R.E.M. - Kohoutek

[marcoamedrano]

This song is incredible, and the entire album is amazing. I used to play it often years ago. I hadn't heard it for 20 years and it still sounds so new, like something released last week.

[blackelvi]

Woah, great lyrics interpreting skills missy!! 10 points to you =D

[kirksbrega11]

I used to think he was singing my coat built the bridge my coat tore it down. I used to think this song was about the end of the civil war and the reconstruction of the south. Some of the references like who will stand alone? after all that's all the highly prodestant and baptist south wanted was to stand alone they didn't want to stand alone with the union. But now it seems it's a metaphore in reference to a relationship Micheal had. Like the comet Kohoutek she was gone.

[caseworker001]

As a teen not familiar w/ the band members' names I thought it was microbe, not Michael. It had deep meaning for me, lol. This is still one of my favorites.

[RainJetSprinklers]

@caseworker001

Hahaha "Microbe Stipe" I'd like to hear your meaning of this. It sounds like a name from a scifi film.

[Bublinkary]

it's funny, "kohoutek" in Czech language means a little cockerel. :-D Bless ...

[dopitarulez]

@Bublinkary there is nothing funny about this - Lubos Kohoutek is name of famous Czech astronomer who discovered Kohoutek comet in 1973. The song is about this comet.

[mrbollocks1979]

I think that the "seamlessness" of this song is what makes it timeless for me. It just flows so perfectly; Stipe has come up with a melody that just goes along so well with the rest of the instrumentation that is seems like a complete, seamless piece. That's just my opinion anyway, it simply flows so beautifully from start to finish.

[fronsees]

the homos stole the name of the song from journey

[wahnamhong]

best album from rem, and this is its best song.. the other poster said it correctly, it's like a dream

[paloriggs]

i can make out very little of what stipey sings, despite listening and loving this song as many times as i have

[stugats1]

first 4 albums were mint..

[khasperg]

Why is this one of my all-time favorite REM songs?? I can never figure it out. It just IS!! A horribly underrated album, it's the most immersing experience of all their early works, and this song, I am still lost in it after 10 years of listening to it.

[GlueyPorch]

same here. this is probably my favourite R.E.M. track

[jumblequeen]

me too.

[connobono]

could it have something to do with the fact that in the whole back catalogue of material, this is the only one song that mr stipe talks about himself in the 1st person?? i.e: ''michael built a bridge, michael tore it down''

maybe it seems more honest and revealing, whatever its about, lol.

[petesn]

Camera , Kohoutek, Good Advices ,Laughing......All songs that I didnt get straight off..but still remember the buzz of realising them over time. REM 's 1st 4 albums are a very dear part of my life.

[ord1711]

Indeed, mine too. I just listened to all of them straight through. I alternate between 1-3 as my favorites. I think I like MM's bass on Murmur best, though FR has some marvelous songs on it (like this!).

[cosel79]

this is my all-times favourite from R.e.m...this song has got something unique and special..it's evocative, strange and mysterious in some way..it's like "listening" to a dream..the lyrics and the music matches perfectly together. Priceless. Stipe is such a talented songwriter!

[mindcontrolpete]

Great description! And like a dream every time you look back on one you find something new. It's like a beautiful, abstract painting painted by.... someone stuck in a dreamlike state.

[ord1711]

I noticed as I listened to the first 4 albums last night, as soon as "Begin the Begin" starts you get not only strong effects on the guitar, but you're able to understand Michael's lyrics.  I prefer the mumbling.

[tarstarkascarthoris]

Is it because this is a love song (?)

[BuddyKatt]

what's with the album cover? is that someone head down in the book?

[ncf1]

My all-time second favourite REM song. This one was weird in that I barely noticed it first but it just grew and grew until it finally dawned upom my senses that it was a timeless classic. Those "growers" are the best songs of all in my opinion; they keep on giving.

[Mugsycache14567]

Well said. (If i may say.) Much like a great film, oftentimes. After the first viewing it's fine, after the tenth, beautiful.

[mattkudzu]

It's funny you speak of films. The video that i've seen the most (and it get's better everytime) is Athens,GA inside out. If any REM fan has never seen it, SEE IT! I think you can get it on netflix , if not, buy it.

