Album: Out Of Time (1991)

License This Song 

Songfacts®:

• Written by the band while they were on tour, Michael Stipe explained in the October 1992 issue of Q magazine: "(It's) about a mother and child, especially the strong bond that exists between them. The voice is neither hers nor the child's, however. It's someone else commenting on the sense that the bond between a mother and child is the most powerful love of all... I think it's significant to state that it's not a song about defenestration.
  
  I took great pains to clarify that in the vocal. There's an event that's occurred somewhere far away that has come to the attention of the woman who's the protagonist of the song, and she realizes how significant that thing is to her child and herself, and she goes to the window to take a breath. I think that when I first wrote the song, it did seem like the woman hurled herself and her child out of the window, but that's not what occurs."
• Producer Scott Litt recalled to Mojo: "I kinda stole the hand claps and finger snaps from 'Under Pressure.' And Michael (Stipe) pulled a kind of John Lennon move, like how Lennon would ask for his vocal to sound like he was on the moon? Michael said he wanted to sound completely detached, like in another place. So we rigged up a Sony Walkman that would record directly to tape. So you get that weird compressed sound, and Michael actually recorded it in a garage at Prince's Paisley Park Studio in Minneapolis, which was where we mixed Out of Time."
  
  "Sometimes when a musician says to you they want something to sound like it's from another place, sometimes the best thing to do is record it in another place."

Comments: 7

• Jack C. from Oregon"Belong" is a strangely elusive track. A mother and child theme is usually analogous to all of humanity. Are they being saved or doomed here?
  
  Creatures jumping barricades and heading AWAY from land implies they weren't a threat to people, unless reaching the sea causes them to mutate and get worse. Or does it drown them like lemmings? The song would make more sense in apocalyptic terms (my general impression) if barricades were protecting the mainland FROM sea monsters.
  
  There's endless speculation on this one unless the band ever admits to something concrete.
• Tim B from EnglandThis song has always conjured images of some sort of monster movie story for me, such as films like; A Quiet Place, Bird Box, Walking Dead, Cloverfield, The Last of Us, etc… a woman trapped in a house with her young child while creatures are moving around outside. The image of barricades and the use of the word creatures makes it sound alien somehow.
  
  Probably not about that at all though!
• Lukas from Pennsylvania What's with the creatures jumping the barricade? What the hell is he talking about?
• Broomy from PerthSuch a simple, but yet emotional song, I've listened to it a thousand times and everytime with tears in my eyes. Simple, but brilliant
  
• Cjsf from Space CoastThe lyrics shown for this song are for "We All Go Back To Where We Belong" (from "Part Lies, Part Heart, Part Truth, Part Garbage 1982–2011") not "Belong". The lyrics for this song are:
  
  Her world collapsed early Sunday morning
  She got up from the kitchen table
  Folded the newspaper and silenced the radio
  Those creatures jumped the barricades
  And have headed for the sea, sea
  
  Ooh
  Ooh
  Those creatures jumped the barricades
  And have headed for the sea
  She began to breathe
  To breathe at the thought of such freedom
  Stood and whispered to her child, belong
  She held the child and whispered
  With calm, calm, belong
  
  Ooh
  Ooh
  Ooh
  Ooh
  She stood and whispered to her child, belong
  She held the child and whispered
  With calm, calm, belong
  
  Ooh
  Ooh
  Ooh
  Ooh
  Those barricades can only hold for so long
  Her world collapsed early Sunday morning
  She took the child held tight
  Opened the window
  A breath, this song, how long
  And knew, knew, belong
  Ooh
  Ooh
  Ooh
  Ooh
• Mark from New York, NyFantastic song, fantastic vocals (especially MTV live version.
• Tom from Marietta, OhI love the song and the imagery of it (although I was never quite sure what it all meant), but what amazes me most about this article is that there is a word specifically for the act of throwing something out of a window.

More Songfacts:

HelloAdele

Adele's "Hello" was the first song to sell over a million downloads in a week.

Time In A BottleJim Croce

Jim Croce was killed in a plane crash on September 30, 1973. A few weeks later, his song "Time In A Bottle" hit #1.

Ants MarchingDave Matthews Band

The definitive Dave Matthews Band song, "Ants Marching" is a look at monotony, something they avoid by improvising at concerts and mixing up their setlists.

China GroveThe Doobie Brothers

There really is a China Grove (in Texas), but Tom Johnston didn't know about it when he wrote the Doobie Brothers song.

I Love ItIcona Pop

Icona Pop consider "I Love It" a kiss-off to their boyfriends. "We just wanted to get the song out and get the pigs to hear it," group member Jawo said.

(Don't Fear) The ReaperBlue Öyster Cult

Buck Dharma of Blue Oyster Cult wrote "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" after he was diagnosed with a heart condition and started thinking about his own mortality.

Editor's Picks

David Bowie Leads the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Long-Haired MenSong Writing

Bowie's "activist" days of 1964 led to Ziggy Stardust.

Harry Wayne Casey of KC and The Sunshine BandSongwriter Interviews

Harry Wayne Casey tells the stories behind KC and The Sunshine Band hits like "Get Down Tonight," "That's The Way (I Like It)," and "Give It Up."

Don DokkenSongwriter Interviews

Dokken frontman Don Dokken explains what broke up the band at the height of their success in the late '80s, and talks about the botched surgery that paralyzed his right arm.

Modern A Cappella with Peder Karlsson of The Real GroupSong Writing

The leader of the Modern A Cappella movement talks about the genre.

Steven Tyler of AerosmithSongwriter Interviews

Tyler talks about his true love: songwriting. How he identifies the beauty in a melody and turns sorrow into art.

Joan ArmatradingSongwriter Interviews

The revered singer-songwriter talks inspiration and explains why she put a mahout in "Drop the Pilot."