R.E.M. - It Happened Today (New Song W/ Lyrics)

[carbon4me]

I was hooked at Catapault, was a staunch fan through What's The Frequency Kenneth and R.E.M remains my favorite musical group of all time.

Thank you for all the incredible studio and live performances ( I have been fortunate to see the band live many times here in Northern California). Whether in the car, on an airplane or running one mile repeats on a track I always find your music satisfying to listen to.

A fan in Cupertino, CA.

[malzawag]

Never underestimate the power and majesty of Mike Mill's backing vocals. So often his vocal contributions have made a good song into a great track. R.I.P. R.E.M.

[stevelocher25]

I remember the days when only the mensa crowd at KSU knew who they were. To know and love R.E.M. in 1983 was a ticket into an elite society. This album takes me back to those days..........in other words, priceless.

[fullimmerzion]

REM FOREVER

[EricHobs]

omg REM never disappoints us

[tommyrock69]

I remember when REM didn't live by the numbers, but by the music. I met them in a record store in 1983. They really didn't care about anything. That's why their jump to a major label and "Green" made no sense to we club fans. Now, all these years later (which happened REALLY fast) it's heartening to hear them back in their groove.

[mecoolforever]

I love R.E.M!!!!! I grew up listening to their songs! Thank you MIchael for singing again :))))))

[GinieInTheBottle]

Love the melody!

[TheMiketh1]

I love this song, it reminds me of New Test Leper. The lyrics are so simple but the delivery is great =]

[raymercify]

i think rem are better than kylie minouge anyday..and thats saying something, just anything, don't leave me with silence because when i am alone my fear peaks..apart from that, they have along way to go before they reach the dizzy heights of Lady gaga.

[DiamondRibCageZine]

This is going to be one hell of a record. Of the five songs that have leaked so far, every single one BY ITSELF blows away everything they've done since Hi-Fi. And don't get me wrong, I still think every album since then has had at least two or three really great songs. But this new one...well, I think that as time goes by and people look back on REM's career it will be Murmur / Automatic / Collapse Into Now when they want to define the band.

[cosmicrider287]

this was very great.

[minichapman]

@mylittlerathole I hate to be the bringer of bad news but there's no tour from word of peter buck.

[kmacmuzikmafia27]

I'm gonna go ahead and relate the lyrics to losing your virginity and the apathy of it all.

[slpsms]

The more you listen, the more you recognize that this is just a very, very solid song. The last 2 minutes seem repetitive at the first handful of listens, but then you start to listen more closely to the subtlety and intricacies, and suddenly this becomes a part that, despite it's length, you don't want to end. That is, in my estimation, something I want out of my music...creativity and the power to seduce in its subtlety and simplicity. Bravo.

[minichapman]

@slpsms Please thumbs to slpsms comment. That is the most interesting and excellent comment.

[cosmicrider287]

@slpsms you put it very well.

[userytl]

this just made me smile !

[TheElliotloveday]

Wow! Over a hundred 'thumbs up'. There are a lot of hopeful REM fans {like me} out there who would like to think the new album will be a true return to form, after the mediocrity of 'Accelerate', but after listening to this I'm not so optimistic.

[roejogan8]

@TheElliotloveday accelerate was good.

[roejogan8]

@TheElliotloveday actually it was very good.

[TheBarnsleyJohn]

@TheElliotloveday

Accerlerate was superb. The first half (side 1 in old terms) is as strong a half an album as REM have ever made. I think that some people would slate Automatic if it were released today.

[kingsakoil]

@TheElliotloveday Mediocrity of Accelerate?...I think it was a great album...what is "a true return to form"/...just wondering what you meant...

[rjfoster2]

@TheElliotloveday accelerate was a good album it certainly wasnt mediocre it got good reviews!

[lamentate07]

@rjfoster2 yeah, Accelerate was their best received album for the entire decade!!!!

It's easily my favourite album of theirs since 'New Adventures In Hi-Fi'.

[MrFatmaninbearsuit]

i think it's a good thing that you hardly hear eddie at all. i like that instead of ruining the magic by causing r.e.m. and pearl jam's two "worlds to collide" (as george costanza would say) he's taking up the job bill berry used to have: sing enough so that you're adding something to the song but not to the point that you're actually noticed. I think everyone would appreciate this song more if they didn't know he was collaborating on it

[minichapman]

@MrFatmaninbearsuit I think you hit the point exactly!

