Album: Green (1988)

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• I sit at my table and wage war on myself
  It seems like it's all, it's all for nothing
  I know the barricades
  And I know the mortar in the wall breaks
  I recognize the weapons, I used them well
  
  This is my mistake
  Let me make it good
  I raised the wall and I will be the one to knock it down
  
  I've a rich understanding of my finest defenses
  I proclaim that claims are left unstated
  I demand a rematch
  I decree a stalemate
  I divine my deeper motives
  I recognize the weapons
  I've practiced them well, I fitted them myself
  
  It's amazing what devices you can sympathize (empathize)
  This is my mistake
  Let me make it good
  I raised the wall and I will be the one to knock it down
  
  Reach out for me and hold me tight
  Hold that memory
  Let my machine talk to me, let my machine talk to me
  
  This is my world and I am world leader pretend
  This is my life
  And this is my time
  I have been given the freedom
  To do as I see fit
  It's high time I've razed the walls that I've constructed
  
  It's amazing what devices you can sympathize (empathize)
  This is my mistake
  Let me make it good
  I raised the wall and I will be the one to knock it down
  
  You fill in the mortar
  You fill in the harmony
  You fill in the mortar
  I raised the wall
  And I'm the only one
  I will be the one to knock it down Writer/s: Bill Berry, Michael Mills, Michael Stipe, Peter Buck
  Publisher: Universal Music Publishing Group
  Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Comments: 9

• Paul B from ChicagolandDo you see that 0 I’m forming with my hand? That’s Brad from Lexington’s IQ. Kit from NY knows that R.E.M. are left-wing loons. That’s why he called them on their turning a blind eye to the many faults of the politicians that they support. It wasn’t too hard to figure that one out, old Brad, boy. If you don’t like George H.W. Bush, who was both qualified AND reasonable, then you won’t ever accept any Republican.
  
  I remember an interview with the members of R.E.M. when they were asked basic questions about various issues and they were woefully ignorant. The less you know, the more that you think that you know. Those who actually know a lot know how little they really know-and are humble.
  
  I liked R.E.M. a lot more before learning of their far-left political views. Now I try to separate the artist from the person, whenever possible.
  
  An alternate title for this song could be Athens Band Pretend *wink*
• Ikaty from UkThis song was always just an amazing tune to me 20-30 years ago but now after living with struggles throughout my life the words mean sooooo much more to me!
  For me this song is about addiction or something else that that happens in your life that you decided but didn’t mean for it to turn out like it did.
  Amazing.
  Thank you REM X X X
• Marc Merrion from Clinton Mai think the song was about Ronald Reagan...not the first time Reagan was mentioned in a song ....1969 Woodstock...Governor Reagan was Ronald Ray Guns....
• Chris from El Paso, TxLesser known definition of pretend: lay claim to (a quality or title).
  
  "he cannot pretend to sophistication"
• Kt from New York, NyI wonder how R.E.M. is enjoying that current administration's 'hope and change' now? It's funny that they love to rip apart other administrations for all sorts of corruption, but haven't said anything about how this current administration's corruption is just as bad as the rest.
  
  Funny how liberal rock stars get really quiet when it's the administration they supported that's being exposed for the fraud that they accused others of.
• Brad from Lexington, KyBarack Obama? Um, just so you know, R.E.M. are huge Democrats and Obama supporters so I'd shut your dumb republican mouth.
• Fred from Laurel, MdAnd if it had been written 25 years earlier, I would've thought it was from the perspective of Nikita Khrushchev ("I raised the wall and I will be the one to knock it down..."), although it was a distant successor of his who tore it down. Or, if written 25 years later (that's 4 years from now), from Barack Obama's. One of the great things about Stipe's lyrics sometimes is the same thing that makes Dylan's lyrics so powerful -- ambiguity. There are often so many interpretations, that they at least take on the appearance of depth of meaning. These lyrics also remind me strongly of one of Sting's songs, "Fortress Around Your Heart."
• Brad from Lexington, KyIf this song had been written twenty years later I would've thought it was written from George W. Bush's perspective.
• Phoebe from Belchertown, MaI love the lyrics to this song. they're amazing :)

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