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The fields divided one by one
And the train conductor says
Take a break, driver 8
Driver 8, take a break
We've been on this shift too long
And the train conductor says
Take a break, driver 8
Driver 8, take a break
We can reach our destination
But we're still a ways away, but it's still a ways away
I saw a treehouse on the outskirts of the farm
The power lines have floaters so the airplanes won't get snagged
The bells are ringing through the town again
The children look up, all they hear is sky-blue bells ringing
And the train conductor says
Take a break, driver 8
Driver 8, take a break
We can reach our destination
But we're still a ways away, but it's still a ways away
But we're still a ways away, but it's still a ways away
A way to shield the hated heat
A way to put myself to sleep
A way to shield the hated heat
A way to put myself, my children to sleep
He piloted this song in a plane like that one
She is selling faith on the Go Tell Crusade
Locomotive 8, Southern Crescent, hear the bells ring again
The fields of wheat is looking thin
And the train conductor says
Take a break, driver 8
Driver 8, take a break
We've been on this shift too long
And the train conductor says
Take a break, driver 8
Driver 8, take a break
We can reach our destination
But we're still a ways away, but it's still a ways away
But we're still a ways away, but it's still a ways away
Hear, hear!!!

Eponymous was an early career compilation.

It's a greatest hits collection.

Really? I just can't imagine Berry, Buck, Mills & Stipe sitting around their studio in late '83 listening to this:

Melinda was mine
'Til the time that I found her
Holding Jim, loving him
I can
Really? I just can't imagine Berry, Buck, Mills & Stipe sitting around their studio in late '83 listening to this:

Melinda was mine
'Til the time that I found her
Holding Jim, loving him
In 1993 I was in Washington DC with friends at American Uni and Mighty Mighty Bosstones played and showed up at our after show party, and all Dickie played was Neil Diamond which we had in our CD collection. The rest of the band bitched that it was like being in the tour bus again. Neil is the man. A solitary mam. He plays and writes brilliant music.

Instead, we got the theme song from "St. Elmo's Fire" by John Parr!
..there was also "Every Time You Go Away (You Take A Piece Of Meat With You)" by Paul Young from that summer. Actually, maybe it's best forgotten.
Instead, we got the theme song from "St. Elmo's Fire" by John Parr!
Siamese girls excel in kappatronics.
I can.
Agree. These days I read many negative comments about Diamond—but not from songwriters. He is highly respected in that group as he should be.

Really? I just can't imagine Berry, Buck, Mills & Stipe sitting around their studio in late '83 listening to this:

Melinda was mine
'Til the time that I found her
Holding Jim, loving him
I can.
Same notes and chords as when Neil Diamond wrote it in 1966.They just removed part of the melody,changed the title from "Solitary Man" and changed the lyrics.
Really? I just can't imagine Berry, Buck, Mills & Stipe sitting around their studio in late '83 listening to this:

Melinda was mine
'Til the time that I found her
Holding Jim, loving him
Same notes and chords as when Neil Diamond wrote it in 1966. They just removed part of the melody,changed the title from "Solitary Man" and changed the lyrics.

Keep on dancing Lazarus
Thank you, teleskialaska! I hope you are having a marvelous time right this minute...
everybody in my homeless camp loves this song... we be dancing...
A long drive song
REM were not the "first" anything - other than maybe the first band named after a sleep cycle.

Mike Mills wouldn't likely mind being referred to as "Alt-Country" I mean just take a look at his Nudie suit collection!

Everybody in my mushrooming multitude of churches kicked off their shoes and jumped to their feet... everybody's hips be moving... love this song...
as I have said numerous times before, bb_matt has bad body odor...
Keep on dancing Lazarus
Yes, so you've said numerous times before ... yawn.
Relax and smile bb_matt...
We know you are more sophisticated than most, but it really is o.k. to enjoy music.
Everybody in my mushrooming multitude of churches kicked off their shoes and jumped to their feet... everybody's hips be moving... love this song...
Yes, so you've said numerous times before ... yawn.
Notagoshdarnthing!
I think someone needs to get back to the year 1985....

"Driver 8" was the second single from R.E.M.'s third album, Fables of the Reconstruction. Released in September 1985, the song peaked at #22 on the U.S. Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart. It was not released in Europe.
The song refers to the Southern Crescent, a passenger train operated by the Southern Railroad until 1979, and continues today (with fewer stops) as the Amtrak Crescent. The music video shows Chessie System trains running around Clifton Forge, Virginia.
Guitarist Peter Buck admitted in the liner notes for the band's 2003 compilation album In Time: The Best of R.E.M. 1988-2003 that the verse chords for the song "Imitation of Life" were unintentionally taken from the verse chords of "Driver 8."
I think someone needs to get back to the year 1985....