[userytl]

@MrFatmaninbearsuit a rem fan who quotes george costanza ?!? my kind of guy !! lol :)

agree with you on that one... it sounds great just like this.

[h879xx]

@MrFatmaninbearsuit i think eddie is only on the end humming part. I cant hear him the rest of the time.

[Juberoos]

I don't hear Eddie at all. :(

[chchchamon]

just listen 3 times. a lot of their songs are like that. then BAM emeril style.

[acrovader]

It's okay. Like the other new song, sounds like it could be on 'Green'.

[beebop333]

love the melody here,rem always the same ........but slightly different ,

[StinkiwinkiPoo]

1 s hearing: disappointing song. thats to easy for rem.......dont know if they lost the ideas or yust got old

[d0pe026]

@StinkiwinkiPoo listen to it again...

[Audioslave3]

Now is that supposed to be participation? Eddie only does backing vocals!!!

[ApocalypseForFree]

I was watching their IRS years dvd and now found they released this new song, inspiring! Brilliant! Sounds like their essence.

[ApocalypseForFree]

It's Brilliant, like in their old times in IRS.

[Manonthemon]

you made me cry, again...

[SuperLeftorium]

I Love this :)

[johndavidpride]

The melodies sound great because they used "the four chords", the four chords that constitute 85% of all TV commercials and about 90% of all radio hits hooks. If, somehow in this century, you aren't aware of how easily we are manipulated by these four chords (they ALWAYS work, according to the execs and the sales charts), then you aren't actually listening. You're simply succumbing, not to the music, but to the suits.

[stbr68]

@johndavidpride Nope.

IT'S DEM DRUMS!

[tonywellington]

@johndavidpride So no one can use them again? If a band uses only that I would agree with you and that would be highly unoriginal. You make it sound like R.E.M. have done something evil by writing a song that uses chords that have been used before. Your case is awfully shaky if you are going after every musician that uses chord progressions that have been used in the past. There is a finite number. It's catchy and is not the single, where's the crime? People might like it? That's not so bad.

[boognish94]

the melodies are great in this song, very uplifting and inspirational

[Bladestarr009]

Is a mandolin that I hear?

Love this one!

The chorus is moving...

[42guide42]

I've been sitting here for five minutes thinking how to comment on how great this song sounded. This will do for now.

[chchchamon]

good stuff.  of course everything they do kicks butt

[DrBojayHookah]

Vedder's voice is well used on this.

[ClaKoSxD]

i thought that Eddie would do something like Sting did in the song Money For Nothing by the Dire Straits, but he just says Oohs and Aahs in this song...

[rivalmedia13]

@ClaKoSxD yeah i needed more of vedder singing words. stipe is cool and he nails it most of the time. but vedder nails it everytime.

[jennifereccles]

@ClaKoSxD

Sting appears in Money For Nothing?

never heard of or noticed that.

regarding the Oohs and Aahs: you actually can´t top the Oohs and Aahs in Dylan´s original recording of Knocking on Heavens´s Doors

[ClaKoSxD]

@jennifereccles no comments after this kind of answer

[pepperem86]

Cambiarti una giornata, un periodo con la semplice uscita di una canzone nuova...

Questo sono i R.E.M.

Grazie...

[C2V3N]

where is Eddie, I thought he's supposed to be on this song?

[mezzanineg22]

To me, this song is absolutely beautiful. I love the lyrics most of everything, but also the melody is great. This is a shitty period in my life, so thanks R.E.M. for this great Xmas present

[untjazz42]

I really am enjoying the direction Stipe's taking with the lyrics (from what we've heard on this and Discoverer). I felt like he was trying too hard to create effective narratives on Reveal and ATS. Starting with Accelerate, his lyrics were more raw and "spur of the moment" yet still retaining that hint of meaning, much like their early stuff was. I'm looking forward to the album from what I've heard: cryptic early-REM lyrics mixed with their new guitar-driven sound!

[remycer0]

this song is wonderful!!

