R.E.M. released its first single—"Radio Free Europe"—in 1981 on the independent record label Hib-Tone. The single was followed by the Chronic Town EP in 1982, the band's first release on I.R.S. Records. In 1983, the group released its critically acclaimed debut album, Murmur, and built its reputation over the next few years through subsequent releases, constant touring, and the support of college radio. Following years of underground success, R.E.M. achieved a mainstream hit in 1987 with the single "The One I Love". The group signed to Warner Bros. Records in 1988, and began to espouse political and environmental concerns while playing large arenas worldwide.
By the early 1990s, when alternative rock began to enter the mainstream, R.E.M. was viewed by subsequent acts such as Nirvana and Pavement as a pioneer of the genre. The band released its two most commercially successful albums, Out of Time (1991) and Automatic for the People (1992), which veered from the band's established sound and catapulted it to international fame. R.E.M.'s 1994 release, Monster, was a return to a more rock-oriented sound, but still continued its run of success. The band began its first tour in six years to support the album; the tour was marred by medical emergencies suffered by three of the band members.
In 1996, R.E.M. re-signed with Warner Bros. for a reported US$80 million, at the time the most expensive recording contract in history. Its 1996 release, New Adventures in Hi-Fi, though critically acclaimed, fared worse commercially than its predecessors. The following year, Bill Berry left the band, while Stipe, Buck, and Mills continued the group as a trio. Through some changes in musical style, the band continued its career into the next decade with mixed critical and commercial success, despite having sold more than 85 million records worldwide and becoming one of the world's best-selling music artists. In 2007, the band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, in their first year of eligibility. R.E.M. disbanded amicably in September 2011, announcing the split on its website.
In January 1980, Michael Stipe met Peter Buck in Wuxtry Records, the Athens record store where Buck worked. The pair discovered that they shared similar tastes in music, particularly in punk rock and protopunk artists like Patti Smith, Television, and the Velvet Underground. Stipe said, "It turns out that I was buying all the records that [Buck] was saving for himself." Through mutual friend Kathleen O'Brien, Stipe and Buck then met fellow University of Georgia students Mike Mills and Bill Berry, who had played music together since high school and lived together in Georgia. The quartet agreed to collaborate on several songs; Stipe later commented that "there was never any grand plan behind any of it". Their still-unnamed band spent a few months rehearsing in a deconsecrated Episcopal church in Athens, and played its first show on April 5, 1980, supporting the Side Effects at O'Brien's birthday party held in the same church, performing a mix of originals and 1960s and 1970s covers. After considering Twisted Kites, Cans of Piss, and Negro Eyes, the band settled on "R.E.M." (which is an initialism for rapid eye movement, the dream stage of sleep), which Stipe selected at random from a dictionary.
The band members eventually dropped out of school to focus on their developing group. They found a manager in Jefferson Holt, a record store clerk who was so impressed by an R.E.M. performance in his hometown of Chapel Hill, North Carolina, that he moved to Athens. R.E.M.'s success was almost immediate in Athens and surrounding areas; the band drew progressively larger crowds for shows, which caused some resentment in the Athens music scene. Over the next year and a half, R.E.M. toured throughout the Southern United States. Touring was arduous because a touring circuit for alternative rock bands did not then exist. The group toured in an old blue van driven by Holt, and lived on a food allowance of $2 each per day.
R.E.M. was pivotal in the creation and development of the alternative rock genre. AllMusic stated, "R.E.M. mark the point when post-punk turned into alternative rock." In the early 1980s, the musical style of R.E.M. stood in contrast to the post-punk and new wave genres that had preceded it. Music journalist Simon Reynolds noted that the post-punk movement of the late 1970s and early 1980s "had taken whole swaths of music off the menu", particularly that of the 1960s, and that "After postpunk's demystification and New Pop's schematics, it felt liberating to listen to music rooted in mystical awe and blissed-out surrender." Reynolds declared R.E.M., a band that recalled the music of the 1960s with its "plangent guitar chimes and folk-styled vocals" and who "wistfully and abstractly conjured visions and new frontiers for America", one of "the two most important alt-rock bands of the day." With the release of Murmur, R.E.M. had the most impact musically and commercially of the developing alternative genre's early groups, leaving in its wake a number of jangle pop followers.
