R.E.M's Michael Stipe and Bruce Springsteen performing together at a Vote for change Concert
| Tour by MoveOn.org | |||||||||||||||||||
The tour poster, which shared characteristics with Captain America's shield.
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| Location | United States | ||||||||||||||||||
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| Start date | September 27, 2004 | ||||||||||||||||||
| End date | October 13, 2004 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Legs | 1 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Number of shows | 40 | ||||||||||||||||||
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The Vote for Change tour was a politically motivated American popular music concert tour that took place in October 2004.The tour was presented by MoveOn.org to benefit America Coming Together. The tour was held in swing states and was designed to encourage people to register and vote. Though the tour and the organization were officially non-partisan, many of the performers urged people to vote against then President George W. Bush and for John Kerry in the 2004 Presidential election campaign. Bush would defeat Kerry in November 2004.
Itinerary
Every region had a specific night during which the concerts would be held in that region. When concerts were held in the same city, they were at different venues.
Results
The tour was generally successful in attracting audiences, generating media attention and raising approximately $10 million for America Coming Together.
In terms of the tour's effect on the election, none of the states that featured shows on the tour went differently from predicted in pre-election polls. Four of the eight ended up voting in favor of Kerry (Pennsylvania, Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin) while the other four went to Bush (Missouri, Iowa, Florida, and Ohio). The states that had the heaviest tour presence (five or six shows) also split evenly. The result in Ohio was the most critical, as it decided the election in Bush's favor (despite six shows there).
The shows
The Springsteen and E Street Band performances were compressed to two hours in length due to the multi-act nature of the concerts.Especially at the beginning of his sets, Springsteen accomplished this by stripping down the songs, removing elongated outros and false endings from the likes of "Born in the U.S.A." and "Badlands". In doing so, the style of the Vote for Change shows foreshadowed the next E Street outing, the 2007 Magic Tour, when Springsteen adopted a similar approach.
"Man On The Moon"
Mott the Hoople and the game of Life yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Andy Kaufman in the wrestling match yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Monopoly, Twenty one, checkers, and chess yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Mister Fred Blassie in a breakfast mess yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Let's play Twister, let's play Risk yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
I'll see you heaven if you make the list yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Now, Andy did you hear about this one?
Tell me, are you locked in the punch?
Andy are you goofing on Elvis? Hey, baby
Are we losing touch?
If you believed they put a man on the moon
Man on the moon
If you believe there's nothing up his sleeve
Then nothing is cool
Moses went walking with the staff of wood yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Newton got beaned by the apple good yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Egypt was troubled by the horrible asp yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Mister Charles Darwin had the gall to ask yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Now, Andy did you hear about this one?
Tell me, are you locked in the punch?
Andy are you goofing on Elvis? Hey, baby
Are you having fun?
If you believed they put a man on the moon
Man on the moon
If you believe there's nothing up his sleeve
Then nothing is cool
Here's a little agit for the never-believer yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Here's a little ghost for the offering yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Here's a truck stop instead of Saint Peter's yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Mister Andy Kaufman's gone wrestling yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Now, Andy did you hear about this one?
Tell me, are you locked in the punch?
Andy are you goofing on Elvis? Hey, baby
Are we losing touch?
If you believed they put a man on the moon
Man on the moon
If you believe there's nothing up his sleeve
Then nothing is cool
If you believed they put a man on the moon
Man on the moon
If you believe there's nothing up his sleeve
Then nothing is cool
If you believed they put a man on the moon
Man on the moon
If you believe there's nothing up his sleeve
Then nothing is cool
If you believed they put a man on the moon
Man on the moon
If you believe there's nothing up his sleeve
Then nothing is cool
Man on the Moon was inspired by the late comedian Andy Kaufman. When he was a teenager, R.E.M. lead singer Michael Stipe saw Kaufman on Saturday Night Live, and has cited him as a huge influence ever since. See a photo and learn more about Andy Kaufman in Song Images.
