"If the end comes faster than we had expected"

Before being distracted last week by Chaka Khan, I posted to back-to-back REM songs off what will probably be their final studio album, Collapse Into Now. As I have mentioned before, I think this album was largely overlooked due to the fact that around the time of the album's release the band announced that they had mutually and very amiably decided to call it quits. I suppose I hope that putting up some of the songs from the album on Fridays does a little to make it better known.

Regarding the album's title, singer Michael Stipe said "It's the final thing I sing, the last song on the record before the record goes into a coda and reprises the first song. In my head, it's like I'm addressing a nine-year-old and I'm saying, 'I come from a faraway place called the 20th century. And these are the values and these are the mistakes we've made and these are the triumphs. These are the things that we held in the highest esteem. These are the things to learn from."

And predictions lead us to the final fall/If the flowers crack the grave/And leave the pattern of the pavement/I can hear you shouting over it all

As the late Kurt Cobain once said of REM, "I don't know how that band does what they do... they're the greatest. They've dealt with their success like saints, and they keep delivering great music." Amen.