception. The irony of the lyrics was apparently lost on people on both sides of the the divide. It works well as an a capella song though.

Grant-Lee Phillips “So. Central Rain (I’m Sorry)” (R.E.M.)
There aren’t a lot of covers of songs from the first couple of R.E.M. albums, maybe because they weren’t big pop hits, maybe because of the strange way those albums were mixed. This song comes from Mr. Phillips’ album of 80s covers and it’s the first time I’ve ever been able to understand the lyrics.

The Shout Out Louds “Man On The Moon” (R.E.M.)
This is my second-favorite song about Andy Kaufman, my favorite being “Andy Always Dreamed Of Wrestling” by the Bobs. I really wish somebody would cover that one, but I digress. R.E.M.’s video for this song was one of the first that I ever saw on Pop Up Video, which I miss dearly. After seeing that I understood more about both the song and the video.

This version has absolutely wonderful percolating percussion throughout.

Bingo Hand Job “Tom’s Diner” (Suzanne Vega)
Bingo Hand Job is R.E.M. playing a supposedly secret show in London. The folks in R.E.M. had a good sense of humor that they didn’t exhibit as often as I might have liked. This wacky live version is from the album Tom’s Album which collected the original version, the famous remix by DNA, and other covers.