Things mentioned in this song: Mott the Hoople, Life, Monopoly, Twister, Risk, checkers, chess, twenty-one, wrestler Fred Blassie, Elvis Presley, Moses, Sir Isaac Newton, and Charles Darwin.
Kaufman was known for his Elvis-impersonations, which he once performed on Saturday Night Live. Stipe tries one of his own on the line, "Hey, baby are we losing touch?"
This was used as the title for a 1999 movie about Andy Kaufman, starring Jim Carrey. R.E.M. did the soundtrack, which included this.
Andy Kaufman was never married. He met his long time girlfriend Lynn at a restaurant while shooting a short independent film. The movie told a different story of how they met. (thanks, Jessy - Pittsfield, MA)
The lyric, "Mr. Fred Blassie and the breakfast mess" refers to Kaufman's movie My Breakfast With Blassie. This was the movie that Kaufman was filming when he met his girlfriend. (thanks, Patrick - Tallapoosa, GA)
On an edition of the British TV show Top Of The Pops 2, Michael Stipe claimed that when writing this song, it was a tribute to Kurt Cobain's lyrics and writing, and that the repeated "yeah yeah yeah yeah" at the end of most lines is actually his attempt at putting more "yeahs" in a song than Cobain did. Stipe claimed Cobain was the master at making them fit, and he wanted to out-do him. (thanks, Liam - London, England)
R.E.M. performed this with Eddie Vedder when they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2007.
After R.E.M. called it quits in 2011, Michael Stipe said that this would be the song he would most miss performing, particularly "watching the effect of that opening bass line on a sea of people at the end of a show," he told Rolling Stone. "That is an easy song to sing. It's hard to sing a bad note in it," he added.
In the liner notes for Part Lies, Part Heart, Part Truth, Part Garbage 1982-2011, Peter Buck recalled how the music for this song came together: "'Man on the Moon' was something that Bill [Berry] had this one chord change that he came in with, which was C to D like the verse of the song, and he said, 'I don't know what to do with that.' I used to finish some of Bill's things ... he would come up with the riffs, but I would be the finish guy for that. I sat down and came up with the chorus, the bridges, and so forth. I remember we showed it to Mike and Michael when they came in later; definitely we had the song finished. I think Bill played bass and I played guitar; we kept going around with it. I think we might have played some mandolin on it in the rehearsal studio."
Peter Care directed the music video on location near the Antelope Valley area of California. Stipe, wearing a cowboy hat, hitches a ride with Bill Berry to a truck stop. Once there, they meet Care tending bar while Mike Mills plays pool, and the cast of customers joins in singing the song's chorus. The late Andy Kaufman even makes an appearance on the truck stop's television set as the video ends.
Another Take on the Meaning of this Song
For iimagery, I see a design borrowed from visual art: "iconography" - here, it is a study of pop images, myth images, true history images, and religious images. Collectively: a personal iconography by Stipe about himself and the broader themes via Kaufman. Stipe borrows a lot from visual arts up and down the REM catalog. For proof, look no further than my verse 3 comments.
For Themes, I agree with any who said: belief v disbelief, star v fan, dogma v inquiry, life/afterlife.
As background, Stipe introduced the song on one tour, and his intro got recorded live, as (roughly) "this next song is about a journey, one we are all going to take, we had to pick one person to go with us; we picked in my opinion the greatest comedian of the 20th century". I *think* it is in Roadmovie (Monster tour). So that seems to be the single seed that grew up into this amazing tree.
verse 1: personal, pop imagery -
Mott the Hoople and Andy each dealt very differently in perceptions. Ian Hunter broached the star/fan boundary in his stage swagger - glam, but rough and not intending any of-the-era ambiguity (Simon Frith: the ballad of Mott, 1991). Mott kept it real and the fans identified. Andy? He incited his fans. He needed the wall between star/audience, the wider the better!!! Maybe Stipe identifies with both? Maybe he even does things a bit like each would, in the song?
