This song transports me back to the 80's. My high school friends and I sneaking out during a sleepover and driving with the windows down and too many of us in the car on a beautiful August night. Listening to our favorite music and feeling like we were really getting away with something. It's impossible to recapture the feeling of being that young and care free. "These things they go away, replaced by everyday".
How I love this song and lyrics. At 61 years of age now,it came on my radio at work today,quite literally stopped me in my tracks. I found a quiet corner to listen and take it in. I can't tell you how it brought memories flooding back,so emotional. Oh well, it's what great music does for the soul.
I was 22 years old when this came out , now I’m almost 50 . There are few things that can transport you to another time and place , this song is my time machine .
David Wags im 26 David, but feel about 50 lol. But, it’s just figuring out what I want to ‘do’ still. I want to do music, but don’t have the balls. I’m GOOD. I’m a good writer, but everything is so conveniently easily this day and age, it’s putting me off putting the hard work into anything. I think that’s like for a lot of people in their 20’s now. Wouldn’t call them ‘snowflakes’. I wanted to be in the airforce. However I think society has definitely designed this this way.
I was 30 and at the time this came out my best friend died in an accident. Every time I hear Automatic I always think of him. Especially Man on the moon as I always look up and imagine him sat up there smiling down!
I had just got my first weekend job cleaning tables in a department store restaurant. I would wake at 5 am on a Saturday, walk in the crisp air and wait for the bus. Once aboard, I hit play on my Walkman and heard this for the first time. Battling the tiredness that comes with rising at early light, my mind floated away as the world beyond the window melted into a blur. I was 16, and had a life changing crush on a girl that lived a road away from me. A few years later we became lovers, and then she broke my heart. And then many years later she introduced me to her friend, who became the love of my life, wife and mother to my son. When I think back all those years, images of places and people long gone flash by, just as the world did when I rode that bus listening to this song.
I listened to this with my Walkman, roller skating alone. I had a crush who only wanted to be friends. I imagined the time in my future when I would be night swimming with someone who loved me. 30 years later I almost drowned while night swimming with my husband and he was instantly there pulling me back up to the surface, holding me up to breathe while he swept my hair from my eyes. That wasn't what I imagined, it was actually more beautiful.
reminds me of my wife Kathy. we rented a cabin in northern michigan. we swam out in their pond and made love holding onto their pontoon. She passed on 9/28/21. i never heard this song till after she died. I have a mental picture of that. Awesome memory. thanks Michael Stipe!!
As a Muslim from the Middle East, it is through the brilliantly crafted songs of R.E.M that I first became exposed to the greatness of Western culture. R.E.M songs remind me of the happy times of my childhood when optimism ruled the day. Things have changed for the worse since then, but I will always have R.E.M hits to fall back on. Thank you Michael Stipe for brilliant works of art! I'll be forever grateful.
Music is the language of God. What else has the power to unite people the way music does? It heals the broken heart, soothes the tortured soul, and praises the worthy artist. Music is my religion.
Stick to the more elegant aspects of Islam and you will be good to go... so much of it is literal truth. The band rem are flat earthers... just like your holy book says... check out the video for "stand"... good stuff ;-)
It was summer 2001. I was 19. A friend was a part-time park ranger at a local state park, and he would drop the chain over a back entrance so late at night, and our group of friends would sneak in and go skinny dipping in the lake. We'd lie in the grass and look at the stars and talk about life and nothing and the future, smoking some crappy w**d our friend's brother grew in his yard and drinking cheap beer... That September, planes crashed into buildings and ended my youth forever. I enlisted in the military. When I hear this song, I remember the last summer of my youth, skinnydipping when I was young and beautiful and unflawed and wild and untamed, and that line... "September's coming soon"... still gives me chills. This is the ode to my youth. To what freedom meant before 9/11, and how one moment in time changed all of us, forever. How quickly youth is gone and adulthood is upon us. How light the world was before, and how heavy it can be now. What I wouldn't give to sneak into that park and go nightswimming just one more time... free and wild, deep in the water, untethered by even gravity.... forever young and beautiful...
It was early 90s... I was a stupid teenager in his holidays. Not knowing, what my life would be. A head full of bullshit. It was 3 A.M. one hot summer night, i was watching TV. On one Channel this video started... this melody started, with these pictures, these lines, these words i never heard before. I still don't know, what it did to me. I started crying like a child, it gave me kind of a feeling that my youth will be over soon and a new chapter of life will start. I still remember sooo many years later, like it was yesterday. Now, today, when I go back to this moment nearly 30 years ago, all the words in this song make more sense then ever. Thank you R.E.M. for being with me all those years on my way from a child to a father...
Leathered Life, I remember I also cried watching this video. I was only 16 or 17 years old those days. And at the moment, I am crying ( my tears are really falling down slowly on my face) after reading your comment. Your beautiful comment.... It is so touching. Hug you tight, dear mate. 🤗🌷🌷🌷
+rene cooper I listened to the last 3 songs on Automatic For The People almost every night for 2 months during my freshman year in college, so this song and I are very intimately acquainted. Nightswimming and Find The River just send my soul to a serene place.
Yay! My parents celebrated their 60th from Heaven on 7 January, 2021. Happy belated anniversary. May the next quarter century be as amazing and wonderful as was the first 25 years. Congratulations! Peace and love.