Everybody in my mushrooming multitude of churches kicked off their shoes and jumped to their feet... everybody's hips be moving... love this song...
Shazam! Love it! We be dancing! Amen!
"Driver 8" was the second single from R.E.M.'s third album, Fables of the Reconstruction. Released in September 1985, the song peaked at #22 on the U.S. Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart. It was not released in Europe.
The song refers to the Southern Crescent, a passenger train operated by the Southern Railroad until 1979, and continues today (with fewer stops) as the Amtrak Crescent. The music video shows Chessie System trains running around Clifton Forge, Virginia.
Guitarist Peter Buck admitted in the liner notes for the band's 2003 compilation album In Time: The Best of R.E.M. 1988-2003 that the verse chords for the song "Imitation of Life" were unintentionally taken from the verse chords of "Driver 8."
We be dancing!!!! Love it!!!!
It's an allegoric and ironical poem. See, "train leaving the station" can mean many things: fleeing from bad things; the feeling of total evacuation after a healthy bowel movement; and so on and so forth. Now, when the song includes your mean old momma on board, wearing a cowboy hat, with a mullet, going across the Texas plains towards the Atcheson, Topeka and Santa Fe depot in Gainesville, TX, with you standing in front of the on-rushing train, holding your hands out in plaintive supplication, discovering you are naked as the day you entered this Veil of Tears from between your Crack-Addled Skank Mother's tattooed, pierced, and pendulous labia, hearing the sounds of the Grim Reaper fast approving you from behind using a diamond hard steel sharpening tool as Seen on TV on his razor sharp sickle, you finally realize that you have either reached the Coda of your Life and you are doomed to repeat this primal horror for all eternity ... OR you realize that you are actually at the Segue of a part of your life, whereupon you will reach out to destroy said demons and find True Peace in the Arms of Our Loving and Most Holy Baby Jeeeesus. Amen.
I have noticed a certain, errm, scatological quality to your writing. Only on RP will you read something like this. Bravo.

Thank you! Hope you are having a marvelous day...
this song is marvelous... this whole album is marvelous...
Yes, it be me... I have been saved... I am a sinner no more...
everybody in my church loves this song...

Yes, it be me... I have been saved... I am a skinner no more...
everybody in my church loves this song...
Everybody in my church be dancing... love it...
Is that u??
Everybody in my church be dancing... love it...

It's an allegoric and ironical poem. See, "train leaving the station" can mean many things: fleeing from bad things; the feeling of total evacuation after a healthy bowel movement; and so on and so forth. Now, when the song includes your mean old momma on board, wearing a cowboy hat, with a mullet, going across the Texas plains towards the Atcheson, Topeka and Santa Fe depot in Gainesville, TX, with you standing in front of the on-rushing train, holding your hands out in plaintive supplication, discovering you are naked as the day you entered this Veil of Tears from between your Crack-Addled Skank Mother's tattooed, pierced, and pendulous labia, hearing the sounds of the Grim Reaper fast approving you from behind using a diamond hard steel sharpening tool as Seen on TV on his razor sharp sickle, you finally realize that you have either reached the Coda of your Life and you are doomed to repeat this primal horror for all eternity ... OR you realize that you are actually at the Segue of a part of your life, whereupon you will reach out to destroy said demons and find True Peace in the Arms of Our Loving and Most Holy Baby Jeeeesus. Amen.
Please, go and write some lyrics for.... most bands anyway....
super marvelous...
We be dancing... love it...

bingo by jingo... this song rocks... love it...
It's an allegoric and ironical poem. See, "train leaving the station" can mean many things: fleeing from bad things; the feeling of total evacuation after a healthy bowel movement; and so on and so forth. Now, when the song includes your mean old momma on board, wearing a cowboy hat, with a mullet, going across the Texas plains towards the Atcheson, Topeka and Santa Fe depot in Gainesville, TX, with you standing in front of the on-rushing train, holding your hands out in plaintive supplication, discovering you are naked as the day you entered this Veil of Tears from between your Crack-Addled Skank Mother's tattooed, pierced, and pendulous labia, hearing the sounds of the Grim Reaper fast approving you from behind using a diamond hard steel sharpening tool as Seen on TV on his razor sharp sickle, you finally realize that you have either reached the Coda of your Life and you are doomed to repeat this primal horror for all eternity ... OR you realize that you are actually at the Segue of a part of your life, whereupon you will reach out to destroy said demons and find True Peace in the Arms of Our Loving and Most Holy Baby Jeeeesus. Amen.
Where can I buy some of that?
It's an allegoric and ironical poem. See, "train leaving the station" can mean many things: fleeing from bad things; the feeling of total evacuation after a healthy bowel movement; and so on and so forth. Now, when the song includes your mean old momma on board, wearing a cowboy hat, with a mullet, going across the Texas plains towards the Atcheson, Topeka and Santa Fe depot in Gainesville, TX, with you standing in front of the on-rushing train, holding your hands out in plaintive supplication, discovering you are naked as the day you entered this Veil of Tears from between your Crack-Addled Skank Mother's tattooed, pierced, and pendulous labia, hearing the sounds of the Grim Reaper fast approving you from behind using a diamond hard steel sharpening tool as Seen on TV on his razor sharp sickle, you finally realize that you have either reached the Coda of your Life and you are doomed to repeat this primal horror for all eternity ... OR you realize that you are actually at the Segue of a part of your life, whereupon you will reach out to destroy said demons and find True Peace in the Arms of Our Loving and Most Holy Baby Jeeeesus. Amen.
My first introduction to alternative music and I have never looked back. Like kids in the 50's who discover rock and roll, the world never looked the same again.
quik mute
It's a train travelling song. There are lots of trains running thru Athens, GA, and this song is just part of the local flavor. Seems to me alot of Stipe's early songs do conjure images, because very often you can' even tell what the hell he's singing. This imagery effect is particularly pronounced on "Fables of the Reconstruction", but the lyrical style greatly evolved with "Life's Rich Pageant".

