Wendell Gee by R.E.M.

Album: Fables of the Reconstruction (1985)

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This song was almost entirely composed and performed by Mike Mills, with Michael Stipe supplying the lyric and vocal. Mills told Mojo in 2015: "Wendell Gee was named after a guy who ran a used car lot on the road from Athens to Atlanta."

"I've never said this before," he added. "But when I wrote Wendell Gee, I was thinking of Fleetwood Mac."
Michael Stipe performed "Wendell Gee" as part of a four-song set on October 10, 2024 in R.E.M.'s former home base of Athens, Georgia, during a rally for Kamala Harris' presidential campaign. Stipe had not performed the song since 1985, making it a rare and noteworthy occurrence for R.E.M. fans.

Comments: 2

George from Vancouver, CanadaSorry to those who believe othgerwise, but if you use your name publically, especially doing business in public, you have no name protection, unless you've trademark protected it (like if your business is named with your name); I can sing, "I was driving by a McDonalds & it made me think of. . ." & explain, later, I weas inspired in whatever direction I took with it (even if I used lyrics like "retchingly horrid"; My muse is not answerable to any human court or law!
AnonymousWendell Gee was indeed named after a guy who ran a used car lot on the road from Athens to Atlanta, except he was very much alive when the song came out, didn't even have cancer let alone die of it, and was royally cross about his name being used in this way, especially as the band didn't know him or had even bought a car from him!

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