R.E.M.'s early breakthrough success served as an inspiration for other alternative bands. Spin referred to the "R.E.M. model"—career decisions that R.E.M. made which set guidelines for other underground artists to follow in their own careers. Spin's Charles Aaron wrote that by 1985, "They'd shown how far an underground, punk-inspired rock band could go within the industry without whoring out its artistic integrity in any obvious way. They'd figured out how to buy in, not sellout-in other words, they'd achieved the American Bohemian Dream." Steve Wynn of Dream Syndicate said, "They invented a whole new ballgame for all of the other bands to follow whether it was Sonic Youth or the Replacements or Nirvana or Butthole Surfers. R.E.M. staked the claim. Musically, the bands did different things, but R.E.M. was first to show us you can be big and still be cool." Biographer David Buckley stated that between 1991 and 1994, a period that saw the band sell an estimated 30 million albums, R.E.M. "asserted themselves as rivals to U2 for the title of biggest rock band in the world." Over the course of its career, the band has sold over 85 million records worldwide.
Alternative bands such as Nirvana, Pavement, Radiohead, Coldplay, Pearl Jam (the band's vocalist Eddie Vedder inducted R.E.M. into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame), and Live, have drawn inspiration from R.E.M.'s music. "When I was 15 years old in Richmond, Virginia, they were a very important part of my life," Pavement's Bob Nastanovich said, "as they were for all the members of our band." Pavement's contribution to the No Alternative compilation (1993) was "Unseen Power of the Picket Fence", a song about R.E.M.'s early days. Local H, according to the band's Twitter account, created their name by combining two R.E.M. songs: "Oddfellows Local 151" and "Swan Swan H". Kurt Cobain of Nirvana was a fan of R.E.M., and had unfulfilled plans to collaborate on a musical project with Stipe. Cobain told Rolling Stone in an interview earlier that year, "I don’t know how that band does what they do. God, they’re the greatest. They've dealt with their success like saints, and they keep delivering great music."
During his show at the 40 Watt Club in October 2018, Johnny Marr said: "As a British musician coming out of the indie scene in the early '80s, which I definitely am and am proud to have been, I can't miss this opportunity to acknowledge and pay my respects and honor the guys who put this town on the map for us in England. I'm talking about my comrades in guitar music, R.E.M. The Smiths really respected R.E.M. We had to keep an eye on what those guys were up to. It's an interesting thing for me, as a British musician, and all those guys as British musicians, to come to this place and play for you guys, knowing that it's the roots of Mike Mills and Bill Berry and Michael Stipe and my good friend Peter Buck."
Sing for the Submarine
R.E.M. Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
That everything is there for you
The city breathes and pulses
It's for you electron blue
I knew that you could see right through it
So this is where I give in to the machine
Lift up your voice feel gravity's pull
Oh
[Chorus]
It's all here where I keep it
It's all in the submarine
It's all a lot less frightening
Than you would have had it be
But that's the good news my darling
It is what it's going to be
So sing, sing for the submarine
I tried to explain how it all begins
How its all destroyed and built again
I knew that you could not believe me
But now you're here and it's different
How the light shines in your eyes
In every second or situ
It's then that I realized
That the world as we know it
The High speed train
We'll pick it all up and start again
[Chorus]
The city did not collapse in a shudder
The rain it never came
At least my confessions made you laugh
I know it's a little crazed
But these dreams,
They seem so real to me
[Chorus]
So this is where you trust me
And this where it begins
It's all a lot less frightening
Your tear you let it in
Tyrel and his mechanical owl
A moth disguised as a leaf
Don't tell me what tomorrow brings
Climb into the hidden machine and
Sing sing sing sing sing sing
Sing sing for the submarine
The lyrics of "Sing for the Submarine" by R.E.M. convey a sense of surreal escape from reality, as though the singer is dreaming about a utopian world free of chaos and potential destruction. The first stanza talks about the city being alive and pulsating, beckoning the singer to immerse himself in it. The second stanza talks about the singer's realization that the world can be conquered through submission to fate, and how the one must learn to let go to be able to accept the good with the bad. The chorus speaks of how life is made up of complex systems that can be both frightening yet liberating, and how humans must learn to sing for their ultimately inevitable end.
