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R.E.M. — Maps and Legends
Album: Fables of the Reconstruction
Avg rating:
7.1

Your rating:
Total ratings: 604









Released: 1985
Length: 3:09
Plays (last 30 days): 0
He's not to be reached, he's to be reached
He's not to be reached, he's to be reached

Called the fool, and the company
On his own, where he'd rather be
Where he ought to be, he sees what you
Can't see, can't you see that

Maybe he's caught in the legend
Maybe he's caught in the mood
Maybe these maps and legends
Have been misunderstood

Down the way the road's divided
Paint me the places you have seen
Those who know what I don't know
Refer to the yellow, red, and green

Maybe he's caught in the legend
maybe he's caught in the mood
Maybe these maps and legends
Have been misunderstood

He's not to be reached, he's to be reached
He's not to be reached, he's to be reached
He's not to be reached, he's to be reached
He's not to be reached, he's to be reached

The map that you painted didn't seem real
He just sings whatever he's seen
Point to the legend, point to the east
Point to the yellow, red, and green

Maybe he's caught in the legend
Maybe he's caught in the mood
Maybe these maps and legends
Have been misunderstood, been misunderstood

Is he to be reached, he's not to be reached
Is he to be reached, he's not to be reached
Is he to be reached, he's not to be reached any more
Comments (33)add comment
 justin4kick wrote:


A true Rem-phobia, a cure is needed.
 bradseymour1 wrote:

I was lucky enough to get tickets to see them in the auditorium where my accounting class was held. Michael Stipe through a fit halfway through the show and stopped singing for a while. It was still a great show, and I love the album.



Why did he throw a fit?
I was lucky enough to get tickets to see them in the auditorium where my accounting class was held. Michael Stipe through a fit halfway through the show and stopped singing for a while. It was still a great show, and I love the album.
I bet Bill did this on purpose. Bill Rieflin, the touring drummer for REM, was part of the drummer trio fronting King Crimson for the past few years, until he died.
The song before this had Gavin Harrison on drums - who was also one of the drum trio of the latest King Crimson incarnation.

If my theory were correct, tho, he'd include Mister Mister so as to have Pat Mastelotto...
Wow - not heard this on RP in a LONG time (if ever) - sweet!
Some bands simply qualify as part of the soundtrack to your existence, and they are an appreciated, consistent part of mine...
I am just happy to hear a deeper track by REM. Great band, but most of their music I hear has been overplayed.  Keep digging deeper in their catalog, plenty more great music in there.
 cmarket wrote:
R.E.M. makes me think of people wanting to commit suicide. Such an awful, sad band - please stop now. 

 

Looking at your rating list I got the impression you're not that fond of R.E.M.