how weird - i have been on RP for months - and to get on and hear this song!
The Bill works in mysterious ways...


how weird - i have been on RP for months - and to get on and hear this song!

love this song soooo much... awesome!
Everybody in my hotel room kicked off their shoes and jumped to their feet... everybody's hips are moving... love this song...

REM was just an overpromoted crappy bar band.With no record company, there would be no REM because they had high school band level talent..
Warren Zevon (RIP) would beg to differ with you....as do I.

This song is soooo good it puts a spring in my step this spring night... love it!
yup.
This is from my least favorite of their albums even (well, maybe tied for that with Green) and it's still a 9 easy...
"Alt-country" is a term that didn't exist until the 1990's. As good as they were, REM were not the "first" anything - other than maybe the first band named after a sleep cycle.
We be dancing... love it...
marvelous... love it...

magnificent...
Everybody in my hotel room loves this song...
You're joking. Green was great, Out of time was brilliant, automatic for the people was one of the best albums ever, monster had some classics and even new adventures had some gems in it. after that, i agree, it was a downhill slope.
"R.E.M were the first alt-country band." Interesting idea. R.E.M were the first in a lot of areas that will be appreciated after we are all dead. Best in Alt-country beng awesome, no doubt. Tippster you are correct as usual. R.E.M were the Beatles/Stones of the 80s. No higher praise imaginable in my mind.
Again, REM were little boys growing up in Georgia when Gram Parsons was doing his thing. Chronology, I'm jes sayin'.
We be dancing... love this song!
"R.E.M were the first alt-country band." Interesting idea. R.E.M were the first in a lot of areas that will be appreciated after we are all dead. Best in Alt-country beng awesome, no doubt. Tippster you are correct as usual. R.E.M were the Beatles/Stones of the 80s. No higher praise imaginable in my mind.
I'll dance to this...
REM was just an overpromoted crappy bar band. With no record company, there would be no REM because they had high school band level talent. Occasion good lyrics though.
Gram was a groundbreaking,genre creating icon, despite his problems.

Everybody in my hotel room just started dancing... the volume went wayyyy up... love it...
Ummmmm, I loved REM during this period, but no. I assure you there were plenty of alt country bands before the early 80s.

18 people are in my hotel room right now, and we be dancing... turned the volume wayyyy up... love this song...
Summer 2017

You can sit in with us!
Mmmmm, yes please?
When are you guys coming to Vancouver?
Summer 2017

You can sit in with us!
What a great classic... we be dancing once more... love it...
When are you guys coming to Vancouver?
Absolutely awesome song... we be dancing with wild abandon... love it...
love it...
Ooooh, I wanna play in it.

Right. You're in.
Ooooh, I wanna play in it.


I know what you mean... it has been a while... we be dancing...








Just 42 people are dancing here now, but it is early... great song... we love it...

848 people are dancing here right now... love it...
...REM took a decidedly different tack after they left IRS (actually, after green), which more-or-less coincided with michael stipe coming out...correlation in no way implies causality, but it remains a useful benchmark for referencing a shared historical era...
Interesting, if rather didactic explanation. Unfortunately, I doubt the comment from gjeeg was intended as a "useful benchmark".
If you lived in Chernobyl.
Poacher, you are a mean and petty piece of work. Your pettyness is sooooo not good for the ears . . . or eyes.
Lighten up.

Well said! This song rocks... we be dancing...
Poacher, you are a mean and petty piece of work. Your pettyness is sooooo not good for the ears . . . or eyes.
Lighten up.

Poacher wrote:
Oh dear, did I touch a nerve? It is a bit like watching a schoolchild trying to carve out his place in the playground - and failing. Tell you what young man. . . ask matron to double your medication, I am sure it will help.
Side one – "Early"
"Radio Free Europe" (original Hib-Tone single) (1981) – 3:47"Gardening at Night" (different vocal mix)1 – 3:30"Talk About the Passion" (from Murmur, 1983) – 3:20"So. Central Rain" (from Reckoning, 1984) – 3:15"(Don't Go Back To) Rockville" (from Reckoning, 1984) – 4:32"Cant Get There from Here" (from Fables of the Reconstruction, 1985) – 3:39 Side two – "Late"
"Driver 8" (from Fables of the Reconstruction, 1985) – 3:23"Romance" (from soundtrack album to the 1987 film Made in Heaven) – 3:25"Fall on Me" (from Lifes Rich Pageant, 1986) – 2:50"The One I Love" (from Document, 1987) – 3:16"Finest Worksong" (mutual drum horn mix) (from "Finest Worksong" single) – 3:50"It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)" (from Document, 1987) – 4:05