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On Shuffle - "Bandwagon" by R.E.M.

By GettingInTune, February 18, 2011 at 12:42 pm

REM Dead Letter Office Cover.jpg

There's a moment between the time you reach to turn off the radio or power down the iPod and the time it takes for those last few notes of a song to wash over your ears. Somehow, that song manages to stay with you until the next song comes around. For me, that song was "Bandwagon" by R.E.M.

 

Originally released as a B-side to the band's 1985 lead single "Can't Get There From Here" from Fables of the Reconstruction, the song later appeared on R.E.M.'s rarities/B-side album Dead Letter Office in 1987. The song contains some rather lighthearted lyrics made even brighter by guitarist Peter Buck's crystal clear 12-string jangling. Singer Michael Stip injects some Southern twang to his vocals and even incorporates the expression "Yessiree Bob" into the lyrics (take that "Shiny Happy People"). Stipe's sister, Lynda, even earned a co-writing credit on the song. There's nothing about this song that automatically screams out, "B-side!" In some ways, "Bandwagon" is not too far removed from earlier songs like "We Walk" from Murmur or "(Don't Go Back to) Rockville" from Reckoning.

1985 was a make-it or break-it year for the band, not in terms of commercial success but, rather, in terms of whether the band could manage to remain a band. The absolute sore thumb that sticks out on Fables of the Reconstruction is "Can't Get There From Here". The whole album comes with some weight and the sense of trying to come out the other end of some dark storm. The lone glimmer of hope comes in the shape of this funky silly song. Had "Bandwagon" made the final cut with "Can't Get There From Here", you would have had two really odd songs providing the same detour from an already rough road.

Like so many of R.E.M.'s early songs, "Bandwagon" is a nice little snapshot of four guys still trying to figure out the road they just merged onto. There's an innocent spirit behind the song that isn't too concerned about what's around the corner; it's just happy being. "Bandwagon" may not be one of the strong pillars of the R.E.M. songbook, but it has never lost its sense of fun.

Filed under: ChicagoNow blogs

Tags: Bill Berry, Dead Letter Office, Fables of the Reconstruction, Michael Stipe, Mike Mills, music, Peter Buck, R.E.M.

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