The third stanza mentions a failed attempt at conveying the truth about the world's cycles of destruction and rebuilding to another person, and the following stanza shows that this conversation eventually leads to an understanding between the two. Then, the lyrics take a sharp turn, mentioning Tyrell and his mechanical owl, familiar characters from the 1982 sci-fi classic, Blade Runner. A moth disguised as a leaf is a metaphorical reference to the illusion of safety that people live with daily. The chorus repeats again, urging the listener to embrace the machine with every bit of emotion they can muster.
Overall, "Sing for the Submarine" is a song about acceptance of life, embracing the cycle of death and rebirth, and surrendering to the large systems that govern our existence. It also deals with themes of escapism and how dream worlds can often give refuge to individuals who feel disenchanted with reality.
Line by Line Meaning
It feels in dreams
Dreams can be very powerful and make us feel like everything is possible
That everything is there for you
In dreams, you can have everything you want and desire
The city breathes and pulses
Even the city has a life of its own, with constant movement and energy
It's for you electron blue
Electron blue is a color that represents energy and speed, like the rapidly moving city
I knew that you could see right through it
You are able to see the truth behind the facade or illusions
So this is where I give in to the machine
This is where I surrender to the power and influence of technology and modernization
Lift up your voice feel gravity's pull
Your voice can be a powerful force that can change or influence things or people around you
Drown out the siren's ring (or silent dream)
Ignore the distractions or negative voices that try to discourage or divert you from your dreams
It's all here where I keep it
Everything I want or need is within me or close by
It's all in the submarine
The submarine represents a hidden or protected space where I can find what I need
It's all a lot less frightening
Once I face my fears or doubts, things are not as scary or intimidating as I thought
Than you would have had it be
Sometimes we create stories or problems in our minds that are much worse than reality
But that's the good news my darling
The good news is that we have the power to control how we see things and react to them
It is what it's going to be
Accept that some things are out of our control and focus on what we can do or change
So sing, sing for the submarine
Sing for the hidden or protected space where your dreams can become reality
I tried to explain how it all begins
I tried to share my perspective on how things start or end
How its all destroyed and built again
Everything can be destroyed, but also rebuilt or recreated in a new and better way
I knew that you could not believe me
You couldn't understand or accept my vision or ideas
But now you're here and it's different
Now that you see it for yourself, everything looks different or clearer
How the light shines in your eyes
You are inspired or motivated by something that makes you shine or glow
In every second or situ
In any moment or situation
It's then that I realized
I became aware of something important or meaningful
That the world as we know it
The current state of the world or reality
The High speed train
The train represents progress, speed, and modernization
We'll pick it all up and start again
We can recreate or redefine everything, including our reality, as long as we have the will and vision to do it
The city did not collapse in a shudder
The city didn't fall apart suddenly or catastrophically
The rain it never came
Things didn't turn out as expected or predicted
At least my confessions made you laugh
Even though my honesty or vulnerability may seem crazy, at least it made you happy
I know it's a little crazed
I am aware that my thoughts or ideas may seem unconventional or eccentric
But these dreams,
My dreams, desires, or goals
They seem so real to me
Even if they are just dreams, they feel so vivid and significant to me
So this is where you trust me
I hope you can have faith in my dreams or ideas
And this where it begins
This is where we start to make our dreams a reality
Your tear you let it in
Your emotions, even the sad or painful ones, can be a source of strength and inspiration
Tyrel and his mechanical owl
A reference to the movie Blade Runner, where the character Tyrell creates a human-like replica owl
A moth disguised as a leaf
A metaphor for something that is camouflaged or hidden in plain sight
Don't tell me what tomorrow brings
I don't want to hear about the uncertainties or challenges of the future
Climb into the hidden machine and
Enter the protected or secret space that allows you to achieve your goals
Sing sing sing sing sing sing
Express your joy, passion, and creativity through music and song
Sing sing for the submarine
Sing for the hidden or protected space where your dreams can become reality
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: PETER BUCK, MIKE MILLS, MICHAEL STIPE
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind