This song is a fucking masterpiece. I'm 51. For me it evokes heavy nostalgia, and actually chokes me up. It's so well crafted and written. Everything has changed so much since the early 90's when this was recorded, and I'm certain much of it is not for the better. I was there, and can vouch for the fact they were really good times.
There's still good music out there... we're just more knee deep in mass produced crap... but honest beautiful music like this is still there if you sort through the trash you'll find something that glitters... the 90s was a golden time though for sure.
@@badboys1769all that shit never mattered back then... we just wanted great entertainment, and artists like Stipe bridged those old bs divides... as did hendrix, bowie, prince, marley, mercury, all of them who stand the test of time... you didn't care about their personal shit, you just wanted to witness magic, which is what good music is... music of all the arts, transports you to other worldy heights... escapism from the mundane everyday at it's most glorious best! In order to love paintings and sculpture you admire when viewing in the present but you really need to paint or sculpt to become obsessed... but music and poetry burnish themselves indelibly on the memory all one needs to do is hear it. "Without music, life would be a mistake!" - Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche
As I listened to this song, i called my husband and asked him back into my life. I’ll never forget. I was in NYC by the south street seaport on gold st. He came running over from st marks. We re-exchanged wedding bands on the Brooklyn Bridge. We lasted 4 years. I will always love him. Always ❤️ thanks REM. You are the soundtrack to my life 🙏💖🙏💖1995
I had never heard this song until I took my son to Sea World in Ohio. A Shamu show. My boy fell asleep on top of me. Never loved being a dad more. Precious memory.
I used to listen to Automatic of the People on my portable CD player as a kid. I would always skip all songs and just play Man on the Moon over and over. But then one day this song just clicked for me. Just so beautiful and honest. Nothing fancy
Dear Cakes, I do not like to presume but want to tell you that your name is very touching and brings me to the classic MacArthur's Park. Your words are beautiful and spot on. When I think of the image of the "tight bright forever drum" and now think of you laughing along with the earth I will smile as well and perpetually thank you for this poetic response and insight.
***** I do not know how anyone cannot hear the first few notes and not be hypnotized and transfixed to their radios or other devices. This song melts my heart and touches parts of my youth that are long ago but forever fresh in my being.
Summers as a young adult and swimming at night in the lake with special people. One guy in particular. Oh sweet youth. This song is PERFECT. I'm in love with both Mikes.
I don't cry easily. I never cry at funerals or weddings or any sort of "tearjerker" event. Even a saddest book or movie makes me feel...well, sad, but not that sad to drive me to tears. However, when Michael sings "I'm not sure all these people understand it's not like years ago" and/or "September's coming soon", there is a tear in my eye every time.
❤❤❤ Thank you R.E.M. for writing this absolute perfection of a song. I have no words for how much I love it and how it touches my soul. I mean, I do, but it would be a whole essay, so suffice it to say I _love_ it. Thank you. And God, Michael's voice is gorgeous.
Love winter personally haha don't think I'd ever fit for Seasonal Affective (or whatever that is spelt) Disorder (SAD) lol, amazing song truly! It's what some would or will say is about skinny dipping at night, after they'd play at a club called Athens, but he said that most of its made up and is when they'd hire someone to watch them over the night but for the fear or being sued was changed from Night watchman or something to Nightswimming I dunno, but either way it's an amazing song!
Better than Stand By Me by Ben E. King? Or Smoke gets in Your Eyes? or...um... We Aere the Champions by Queen? or...? Nightswimming. It's great. Haunting tune. Music is the answer to the mystery of life.
I'm pretty sure this my favourite song. My dad had the album when it came out and I listened to it over and over again... this song still gives me chills . I learned the piano part a few years ago, despite being simple it's actually suprisingly challenging to keep repeating the motif without screwing up lol
ditto on one of the best songs ever. Played it on my ipod while on the beach at night in Costa Rica. Saw REM live about 5 years ago, and that is the song i still hear in my head. Stipe is one of the best song writiers ever.
REM is the greatest band from the MtV New-Wave generation I grew up with. Classic and First-class. This song is one of the most beautiful songs in history. In an Orwellian World, it's even harder to go Night Swimming. :(
His voice works in so many levels.Incredible, like the best story teller to sing to you at the perfect moment with the perfect melody.No accident.They were class.Thanks
I just absolutely love the sound of this song, I play it over and over again. There is something about the experience of hearing it that is just hauntingly hypnotising.
Out of Time is an album that everone should listen too on a tough day. REM is beyond beautiful and melodic. Here I am at 2am and catching feels again haha, in this pandemic madness. Thank you REM, you're life savers. :) 👍
Wow what an amazing performance. One of the greatest song ever written, there is not a weak line in the hole song. You can imagine every line, "Deserves a quiet night" and "I'm not sure all these people understand" among the best
I admired her throughout high school, but the courage never came to me. I only watched her shine amongst others, and pined for her under the moon. Six years later, I returned to my hometown for a summer job. She was there. The light in her eyes was “replaced by every day” and the uncertainty of serious mental health issues. Photographs kept turning in my memory, and I recalled her understated persona, culture, and athletic glow. This time, I summoned the courage. Our time together put some of her misfortunes in reverse, and I could not describe my feelings when her fair smile returned. But “these things, they go away”, and I knew that come September, life was going to call us elsewhere. My mind and heart turned endlessly between our quiet laughter and tender moments-how can this work?? Late one evening, she took me swimming at a park that meant very different things to each of us. I floundered by the shore- “you, I thought you knew me”! She, the varsity swimmer, took fluid laps across the lake and back. She I marvelled at in the moonlight. I gathered her heartbeat into my arms; it was so strong, even, and sure-“you, I thought I knew you”!? It became clear that I could not know her, and knew not how to handle her fragility with the right strength, nor her strength with the right fragility. Quite some time after that summer, I heard “Nightswimming” for my first time. Especially when the song comes to two moons, “side by side in orbit, around the fairest sun”, I remember that time together. Ever so brightly.
I heard this song for the first time in ages a few nights ago; and I got the chance to sing it. Since then I've been listening to it and singing along to it repeatedly. Glorious!
This song was an instant classic all those years ago, and it still sounds as good today as it did way back then. Total respect to a band that have stood the test of time. I salute you. 🙏🙏🙏👏👏👏👏
This is beautiful , haunting and sad , but it reminds me of a feeling when I was doing something that made me feel so alive , under the starry sky , it brings back how raw the love and emotions were. It was a moment I am so glad I got to experience in this life , whenever I recall the feelings this song evokes , I am back to that warm summer night , and it makes me smile , feel lucky and know I have felt true love in its purest form , I will always love the man I was with then ❤
In 1991 I bought this album for my wife for Christmas. We were in France at her parents house. Our marriage was in deep trouble. She randomly chose this song and I held her and we both cried like there was no tomorrow. We could have said something but we didn’t and the sadness remains after nearly forty years apart
When I became obsessed by Michael Stipe's voice is about the time i heard this track. 42 now and still one of my all time favourite bands and singers. ❤
In 2005..I was lucky enough to buy tickets in Glasgow....To go to see R.E.M at The -Balloch Castle Country Park....It'll Remain With Me For The Rest Of My Life .... ABSOLUTELY EPIC GIG. ✌️👏👏👏. ( A huge Thankyou to The Nurse Who Worked On Ward 24 Glasgow Royal Hospital 💞❤️🩹...💪 ( You Know Who You Are !!...Oh The Banter Babe..I still have a wee giggle about it today 👏👏👏💞❤️🩹
