REM-ories

REM has "called it a day" and I am calling up memories. My first listen was in the early '80s in Brothers' Tavern in Manhattan, Kansas. I thought I was so cool requesting all of the REM that the cute DJ was willing to play. It didn't hurt that he had a crush on my sister. She and I could go in the afternoon and listen to "Don't go Back to Rockville" and "So. Central Rain" in excess. We didn't sing along; who could? The mystique was that we were never quite certain of the lyrics. We set ourselves apart from the shit-kicking country crowds in Aggieville by embracing the alternative. I still feel apart from the crowd (unrealistically) in my fan-dom. I am no longer a young college girl searching for an alternative. I'm a mom in my 50th year alive and still affected by the voices and melodies of REM.


The cassette with Murmur on one side and Reckoning on the other kept me from extreme loneliness as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Kenya. In my house with no electricity and no running water, I at least had Michael Stipe's voice crooning me to sleep; when the batteries ran dry, a 3-mile walk to the town to buy more was no problem. Listening to the songs now can sometimes bring me back to that house. I danced alone and sang out loud in my African house. I wore out that tape, but I still have it. Endless hours of listening to "Pretty Persuasion" and "7 Chinese Brothers" were almost transcendent. In "Camera" when he sings, "Alone in a crowd," I would turn up that sad little cassette player as far as it would go without distortion and sing along. I am forever indebted to my friend Bob for making that tape for me.


When "Losing my Religion" was playing everywhere, I was teaching and living in New York City. Andreas and I had an apartment in Astoria, Queens; listening to REM was a respite from the Greek music of the family gatherings, the christenings and memorials, the family dinners. "Losing my Religion" is still a song I don't pass through on my Zune. 


If you ask my daughters their favorite REM song, they will probably say "Shiny Happy People." I played the entire Out of Time cassette in the car for them on our rides to and from day care and school. They would request "Shiny People" and I would always oblige. The REM cool does not fade. When they sang this song with the Muppets on Sesame Street, we were forever in love.


So many CDs and songs later, I still like listening to Automatic for the People in its entirety. "Night Swimming" is a song I prefer to listen to with no one home or in the car and very loud. It's not a rocker; it's a song that goes into my bones. "Everybody Hurts" can usually make me cry. 


I'm playing Reckoning now and "So. Central Rain" just came on. Gotta go. I think I might know all the words now.