The games list, to me, reinforces a universal need for suspending disbelief, and also a time when we accept rules as a given. By Line 5 the speaker shifts to dialogue with someone off camera (" let's play... Let's play..."). Line 6 "See you in heaven if you make the list", "You" may be universal, but I also kinda think its aimed at Andy, in part because "Making the list" is entertainment lingo that Andy would know, but I had to research. It means being an official invitee to a private party. So, immediately there is a clear satire on the rules for getting into heaven (with the church- as institution- being the rule maker).
Verse 2: myth and historical imagery-
Moses/staff Newton/apple, are types of myth. The first is dogmatic, the second is a popular - and false-- historical tale. Per "It crawled from the South" (1997), the "asp" image was stolen from a film reviewer's pun about Liz Taylor's "behind" as Cleopatra. So here, Stipe has nonsense 'up his sleeve'. Line 4 aligns with scientific inquiry opposite of dogma (historical note: Darwin never openly rejected his faith, but he was not at all devout either.)
Verse 3, (someone asked earlier & I saw no reply) - pop art and religious imagery
" Here's a little agit...". Agit is probably Agit Prop, a form of visual art which uses agitation and propaganda techniques for its message (e.g., Soviet poster campaigns under Lenin). Aso, I believe the line ends in "nether-believer"(not " never believer"). I think it is fair to see Stipe dropping a hint about what is to come next, and for whom.
"Here's a little ghost for the offering". I can think of 2 possible meanings. 1) A board game called Little Ghost, origin 1960, basically a Caspar knock-off, aimed at children. I am on the fence because it is not as well-known as the other games. 2) it is pure wordplay: reworking " giving up the ghost". Giving is like giving for an offering, but, here he is giving the idea of what a ghost is. Why is the ghost "little" ? Maybe just to mirror the line above. Maybe it figuratively means "not a lot". So, it subverts church institutional orthodox "giving". I like how #2 mirrors Verse 1, line 6. But it could be another inside joje we dont get, or something else.
"Truck stop/St. Peter's" I love the guy who said it questions why everyday things can't be religious as well. Agree! I only add that the contrast echoes the idea from "the list" (what is less exclusive than a truck stop?).
"Mr. Andy Kaufman's gone wrestling (wrestling bears)". The parenthetical is vague. I dont think Andy claimed he could, or ever did, wrestle a real bear. But ... I hear from the interweb that " bear" is alternative orientation slang that one might conclude quite aptly fits many pro wrestler body-types, especially of that era. Thats way better than what I was gonna speculate.
Michael Stipe certainly confuses and makes mystery of the song as much as much is he intrigues, although my perspective is I feel it is really quite simple. For example the lyrics, 'Mr. Charles Darwin had the gall to ask... yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah'. These 'yeahs' after historical mentions of figures mainly in Western Culture are not just Stipes' urge to outdo Cobain. The 'yeahs' with their lower dynamic (volume) and speech-like non-commitment indicate 'irony', of people looking at Newton, Darwin, and Cleopatra with no research and going oh whatever I don't believe that even though there is sufficient evidence to prove otherwise. It is I suspect possibly about people's willing to go by popular media and non-credible internet sites instead of the painstaking novel, the scientific theory paper, the most credible historian, and out of this the ridiculous time-wasting debates that ensue. This culture has some of the most dishonest, lying, ungenerous, sensationalist media around, and why?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah...... the song is about the blurring of fact and fiction but in the context of people, as well as me, for who can believe almost anything on their TV screens or papers (or bible) it's ridiculing us, for our tenacity to be easily persuaded, especially so by emotional force. And that's the other clever notion of this song, it is serious but it is also jokey with the Andy Kaufman talk demonstrating for a figure such as Kaufman to ridicule people's willing to immediately lose their brains to watch Elvis (yes great performer but in another light) and be emotionally controlled, to watch a wrestler, etc then even believing Kaufman faked his death, an obvious rumour which, well, doesn't seem be true. The songs American campfire feel around the beautiful pine trees is possibly ridiculing the whole of Western Culture.
