R.E.M. Collection

(vinyl banner that I purchased from Wuxtry Records in Athens, GA months ago- it was hanging on the store window when this album was released)

Download an album of my favorite R.E.M. songs here. Click on the "regular download" tab in the lower right corner.

Songs (in no chronological release date order):

1: "What's the Frequency Kenneth?" : The best song from the "Monster" album. The title was inspired by a deranged man who beat up newsman Dan Rather in New York as he yelled, "WHAT'S THE FREQUENCY, KENNETH?"
2: "Losing My Religion" : It's the first song that made me take notice of R.E.M. when I was a child. It's about singer Michael Stipe's inability to express his attraction to someone.
3: "Man on the Moon" : My favorite R.E.M. song. It's an upbeat take on conspiracy nuts. Some people (including my great-grandfather) believed that the moon landing was fake. Some people have also claimed that they have seen the late Andy Kaufman and Elvis Presley at truck stops. Pure gold.
4: "Pretty Persuasion" : Stipe explained the lyrics of this song in a magazine interview once. He was very vague, but I believe that it has the same themes as "Losing My Religion."
5: "World Leader Pretend" : Kurt Cobain's favorite song. Opening line: "I sit at my table, and wage war on myself." It's partly an homage to Leonard Cohen's style. I loved it when I first heard it, and I loved it even more when I heard that Kurt worshipped it.
6: "Perfect Circle" : It's the best song from the "Murmur" album. It's also one of the few songs that drummer Bill Berry wrote.
7: "Nightswimming" : The best song from the best R.E.M. album "Automatic for the People." Stipe's voice was never quite as soulful and vulnerable as it is here. It's one of the few songs on which his vocal talents are on full display.
8: "The Flowers of Guatemala" : To me this song is a sort of ode to a mythical vacation spot that doesn't really exist except in one's mind. Guatemala is a war-torn and impoverished country, so it might as well be "The Flowers of Atlantis" as far as accuracy. But the line "the flowers cover everything" might symbolize Sitpe's rose-colored glasses view of even the shittiest places.
9: "Talk about the Passion" : Another gem from "Murmur."
10: "I've Been High" : To me this song is undoubtedly and sadly the only great song that the band made post-'90s. I loved it when I first heard it ten years ago (HOLY SHIT- REALLY?), and I love it even more as I get older because it's about admitting to AND trying to overcome the lethargy one feels as he ages.
11: "Electrolite" : My second favorite R.E.M. song. I realized that it was the best song on "New Adventures in Hi Fi," and it has even more meaning to me now that I live in Los Angeles.
12: "I Am Superman" : I just randomly heard this song at a Best Buy in Burbank last week. It's a cover song, and it's the best song on which Mike Mills sings lead (although his "Love is All Around" cover is great too).
13: "The Great Beyond" : The best thing to come out of the "Man on the Moon" movie about Andy Kaufman.
14: "Endgame" : Sometimes when I listen to this song a flood of memories come back to me. I remember reading somewhere that Stipe wrote multiple sets of lyrics for it, but he wasn't satisfied with any of them so he just resorted to humming it. Wise decision. It's a great closing song, but it's not even the closing song on the album "Out of Time."