All the Best

Album: Collapse Into Now (2011)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • This rocker features bassist Mike Mills and frontman Michael Stipe sharing lead vocals whist Peter Buck and second guitarist Scott McCaughey lay down a wall of sound. McCaughey has worked with R.E.M. both on stage and in the studio since he being brought on as a second guitarist for the 1994 Monster tour.
  • The song features a typically cryptic Stipe lyric, which despite the seemingly upbeat title, appears to be more of an barbed comment on a tainted relationship than an act of well-wishing.
  • After R.E.M. broke up in September 2011, the band admitted that this song was written with the breakup in mind. Said Mike Mills: "There are some straightforward see-you-laters on that one."
  • Collapse Into Now was littered with clues undetected at the time that it was to be their final album, from the lyric of this song to the fact that Stipe was waving on the cover. The R.E.M. singer told Mojo: "Yeah, the clues were there. I placed them there intentionally. I took a chapter from Patti Smith, who released her first album, called Wave, and disappeared for years."

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Guy Clark

Guy ClarkSongwriter Interviews

Vince Gill, Emmylou Harris and Lyle Lovett are just a few of the artists who have looked to Clark for insightful, intelligent songs.

Rupert Hine

Rupert HineSongwriter Interviews

Producer Rupert Hine talks about crafting hits for Tina Turner, Howard Jones and The Fixx.

Sending Out An SOS - Distress Signals In Songs

Sending Out An SOS - Distress Signals In SongsSong Writing

Songs where something goes horribly wrong (literally or metaphorically), and help is needed right away.

Jethro Tull

Jethro TullFact or Fiction

Stage urinals, flute devices, and the real Aqualung in this Fact or Fiction.

Timothy B. Schmit of the Eagles

Timothy B. Schmit of the EaglesSongwriter Interviews

Did this Eagle come up with the term "Parrothead"? And what is it like playing "Hotel California" for the gazillionth time?

Stan Ridgway

Stan RidgwaySongwriter Interviews

Go beyond the Wall of Voodoo with this cinematic songwriter.