The Chorus 'If you believe, there is nothing up my sleeve, then nothing is cool' is quite evident of Stipe playing with the listener in irony to show that some listeners may try to see if there is something up his sleeve but when their isn't it is boring to them, so they reinvent 9/11, moon landings, people's deaths (Hendrix) because their lives are that plagued by boring daytime routines, TV controlled imagination and no spirituality that they have to resort to this so then they can feel good or have something interesting.
The campfire is the ultimate irony (of which it could also be a bar, room, whatever, a meeting, whatever) as the acoustic guitar might display, the impassioned performer trying to persuade and win the hearts of the few there, by being egotistically tender, hypercritical, overconfident, and yet people believe! They take it seriously! This song according to Ann Powers is also joking about human endeavours by placing them alongside boardgames, 'Twister... Risk.' Powers may be intending to show that what is the point of these life long endeavours when people don't care or more accurately don't care to believe it. It also may demonstrate humans sense of "self-importance", who will find us, are we the greatest, in clear complete ignorance of their brother species. In essence they should really just have one, not try t 'classify' everything and be joyous, work hard and do it for the meaning of itself: fulfillment. In other words, look at many perspectives, explore.
The Chorus line 'If you believe, They put a man on the moon, Man on the Moon' seems to indicate with the passionate, emotional tone of delivery that they (band) know it is so because the evidence is irrefutable, I mean I won't go mad but this is billions of dollars to NASA with countless research for the moon landing (in short what is the point of faking that?), if people only went to their website for climate change... AS well. Stipe's tone is urgent, 'you know this? They put a man on the moon, isn't that amazing?!' Julia Gillard was Australia's first female prime minister, and she had the courage and warrior-like strength to take all the scared (because they are scared they will lose tradition, lose their strength because they are actually very weak, etc), misogynistic bulls--t dished out to her. Including to have some incredible policy decisions in three years (which shows how pointless and destructive politics are when you focus solely on appearance, gender and personality instead of ethos and policies), isn't that amazing?
The lyrics are satirising people's gullibility to believe anything, any of the adverts that proclaim you need them when you don't that don't give you anything, cults, religion, you name it. Of course here you can criticise me but I hope you do because it is the only way I and you will learn not to be gullible and 'face the music', face the facts and learn with humility and self-ridicule.
Chorus- to me the 'if' conditionals and double negatives explain themselves: The first 2 lines arent necessarily one question. One is fragment, one not. Cool.
| "Man on the Moon" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Single by R.E.M. | ||||
| from the album Automatic for the People | ||||
| B-side | "New Orleans Instrumental No. 2" | |||
| Released | November 21, 1992 | |||
| Format | CD single, 7" single, 12" single,Cassette | |||
| Recorded | 1992 | |||
| Genre |
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| Length | 5:15 (Album Version) 4:39 (Edit) | |||
| Label | Warner Bros. | |||
| Producer(s) | Scott Litt & R.E.M. | |||
| R.E.M. singles chronology | ||||
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"Man on the Moon" is a song by the American alternative rock band R.E.M., released as the second single from their 1992 album Automatic for the People. The lyrics were written by lead singer Michael Stipe, and the music by drummer Bill Berry and guitarist Peter Buck, and credited to the whole band as usual. The song was well received by critics and peaked at number 30 on the Billboard Hot 100and number 18 on the UK Singles Chart. It remains one of R.E.M.'s most popular songs[2][3] and was included on the compilations In Time: The Best of R.E.M. 1988–2003 and Part Lies, Part Heart, Part Truth, Part Garbage 1982–2011.
Lyrically, the song is a tribute to the comedian and performer Andy Kaufman with numerous references to his career including his Elvis impersonation, wrestling, and the film My Breakfast with Blassie. The song's title and chorus refer to the moon landing conspiracy theories as an oblique allusion to rumors that Kaufman's death in 1984 was faked. The song gave its name to Miloš Forman's film based on Kaufman's life, and was featured prominently in the film's official soundtrack.