1 - 1 Giant Leap - The Way You Dream (long version)
1 - Pearl Jam - Immortality (Live)
1 - R.E.M. - It's The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)
1 - R.E.M. - Me In Honey
1 - R.E.M. - 7 Chinese Brothers
1 - R.E.M. - Accelerate
1 - R.E.M. - Aftermath
1 - R.E.M. - All the Right Friends
1 - R.E.M. - King of Birds
1 - R.E.M. - World Leader Pretend
1 - R.E.M. - What's The Frequency, Kenneth
1 - R.E.M. - We Walk
1 - R.E.M. - Welcome to the Occupation
1 - R.E.M. - Wall of Death
1 - R.E.M. - Walk Unafraid
1 - R.E.M. - Until The Day Is Done
1 - R.E.M. - Undertow
1 - R.E.M. - Try Not To Breathe
1 - R.E.M. - The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite
1 - R.E.M. - These Days
1 - R.E.M. - The Outsiders (w/ Q-Tip)
1 - R.E.M. - The One I love (acoustic)
1 - R.E.M. - The Lifting
1 - R.E.M. - The Great Beyond
1 - R.E.M. - The Flowers Of Guatemala
1 - R.E.M. - Talk About the Passion
1 - R.E.M. - Sweetness Follows
1 - R.E.M. - Suspicion
1 - R.E.M. - Supernatural Superserious
1 - R.E.M. - Strange Currencies
1 - R.E.M. - Strange
1 - R.E.M. - So. Central Rain (live)
1 - R.E.M. - So. Central Rain
1 - R.E.M. - Sitting Still
1 - R.E.M. - She Just Wants to Be
1 - R.E.M. - Saturn Return
1 - R.E.M. - Radio Free Europe
1 - R.E.M. - Pretty Persuasion
1 - R.E.M. - Photograph (w/ Natalie Merchant)
1 - R.E.M. - Perfect Circle
1 - R.E.M. - Orange Crush
1 - R.E.M. - One
1 - R.E.M. - Oh My Heart
1 - R.E.M. - Nightswimming
1 - R.E.M. - New Test Leper
1 - R.E.M. - Mine Smell Like Honey
1 - R.E.M. - Man On The Moon (Live)
1 - R.E.M. - Losing My Religion (live acoustic)
1 - R.E.M. - Losing My Religion!
1 - R.E.M. - Losing My Religion
1 - R.E.M. - Driver 8
1 - R.E.M. - Bang and Blame
1 - R.E.M. - Me, Marlon Brando, Marlon Brando and I
1 - R.E.M. - ÜBerlin
1 - R.E.M. - Maps and Legends
Last of the great murmurin' + Mike Mills' pretty harmonizing songs. It doesn't haunt on cue as it once did, alas. But it will still evoke, although you sure gotta put a lot of work into setting the scene nowadays. Like a summer night driving through south Georgia Spanish moss-draped oaks-lined back roads kinda work. 
They'd caught my ears in about '83 or so, but in the period of this particular record, they were such an amazing phenomenon of music!
love some REM

but this one

moan moan moan groan moan moan 
R.E.M is one of the three bands of my life!
Heard them first on the island of Bali - what a wonderful combination
what a wonderful time
 izycrzy wrote:
I had this song on a 45. With "The one I love" on the other side. I would have been about 11-years-old. First heard it on KSPB. 

 
I was a little skeptical of your story, as those two songs came out on separate albums two years apart ('85 & '87), with the Lifes Rich Pageant (no apostrophe in "Lifes") album coming out between them in '86.  But you ARE CORRECT!

The One I Love was the "A"-side on the 7-inch record (R.E.M.'s first hit single), and a live version of Maps and Legends was on the flip.



 daveesh wrote:
what an album. i'm probably repeating myself, but they were so great back then.
 

Yep
I had this song on a 45. With "The one I love" on the other side. I would have been about 11-years-old. First heard it on KSPB. 
R.E.M. makes me think of people wanting to commit suicide. Such an awful, sad band - please stop now. 
I miss those early REM songs where you couldn't understand what Stipe was singing...the air of mystery!
   
 sajitjacob wrote:
Laz! where you been man? July? still MIA?

I have been in a homeless camp...  everybody in my homeless camp loves this song...  hope you are having a marvelous time right this minute on the first day of August, sajitjacob...
 rdo wrote:
Picking REM songs is like shooting fish in a barrel, you just cannot miss.

 
Yup. Keep them coming


Nice selection--I never hear this song anywhere else.
The live acoustic version of this song is even better than this version. Can be found on R.E.M.: In The Attic.
One of my favorite REM tunes and albums (yes, I;ve heard REM themselves don't even like "Fables")
Laz! where you been man? July? still MIA?

 
Lazarus wrote:

Everybody in my mushrooming multitude of churches loves this song...  and this album...
 

 



Everybody in my mushrooming multitude of churches loves this song...  and this album...
 
Yeah, this album was rather stuck in my rotation back in its day, full of sparkling gems; sounds awfully good to hear this one after so long!
what an album. i'm probably repeating myself, but they were so great back then.

wonderful song from a truly great album...  love that guitar twang...  marvelous melody...
 
wow, i haven't heard this song in ages, nice to hear it again, rp sure is full of surprises, love that!
Glad to see this song on RP. College memories and discovering true alternative music in the days when it was harder to come by.
Picking REM songs is like shooting fish in a barrel, you just cannot miss.
Sweet!

YES!  Good, old REM