i read somewhere that Stipe had a few goes at this but could never find the right lyrics. Mike Mills didn't want to drop the music and went off and wrote the lyrics, came back and ran it through, Stipe just stood back and said it was his song and couldn't better what Mills had done.
@@carlengel4760 I heard Mills wrote the music, and Stipe tried writing the lyrics, and it was bad. There’s another demo I heard with Full Lyrics by Stipe and it’s a lot worse than this. Stipe is one of my favorite lyricists, but it’s good Stipe stepped aside and went with Mills’s lyrics, which were far superior. I always wondered where the title “Texarkana” came from. It’s cool they kept the title, which aren’t in the final lyrics.
@@thomasgary1219 in the original lyrics there was a line "When I'm out in Texarkana / where's that county line / another county line." - But then Mike Mills re-wrote all the lyrics but the kept the same title.
I was born and raised here in Texarkana and I have lived here all my life. Ever since I heard this song 30 years ago, I have wondered why they call this song Texarkana,
Who said they thought it would last forever? Can you read their thoughts? They were pushing 30 at the time they made this album. This was their 7th album. They called it “Out Of Time” because they felt like they were running “out of time” to make a “commercial” album. “Out Of Time” was their first “blockbuster” success, and they purposely made it as commercial as possible, because they had almost purposely made “Non-Commercial” albums for a decade. I don’t believe they were thinking: “This will last forever.” I don’t think that was on their minds. Rather: I believe they were thinking: “We are going to make the catchiest, sweet, accessible album as is humanly possible.” No other band in history had made 6 GREAT-INDIE-ART Albums in a row. They felt (as a band) that they had reached their FULL POTENTIAL as Indie Artists, so they were hungry to GROW and EVOLVE and move on to a NEW STAGE. “Out Of Time” ALIENATED a huge part of their audience. I saw them twice in 1989, and their OLD FANS were annoyed by R.E.M.’s New Fans. 1989 was the Green Tour, which was THE FIRST STEP toward mainstream success, but Out Of Time was A HUGE LEAP into the mainstream. They DEFINITELY didn’t think it would “last forever.” Rather: They were simply trying to do their best in the PRESENT MOMENT.
It seems that they couldn't come up with a better title for the song than the demo title! I always wondered why the title had nothing to do with the lyrics! The final version sounds a lot like The Moody Blues' "The Voice". I put this in my R.E.M. playlist. Thanks for the upload!
HE SANG A LOT!!!!!! Are you nuts???!!!! Mike Mills is considered one of the greatest backup vocalists in The Rock Era. Listen to Fall On Me as one great example. In my opinion, Michael Anthony from Van Halen, and Mike Mills from R.E.M., are the 2 greatest backup singers. Listen to Unchained or Ain’t Talkin’ Bout Love by Van Halen or Don’t Go Back To Rockville by R.E.M.: As far as background vocals go, it doesn’t get better.
WHEN IAM IN TEXARKANA WERE THAT COUNTY LINE, A NOTHER COUNTY LINE I CAN ONLY SEE WHAT IN FRONT ME WHEN YOUR NOT THEIR. WHEN IAM IN TEXARKANA WERE THAT COUNTY LINE A NOTHER COUNTY LINE I CAN ONLY SEE WHAT IN FRONT ME. WHEN IAM IN TEXARKANA WERE THAT COUNTY LINE A NOTHER COUNTY LINE I CEN SEE WHAT IN FRONT ME WHEN YOUR NOT THEIR.YOU ARE JUST A MEMORY YOUR IN MY MEMORY. I CAN'T SEE TEN MINUTES,TEN MILES, TEN DAYS, TEN YEARS,TEN MILES TEN THOUSAND MILES AWAY
Sorry Mills but I prefer this version. Lyrically I think it suits the theme of the album better and I find it more meaningful and relatable. Stipe is an amazing writer.
This is 2 albums after Document, and 4 years later. They made Green in between. To me, who saw R.E.M. in concert twice in ‘89, this sounds WAY DIFFERENT than Document. This is closer to Green. I always think of Life’s Rich Pageant & Document together. And Green together with Out Of Time. This song feels like the same energy as Orange Crush and World Leader Pretend.
That's the part of the lyric that is really good. This is the kind of stuff that separates them from the other bands. They were not egotistic. It's clear that he couldn't do it and Mike did the great job. Btw. does any one see some sort of resemblance between this song(the released one) and Paris, Texas. The entire walking thing and thinking and the atmosphere and all?
@@ericdressen you are wrong, my opinion is shared by stipe himself. i don't care about stipe's lifestyle, whatever it is, but i have been lifelong REM fan and have most of their music. i am only referring to some of their songs.