Composition and lyrics
"Man on the Moon" is a mid-tempo country-rock song following a verse-chorus structure with an added pre-chorus and an instrumental bridge following the second and third choruses. The song is somewhat unusual in that the verses are unequal in length, with six lines in the first verse but only four in the second and third verses.
Guitarist Peter Buck explained how the music came together: "'Man on the Moon' was something that Bill [Berry] had, this one chord change that he came in with, which was C to D like the verse of the song, and he said: 'I don't know what to do with that.' I used to finish some of Bill's things... he would come up with the riffs, but I would be the finish guy for that. I sat down and came up with the chorus, the bridges, and so forth. I remember we showed it to Mike and Michael when they came in later; definitely we had the song finished. I think Bill played bass and I played guitar; we kept going around with it. I think we might have played some mandolin on it in the rehearsal studio."
The song's lyrics are an homage to the performer Andy Kaufman, including references to his Elvis impersonation and work with wrestlers Fred Blassie and Jerry Lawler. Some critics find the song also invokes the conspiracy theories surrounding the moon landing and Elvis Presley as an indirect nod to the persistent rumors that Kaufman faked his own death. Other lyrical references include boardgames, notable people, andMott the Hoople (both the title of a novel and a rock group which took its name from the novel). Regarding the cryptic lyrics, critic Greg Kot wrote that the song "presents a surreal vision of heaven." According to Ann Powers, "Mentioning Kaufman in the same breath as Moses and Sir Isaac Newton, Stipe makes a game of human endeavor, insisting that it all ends in dust. 'Let's play Twister, let's play Risk,' Stipe jokes to the notables he's invoked. 'I'll see you in heaven if you make the list.'"
Michael Stipe explained in an interview with Charlie Rose how the lyrics were written independently of the music, which had no prior association with the song's eventual lyrical content regarding Andy Kaufman. Stipe recounted that the rest of the members of R.E.M. had written and performed the music of the song and recorded it along with the rest of the Automatic for the People album during studio sessions in Seattle. As of the final day of the recording sessions, Stipe had not yet written lyrics to the song and the other band members continued to plead with him to try complete the song, despite his writer's block. Stipe listened to the track on a walk around Seattle and was inspired to write a song about the performances of Andy Kaufman. After Stipe went back to the studio to complete the vocal track, the master was mixed that night and sent out the following day to be mastered.
Release and reception
"Man on the Moon" was released as the second single from Automatic for the People on November 21, 1992, reaching number 30 on theBillboard Hot 100 and number 18 on the UK Singles Chart. The song was enthusiastically received by critics. Writing for the New York Times, Ann Powers said it "shines with a wit that balances R.E.M.'s somber tendencies." Stewart Mason went even further in his review for Allmusic, calling the song "near-perfect", "almost inarguably Stipe's pinnacle as a singer", and "one of R.E.M.'s most enduring achievements". The song was listed at number 19 on the Village Voice "Pazz & Jop" year-end critics' poll in 1993.
Music video
The song's video, directed by Peter Care, was shot over three days in the desert, at Lancaster in the Antelope Valley area of California, in October 1992. Care kept a journal of the unusually long planning, filming, and editing process, which was published by Raygun magazine and reprinted in the R.E.M. fan club newsletter. It gave a clear idea of the amount of work, money, and attention-to-detail involved.
In the video, Michael Stipe, attired in a cowboy hat, walks along a desert road. He leaps onto a passing truck, driven by Bill Berry, and hitches a ride to a truck stop where Peter Buck is tending bar and Mike Mills is shooting pool. Berry trades his truck seat for a bar stool, and along with a few of the other customers (in the shooting, they used actors and non-actors), sings along during the choruses. After finishing his order of fries, Stipe leaves and walks off into the dusk. In the background on a small television set in the truck stop, various footage of Andy Kaufman can be seen showing.
This video was ranked #41 on Rolling Stone magazine's The 100 Top Music Videos.
Track listing
All songs written by Bill Berry, Peter Buck, Mike Mills and Michael Stipe except as noted.