[GlueyPorch]

Yeah i really need to see that film. Even though watching old footage of R.E.M. is kind of depressing because i think they've really gone downhill in recent years

[cinemavirtualis]

This song is absolutely haunting and brilliant.

[sonicvariables]

imo...r.e.m.'s greatest album...

thoughtful, provocative, edgy, somewhat psychedelic...

the first time it rains during the fall months, this album is on the turntable...it's a must...(voice of harold ref.)

[LilBillyWillickers]

I love Fables! The unpolished, underproduced sound of it is like an old heirloom or cherished family relic that you go up to the attic, blow off the dust, and marvel at it every now and then when you need to. Classic sound all there own back then.

[GlueyPorch]

My thoughts exactly. This album has a really unique sound, i love it.

[westofthefields]

"Fever built a bridge. Reason tore it down."

"Maybe you're not the problem. Scissors, paper, stone. If I stand and hollar, will I stand alone?"

"At least it's something...you left behind."

[sweetttina666]

This is not "throwaway/ filler". This is a surreal mood captured at the right moment. Perhaps sent by a peaceful/clueless God? ......uh, yeah man, they're deep.

[Nancoman]

This is a sad song. I think of all the people I have lost in life, and I know what Michael means.

[waffen]

At least it's something you've left behind

Like Kohoutek, you were gone.....

[123laverdiere]

Daddy Mumbles is at it again!!

[pdxbronco1967]

Fables was/is not a favorite of some of the band members. Michael thinks it has some of their best songwriting. I agree with him. For the most part, the album has kind of a distant feel to me, but very good overall.

[ratbasket]

I agree with Michael. I will say the production is....odd. I always thought 'Can't get there from here' didn't fit on the album. Anyways, man they we re good. New album is good too.

[sweetttina666]

Sorry, dude. I meant to click thumbs up!

[BrainUnchained]

I TOTALLY agree... "Can't Get There From Here", while I can't hate the song, it's EXTREMELY jarring to the continuity of this album.

[westofthefields]

My favorite song off of my favorite R.E.M. album. Way, way underrated.

Funny, though, I recall everyone in the band saying this song was just muddy, unfocused--a toss-off. Hardly.

[petesn]

A very underrated REM song

[BlameItOnThePenguin]

Yeah, I agree. I hate it when when really annoying songs like all of the Jonas Bros. songs are overrated. I also hate it when good songs like this are underrated.

[saintsubversive]

I love this song and its the first time Ive actually seen the lyrics. Brilliant!

[1michelemichele1]

Hullo

Just a kind of warning: it isn't absolute these *are* the lyrics. You know how secretive Michael Stipe is.

[saintsubversive]

They look pretty close though, better than the ones I had in my head, lol.

[1michelemichele1]

You should write down what you think they are before you forget: it can be amazing what people come up with, and I rarely can recall what I used to think the words were. Seriously. PS: My ass is parked at the computer til I finish watching Doctor Who Season Four, hence the (probably spooky) swift replies

(very defensive about my geek ways)

(also going to shut up now, my writing skills go to hell when I'm watching this show)

[BlameItOnThePenguin]

Looking at the lyrics... My interpretation of the song (Or moreover what I think about when I hear the song.) is this mystic/islander girl that's unsociable yet always makes people wanna know more about her. And then one day she was GONE!! Just disappeared into thin air. I'm probably far off, but that's what I think of.

[1michelemichele1]

I always focused on this bit:

"fever built a bridge/(jealous)(reason)(etc) tore it down" because I overanalyze everything, esp when I'm not feelng terribly secure

...the rest kind of revolves around that.

It's so subjective: I love that

[BlameItOnThePenguin]

What do they mean by that though? i don't get it. ._.

[uclrichard]

the lyrics are sexually ambivalent (the pronouns are deliberably mixed up and blurred)...the protagonist doesn't know anything about the identity (or gender) of his subject.

that's the point - oblique - of all REM love songs...before 1990.

[Elementarybishop]

Kohoutek is a czech word!

[KENVAIL]

i saw them on this tour in 1985 at state theater in kalamazoo, michigan.

[showmerightnow]

I used to play this song on 16 cos it was even freakier that way. Classic!