R.E.M. - Up Album Lyrics

I was hell.
Sarcastic silver swell
That day it rained
Tough spun. Hard worn. No
Ocean flower aquarium
Badlands. Give a hand.
Honey dipt. Flim flam
Hey hey. Hey hey.
That cat can walk like a big bad man.

So happy to show us
I ate the lotus.
Say haven't you noticed?
I ate the lotus

Storefront window, I reflect.
Just last week I was merely heck
Tip the scale. I was hell
Picked me up, then I fell.
Who's this stranger? Crowbar spine
...and I feel fine.
Let it rain, rain, rain.
Bring my happy back again.

So happy to show us
I ate the lotus.
Say haven't you noticed?
I ate the lotus

Let it rain, rain, rain
Save me from my self again
Wash away my ugly sins
Opposing thumb, dorsal fin
That monkey died for my grin
Bring my happy back again
Let it rain, rain, rain
Bring my happy back again

So happy to show us
I ate the lotus
So haven't you noticed?
I ate the lotus
I ate the lotus
I ate the lotus

You want to trust the doctors
Their procedure is the best
But the last try was a failure
And the intern was a mess.
They did the same to Matthew
And he bled 'til Sunday night
They're saying don't be frightened
But you're weakened by the sight of it
You lock into a pattern
And you know that it's the last ditch
You're trying to see through it
And it doesn't make sense
But they're saying don't be frightened
And they're killing alligators
And they're hog-tied
And accepting of the struggle

You want to trust religion
And you know it's allegory
But the people who are followers
Have written their own story.
So you look up to the heavens
And you hope that it's a spaceship
And it's something from your childhood
Your thinking don't be frightened

You want to climb the ladder
You want to see forever
You want to go out Friday
And you want to go forever.
And you want to cross your DNA
To cross your DNA with something reptile.
And you're questioning the sciences
And questioning religion
You're looking like an idiot
And you no longer care.
And you want to bridge the schism,
The built in mechanism to protect you.
And you're looking for salvation
And you're looking for deliverance
You're looking like an idiot
And you no longer care.
You want to climb the ladder
You want to see forever.
You want to go out Friday
You want to go forever.

Did you understand me right?
The people here are good.
They tell me what I should have done
And offer what I could.
I'm good, all is good
All's well, no complaints.
When I feel regret,
I get down on me knees and pray.
I'm sorry, so sorry...

I live a simple life
Unfettered by complex sweets.
You think this isn't me?
Don't be weak.
There I go.
I'm so sorry.

Thank you for being there for me.
Thank you for listening, goodbye.
I can forfeit selfishness
I hope that you can apply
This happiness
This peacefulness
I'm sorry, so sorry...

I live a simple life
Unfettered by complex sweets.
You think this isn't me?
That's so sweet.
I'm so sorry.

Late afternoon, the house is hot.
I started, I jumped up.
Everyone hates a bore.
Everybody hates a drunk.

This may be a lit invention
Professors muddled in their intent
To try to rope in followers
To float their malcontent.
As for this reader,
I'm already spent.

Late afternoon, the house is hot.
I started, I jumped up.
Everyone hates a sad professor.
I hate where I wound up.

Dear readers, my apologies.
I'm drifting in and out of sleep.
Long silence presents the tragedies
Of love. Not the age. Get afraid.
The surface hazy with attendant thoughts.
A lazy eye metaphor on the rock.

Late afternoon, the house is hot.
I started, I jumped up.
Everyone hates a bore.
Everybody hates a drunk.
Everyone hates a sad professor.
I hate where I wound up.
I hate where I wound up.

I'm what you found
I'm upside down
You're in the air
You're in the air
And I am breathing

Brighten the stars
The weather is lifting
The heavens love
A love like this
It's pulling you higher
Twist it and turn this around
It lights from within
It dribbles your chin
Now brings a smile
I'm lost again
I'm lost again

I'm what you found
I'm upside down
You're in the air
You're in the air
And I am breathing

I want the stars to know they've won
If only to beguile
The sky has opened up again
In heaven reconciled
I want you naked
I want you wild
I want the stars to know they win
Give me that smile
Just give it me
Just turn it on
I'm lost again

I'm what you found
I'm upside down
You're in the air
I'm what you found
I'm upside down
You're in the air
I'm what you found
I'm upside down
You're everywhere
You're in the air
And I am breathing you

Say "keep within the boundaries if you want to play."
Say "contradiction only makes it harder."
How can I be
What I want To be?
When all I want to do is strip away
These stilled constraints
And crush this charade
Shred this sad masquerade
I don't need no persuading
I'll trip, fall, pick myself up and
Walk unafraid
I'll be clumsy instead
Hold my love or leave me high.