US 7", cassette and CD single
- "Man on the Moon" – 5:12
- "New Orleans Instrumental #2" – 3:48
UK "collector's edition" CD single[edit]
- "Man on the Moon" – 5:12
- "Fruity Organ" – 3:26
- "New Orleans Instrumental #2" – 3:48
- "Arms of Love" (Robyn Hitchcock) – 3:35
DE 12" and CD maxi-single[edit]
- "Man on the Moon" (edit) – 4:39
- "Turn You Inside-Out" – 4:15
- "Arms of Love" (Hitchcock) – 3:35
UK and DE 7" and cassette single[edit]
- "Man on the Moon" (edit) – 4:39
- "Turn You Inside-Out" – 4:15
Charts
| Chart (1992) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australian Singles Chart | 39 |
| Canadian Hot 100 | 4 |
| Irish Singles Chart | 17 |
| UK Singles Chart | 18 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100 | 30 |
| U.S. Billboard Modern Rock Tracks | 2 |
| U.S. Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks | 4 |
Cover versions
- Tears For Fears during their period without Curt Smith (mid-90s) covered the song live a few times.
- American indie artist Ferraby Lionheart recorded an acoustic cover of the song in 2007, which was part of a tribute album to Drive that was organized by Stereogum. The album also contains a version by The Shout Out Louds. It is available for free download over the Internet.[14]
- Commemorating the one year anniversary of the death of Eric the Midget (real name Eric Shaun Lynch), the song was redone with references to him.
| R.E.M. | |
|---|---|
R.E.M. in concert in Padova, Italy, in July 2003. From left to right: Mike Mills,
Michael Stipe, touring drummer Bill Rieflin, and Peter Buck
| |
| Background information | |
| Also known as | Hornets Attack Victor Mature,Bingo Hand Job,It Crawled from the South |
| Origin | Athens, Georgia, U.S. |
| Genres |
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| Years active | 1980–2011 |
| Labels |
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| Associated acts |
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| Website | remhq |
| Past members |
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R.E.M. was an American rock band from Athens, Georgia, formed in 1980 by lead singer Michael Stipe, lead guitarist Peter Buck, bassist/backing vocalist Mike Mills, and drummer Bill Berry. One of the first popular alternative rock bands, R.E.M. were noted for Buck's ringing, arpeggiatedguitar style, Stipe's particular vocal quality, and Mills' melodic basslines and backing vocals. R.E.M. released their first single, "Radio Free Europe", in 1981 on the independent record labelHib-Tone. The single was followed by the Chronic Town EP in 1982, the band's first release onI.R.S. Records. In 1983, the group released its critically acclaimed debut album, Murmur, and built its reputation over the next few years through subsequent releases, constant touring, and the support of college radio. Following years of underground success, R.E.M. achieved a mainstream hit in 1987 with the single "The One I Love". The group signed to Warner Bros. Records in 1988, and began to espouse political and environmental concerns while playing large arenas worldwide.
By the early 1990s, when alternative rock began to experience broad mainstream success, R.E.M. was viewed by subsequent acts such as Nirvana and Pavement as a pioneer of the genre. The band then released its two most commercially successful albums, Out of Time (1991) and Automatic for the People (1992), which veered from the band's established sound and catapulted it to international fame. R.E.M.'s 1994 release, Monster, was a return to a more rock-oriented sound, but still continued its run of success. The band began its first tour in six years to support the album; the tour was marred by medical emergencies suffered by the three band members.
In 1996, R.E.M. re-signed with Warner Bros. for a reported US$80 million, at the time the most expensive recording contract in history. Its 1996 release, New Adventures in Hi-Fi, though critically acclaimed, fared worse commercially than expected. The following year, Bill Berry left the band, while Stipe, Buck, and Mills continued the group as a trio. Through some changes in musical style, the band continued its career into the next decade with mixed critical and commercial success, despite having sold more than 85 million records worldwide and becoming one of the world's best-selling music artists of all time. In 2007, the band was inducted into theRock and Roll Hall of Fame, in their first year of eligibility. R.E.M. disbanded amicably in September 2011, announcing the split on its website.
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