Can't Get There From Here

There are songs that you know are your favorites, and then there are songs you didn't realize are your favorites until you really listen. This tune is definitely the latter. I'm hard-pressed to think of anything else in the REM catalog that is like "Can't Get There..." with it's truly unique style that still maintains its essential REMiness. This is no novelty song like "End of the World" or "Stand", it's the real deal, it just delivers the goods with horns, falsettos, and winsome charm.

When I was a kid, my family was on a cross-country road trip when we got lost in Kentucky, and were in need of a pharmacy. My dad pulled over to ask a guy directions, and with with a cadence that still resounds in my memory thirty-some years later he said, "Just follow on through to Boone County Drugs." There's a neural connection in me somehow with that memory and this song, "can't get there from here" being the quintessential Southern folk saying that exudes Mayberry practicality and philosophy.

Lat thing - this tune has the best bridge in all of REM's discography - hands down (caliche bound).

Old Man Kensey

So here's a rare thing in an REM tune: a fifth name in the song-writing credit. Besides the Boys, Stipe's film-making pal, Jerry Ayers, co-penned this plaintive song about an aged character with a career crisis on his hands. What's it's gonna be, Kensey? Dog-catcher? Clown? Sign painter? Rewarding work, the lot of them.

Musically, here's another murky minor-key tune with a couple features worth noting: Of all the songs on Fables that (as mentioned before) have a chant-like quality, this one takes the cake. Stipe rarely moves past the root note, making Mike's counter vocals all the more interesting. Also, dig the major key lift on the funky bridge - the tonal climate gets bright and happy while the vocals get weird and layered.