If I have a bag of rocks to carry as I go
I just want to hold my head up high
I don't care what I have to step over
I'm prepared to look you in the eye
Look me in the eye
And if you see familiarity
Then celebrate the contradiction
Help me when I fall to
Walk unafraid
I'll be clumsy instead
Hold my love or leave me high.
Walk unafraid
I'll be clumsy instead
Hold my love or leave me high.

I would do anything
To hear you speak of it.
Why not smile?
You've been sad for a while.
You've been sad for a while.

Hong Kong is present
Taipei awakes
All talk of circadian rhythm

I see today with a newsprint fray
My night is colored headache grey
Daysleeper

The bull and the bear are marking their territories
They're leading the blind with their international glories

I'm the screen, the blinding light
I'm the screen, I work at night.

I see today with a newsprint fray
My night is colored headache grey
Don't wake me with so much.
Daysleeper.

I cried the other night
I can't even say why
Fluorescent flat caffeine lights
Its furious balancing

I'm the screen, the blinding light
I'm the screen, I work at night

I see today with a newsprint fray
My night is colored headache grey
Don't wake me with so much.
The ocean machine is set to nine
I'll squeeze into heaven and valentine
My bed is pulling me,
Gravity
Daysleeper. Daysleeper.
Daysleeper. Daysleeper. Daysleeper.

I will give my best today
I will give myself away
I have never hurt anything
Is the jury wavering?
Do they know I sing?

Maybe I'm crazy
Maybe diminished
How do I,
How do I play this?

Jealous lover, self defence
Protective brother, chemical dependence
I'll consult the i-ching
I'll consult the TV
Ouija, oblique strategies.
I'll consult the law books for precedents.
Can I charm the jury?

I will give my best today
I will give myself away
I have never hurt anything
Is the justice wavering?
Do they know I sing That song? Sing along
Sing along
Sing along
(I will never hurt anything)

I watched you fall.
Maybe they'll see me,
Maybe they'll say,
"I can see the truth in his statement.
Smallpox blanket. No way."
Can I charm the jury, my defense? Maybe I'm crazy
Maybe diminished
Maybe I love you
Baby I loved you
Baby I loved you
Baby I loved you
Baby I'm finished.

I will give my best today
I will give myself away
I have never hurt anything
Is the justice wavering?
Do they know I sing That song? Sing along
Sing along
Sing along
(I will never hurt anything)
I have given myself away
I will give my best today
I have never hurt anything
Is the justice wavering?
Does she know I loved you?
Does she know I loved you?
Does she know I sing?

Open the window
And lift into your dreams
lately, baby
you can barely breathe.

A broken wrist
An accident
You know that something's wrong
You fold the leavings of your past
No one knows you've gone.
The sunspot flares of the early
Nineties light up your wings.
And scan the shotwave radio
It's tracking outer rings.

The tectonic dispatcher shifts
To smooth the ocean floor
And flattens out to warmer winds
Of Brisbane's sunny shore.
Where Buddhas tend to mending wrists
A tea made from the leaves
Of eucalyptus fragrances
And coriander seeds.

You wake up in the morning
To warm Pacific breeze
Where mean cats chew on licorice
And cannot climb the trees.

Open the window
And lift into a dreams
Baby, baby
Baby starts to breathe.

Who cast the final stone?
Who threw the crushing blow?
Someone has to take the fall
Why not me?

A punch toy volunteer
A weakling on its knee.
Is all you want to hear
And all you want to see.
Romantically you'd martyr me
And miss this story's point
It is my strength, my destiny
This is the role that I have chosen.

Who cast the final stone?
Who threw the crushing blow?
Someone has to take the fall
Why not me?
Why not me?

Gentlemen mark your opponents
Fire into your own ranks.
Pick the weakest as strategic
Move. Square off. To meet your enemy.
For each and every gathering
A scapegoat falls to climb.
As I step forward, silently.
Deliberately mine

Who cast the final stone?
Who threw the crushing blow?
Someone has to take the fall
Why not me? Why not me.
Had consequence chose differently
Had fate its ugly head
My actions make me beautiful
And dignify the flesh

Me. I am free. Free.