[ConcertPhotographs]

wow you tube is just as bad as murmurs

seriously what do they need to do to make ye happy????

[oblique280111]

yeah right like we need a lot of complex chord progression to have a great song,and a good melody doesnt need all this sing along shit words to make it stike it's free verse poetry assholes,go listen to radiohead or some shitty band like my chemical romance if you want some accessible lyrics and a million guitar changes for that matter. a mediocre rem song is way better than all the crap in music today

[MaseratiGT100]

You're right, today's music sucks. If you read well, I didn't say that REM sucks, I followed them for almost twenty years as a fan, why I say that? I just think this song is nothing special, as I'm Gonna DJ, Wanderlust ...! Perhaps the album will be great, i heard the preview and there are two, three good pieces for me! It 's just an opinion, it is good to be critical, I think! Or not?! As a longtime fan, i appreciate more "old" REM, that's all!

[MaseratiGT100]

It's the same stuff of Reveal, Around the sun, nothing new ... ooooooohhhh aaaaaaahhhhh, acoustic guitars, four chords, elementary melodies .. where is the creativity of NAIHF? Or Up? (the IRS period was the best, no doubt!)

For me, the three-legged dog is dead and gone. But the money machine continues to grind...

[tonywellington]

Maybe the narrator ran out of words, it is sad enough as it is. Are people really complaining that R.E.M. extend a melody with Stipe, Mills, Vedder and Joel Gibb for a couple minutes? Am I reading that right? Sounds great to me. I don't ever recall the same being said of Belong or Endgame.

[sukiyaki113]

The words-less part was definitely the best. Also obvz no doyoyoy Eddie.

[fasfadsfsd]

Hello rem are you reading this- thanks for the song. We are freezing in the snow and this is welcome. Ooh and aah are the words I love most btw.

[peterbuckisgod]

I agree - i really think this is a stunning song!!

[anroon]

REM have done a few great songs with hardly any lyrics. I don't know why this one getting a weird reaction. It's absolutely beautiful.

[qba5775]

hooray, hooooray....

a four-chord song, THANK YOU VERY MUCH GUYS, IS THIS WHAT WE WERE WAITING FOR FOR 3 YEARS?

The only great thing about this is that Eddie just replaces Bill Berry's part.

[subiektywnaplytoteka]

I understand this song!!!! And love too!!!

[whichonespink100]

This is another really good song from Collapse into Now! It sounds like something off Out of Time. The harmonies of Stipe, Mills, and Eddie Vedder in the song's second half are amazing!

[remkoolllll]

Like some i was a little disapointed the there wasnt a 3rd verse on first hearing but after listening to the song for the 20th time i dont think they could have done any better the break in between the oh ahhs when vedder chimes in and they rock back into it makes the song. i think all old REM fans just want REM back on top where they should be instead of listening to keisha and like spin dribble like previous instrumentals i can tell i will listen to this over and over its a true rem classic

[chchchamon]

@remkoolllll thank you. true true true.anyone that has listened over the years knows the deal.

[culturalstudent]

yeah ... god, this song deserves words!

[minichapman]

@culturalstudent I may have mis-read you but lyrics are in the description!

[culturalstudent]

@minichapman No no. You got me right ... I just wanted to say "this song deserves lyrics all the way trough". the music is so damn brilliant (out-of-time-rem), but it doesn´t feel like a well worked out song because of oooo-part. but even like this it sounds better than almost anything from acclerate! can´t wait for the album anymore!

[rem8]

@minichapman  to a different Bible story should be to another Bible story :)

[culturalstudent]

the music is beautiful but did stipe become a lazy writer? the oooo aaaaa ooooo aaaaa part is far too long ... or is this song still unfininshed here?

[minichapman]

@culturalstudent I agree it is a great song but I may have to agree though. I'm sure it won't deter from the rest of the album.

[TheBruinsFan17]

@culturalstudent I dont know what you're hearing pal, but this whole song is telling me a beautiful story. not just through words, but melody.

[ivorbigonee]

@culturalstudent its still very powerful, lyrics or sound. do one!!!

[seamus1967]

@culturalstudent Maybe you are a lazy listener. Was Paul MacCartney being lazy when he wrote Hey Jude?