R.E.M. "Shaking Through"
Wednesday, September 20, 2006
The bridge from R.E.M.’s “Shaking Through” (mp3) comes at the 2:16 point of the song, and lasts until 2:31. It doesn’t come from the best R.E.M. song, and not even the best song on side B of Murmur. You’ll hear the for yourself here in a second, but allow me to tell you that it consists of a phrase that I hear as “In my life,” but with an emphasis, gargled and majestic, on the “iiiiiiii,” with Michael Stipe never really finishing the last word. If they wouldn’t have tacked on that last refrain to the song, a mistake that I can easily chalk up to youthful vigor and inexperience, that awkward catharsis would carry more weight within the song itself, serving as a period rather than an ellipsis. But as it stands, those magnificent fifteen seconds are emblematic of the band’s endless appeal to me (and perhaps a primary reason why Stipe found a kindred spirit in Thom Yorke). It exudes the spirit of a singer much older than Stipe, and one who finds himself hysterically recollecting what he hasn’t done and never will.Murmur is available here. It’s not on the newfangled I.R.S. collection however, which is still worth your money, and can be purchased here.
Recycled from the Good Hodgkins post?
yeah. too much to do today!
i LOVE shaking through and had to click through from Hype Machine. one of my favorite parts is the tack piano…
in my fantasy world, bill berry rejoins REM, they do a tour of clubs to promote a return-to-form record and end up at the bowery ballroom. they come out and stipe says that “this is rem and this is what we do” line, and they immediately launch into ‘radio free europe’.
i have given this perhaps a terrifying amount of thought.
fyi joe: berry has allegedly rejoined the band. i wouldn’t hold out hope for the other elements of your scenario though…and it’s too bad too.
[i still have a fantasy wherein i see them on tour in '99 and they break up in 2000.]
My ex-boyfriend loves Death Cab so much that he bought this REM album because someone compared it to Transatlanticism.
I don’t know why I feel like this was relevant enough to leave a comment about, but early hours do funny things to the brain.
When you have time, you should consider doing an Idiot’s Guide To for Jefitoblog. I don’t think he’s had one on REM, and I feel like they could use one.
shaking through is my very favorite studio track. followed closely by voice of harold, but that is simply coincidence. The southern gothic imperialism in stipe’s voice and the urgency cast by harmonic dissonance is a little campy, slightly unsettling, and highly provocative. It takes the mind wandering around the edges just to find out where the middle is: “in my life”, as a bridge is just that crossroads. The watershed — wholly centered — reveals the deep nexus right smack dab where the middle ought to be.