R.E.M.embering....

 I was aboard the R.E.M. express pretty much from the beginning.  I mean, who could resist Radio Free Europe, right?  And Murmer, their first album, still ranks as among the very best debut albums.  (Right along side such heavy hitters as: Patti Smith's Horses, The Ramones, The Clash and Zeppelin's self titled debuts [Oh, and The Velvets' too.  And the Pretenders.  There are a lot of great self-titled first albums, no?], Are You Experienced?, My Aim Is True, Big Pink et al.  Ah, let us not forget [if I'd let you] Please Please Me [or, if you prefer Meet The Beatles*] as well as the Peeg's Dry.)

(Not only a great album but also
 a great album cover!)

Like those debuts, Murmur is as good, and probably better, as a whole, then when singling out individual songs.  Of course individually, each song can easily stand on its own, too.  But together, particularly as an LP, where song one on side one opens with the four beat being hammered in on the snare and then the explosion of guitar, bass and vocals demanding that you "Decide yourself if radio's gonna stay" to the melancholy fade out of Perfect Circle, which, on LP, lingers as one turns the record over.  And then on to side two, with the upbeat Catapult thru the nearly sing-a-long finale (at least in the chorus) of West of the Fields, Murmer is as dynamic as it comes.

Of course, in my humble (and correct) opinion, all of the albums by R.E.M. hold up extraordinarily well.  Even the weak ones.  (Of course the weakest R.E.M. album is light years ahead of most band's best.)

Naturally, since I brought it up, you want to know which R.E.M. album I considered their weakest.  I honestly can't say.  Just as I can't say which is my favorite.  (Okay, if you put the thumb screw to me--and if you know me well, you know you only need bother with the one thumb screw--I will say that I think the mix on Fables could have been better.)  The fact of the matter is, even the plethora of non-album tracks the band recorded (and made available on various reissues and B-sides), are great.  (The exception being Moon River, found on the reissue of Reckoning.  But that's not R.E.M.'s fault; I simply can't stand the lyric "my huckleberry friend." It ruins a perfectly okay tune.)  And before I get the inevitable barrage of outrage demanding "What about Shiny Happy People?" let me just say, I think the song is fun and funny.

So, why the REMembering?  (Surely a name that the band could have used for one of their many compilations.)  Well, it's like this:  For several days now, Captain Earworm has insisted on playing and replaying the line "Not everyone can carry the weight of the world" from the great song Talk About the Passion.

Now, as when I get infested with earworms featuring The Beatles, I can generally force the earworm to play most, if not all of the R.E.M. song that has planted itself in my brain.  And that's exactly what I did with Talk About the Passion.  While in the shower, sudsing up what's left of my hair, I bellowed "Not everyone can carry the weight of the world."  (Repeat and rinse.)  And after the repeat of the line, I was able to follow it with "Call me in, call me in, call me in to talk" and head right into the chorus, "Talk about the passion…." 

And while the earworm insisted on putting the entire song on an endless loop, I decided I liked the song enough to try and learn it on the ol' guitar.  A google moment away, I had a complete tab of the song and happily began to work my way through it.  Except right away, I saw that there was something amiss.  The lyrics were wrong.  I mean, everyone knows the song begins "Empty bread, empty mouths, call me in [f]'or action" and the pre-chorus echoes that by ending with "call me in, call me in, call me in to talk…"  So what the heck is this "combien" that the internet insists is the correct lyric?  I mean, even my Mac continues to change "combien"  to "combine," which is proof positive that this "combien" is wrong.  And the pre-chorus line, "Combien, combien, combien de temps?" What the heck is that?  Spanish in an R.E.M. song?  I no creo!  

Okay, so google tells me "combien des temps" is French, so Je ne crois pas!  (Thank you google translate.)

After checking many sites, it appears that the French is correct, which means that R.E.M. violated rule number one in lyric writing: 

(Gratuitous pix of Britt.)

1.  No foreign language shall be used in a pop/rock song except, of course, the "Voulez-vous coucher avec moi, ce soir?  Voulez-vous coucher avec moi?" in Lady Marmalade  (either version), and any and everything Britt Ekland whispers in Tonight's the Night.  Faux foreign language, as used frequently by John Lennon (see: Across the Universe) is also permissible.

Now it's likely that because the violation was on their first album, R.E.M. was spared the wrath of the Rock 'n Roll's Federation After Unwarrented  Xenolalia Per America's Standard (FAUX PAS).  It's even more likely folks simply thought the words were "call me in to talk."

I know that's how I'm continuing to sing it.  At least until ol' Col. Earworm brings on another tune.

*Yea, I know, technically the debut album for the Lads' here in the states is Introducing The Beatles.