Stay cool stripsy and the other mike did' nt have the greatest voices in the world But what they did have was musical ingenuity all we have to look is their catalogue of work saids it all .Importantly their willingness to explore different directions in music show they are or were one of the most gifted bands of the 80's
The story behind them making this one is really something. According to Peter, he and Mike were competing with one another while auditioning some random compositions and chord changes. Michael nodded his head at Mike's instrumental, so he started it over again and Michael just let loose with his stream of consciousness lyrics. Boom. Done. Peter just stood in the corner with his arms folded and mouth hung open in amazement. Led Zeppelin’s John Paul Jones added the orchestral stuff in later.
A song about nostalgia and loving the night-time. Late summer and harvest moons. Whilst I can still remember the first time I heard it back in 1993, the feelings it invoked in me then as a 13yo kid and now as a 41yo whose life has thrown up more than a few surprises, are very different. I rediscover Nightswimming from time to time and it always makes me reflect on change, growing older, and all the people we lose (and find) along the way. There are not many 5-minute pop songs that can do that (and those that can were mostly written and recorded many years ago.)
Beautifully said man, this song is pure nostalgia. Though I'm only 17 years old, this song really makes me think of simpler times and even though I've grown over the years I'll always keep those late night summer moments close to me
Thank you for this comment Mr Edwards, I feel you’ve put into words the feelings I got from listening to this song about late summer evenings, night time sounds and harvest moons. I first heard it in a nice microbrewery bar boarding the eastern Saint Lawrence, a few days after I first kissed my current boyfriend roughly five years ago. It was the beginning of September, indeed a late summer evening. Today, I hear this song and it will forever be anchored to that moment in my life.
@@forgedtofight it's funny cause I'm 17 too and this song for me is about growing older, not the kind of growing older you do between the ages of 10 and 20 but maybe between 20 and 30, or older still, so it's not something I know much about but still I love the song. It's kinda like nostalgia for a youth I still have, but I know won't last. The line for me which encapsulates what I imagine it's like is "these things they go away, replaced by everyday".
13 years of age here too when I first heart this song, my parents bought me the album for I was not shutting up about it ^^ and still they say it was the best choice I made them make ^^
Late summer is here in Ohio on Lake Erie and I will be night swimming when all the tourists leave in a few weeks)....I hope all can enjoy some nightswimming wherever you are) Nothing better for the soul and mind)
My father died quite unexpectedly that summer night. I swam unabashedly, naked, looking for spiritual comfort, any comfort. Water has always been my relief and that night, it was once more. This song has the most powerful effect on me, I can feel it washing over me once again. The joy and sadness both. Joy for being in my element, joy for this song that revealed more emotion than I could. And for finding comfort in the rewinding of it (over and over) old school style. So much angst and beauty here.
The 90s was such a brilliant time for great music Literally every week there was a new release of music which would be considered a classic in the decades to come REM Nirvana Radiohead Pearl Jam Stone Temple Pilots etc
A couple of minutes ago I was worrying about almost everything 'wrong' with my life. This song came on the radio and everything is cool for the rest of the day now. Miraculous.
yeah that too Gerry, but for real music lovers this song does too! But next time I will certainly try staring out of the window just like you, sounds fun. Nice one.
I could listen to this over and over again. The memories just come flooding back from a time of tranquility and peace but also transformation. Just so beautiful
This is one hell of a song, brings back Great memories of better times and friends who sadly aren't here anymore. Still rocks even after all these years.
Achingly beautiful, in my late 40s and this brings me back to when life was full of endless possibilities…”September’s coming soon” is such a gorgeous line. One of the finest songs of that era
How is it possible to compose a piece of music such as this? This totally wondrous and this most movingly beautiful work of art? Just how is it done? I am sometimes scared of playing this in company, as when I do, I know the tears will come streaming down my checks, I just cannot stop them. I am a man of 67 years of age, I am not that emotional, but this is just one piece of music that gets to my heart every time it enters my heart. There is no way to describe the feeling it gives me; it's just got something that touches me deeply. Perhaps REM did not realize the deep attachment many of us have to this, the miracle of it, the sheer miracle of total art. As long as I live, I cannot forget this piece of music, it's just heaven and a masterpiece of music. God bless REM for giving me the feeling I get from this, God bless them.
My friend, your comment is an artistic masterpiece itself. Such beautifully expressed concepts. Really touched my heart and you captured the tone of the song as well. Cheers
This comment just proves you are an artist at heart. There are many other songs that have that effect on me, too. As one example, While My Guitar Gently Weeps by George Harrison. When he says ... I look at the world And I notice it's turning While my guitar gently weeps With every mistake We must surely be learning Still my guitar gently weeps When I hear "we must surely be learning" my (his) sorrow and despair for our species and the world is so palpable I am always brought to tears. And yet, some people seem oblivious to that sentiment. But I know in my heart that I understand exactly how he felt when he wrote those words -- I only wish I could have expressed the thought so beautifully myself.
Like everyone else here, I'm transported. For me, it's to my adolescence, mowing lawns and cycling the streets of suburban Atlanta without a care in the world. Automatic for the People was permanently fixed in my Sony Walkman. It was the soundtrack of my summer and thus of youth itself. REM shaped my views of the world, both how it is and how it oughtta be.
I was 40 years old when "Automatic for the People" came out and captivated me. I was always intrigued by the lyrics : "The photograph on the dashboard taken years ago, turned around backwards so the windshield shows. Every street light reveals a picture in reverse" A few years later I started experimenting with a photo of old friends wedged between the windscreen and dashboard, turned around so the people were looking forwards and upwards and went "Nightdriving". Every passing street light revealed a transient flashing image of those dear to me. It works and when I still occasionally do this it always reminds me of this great song and album. (Less distracting than a mobile phone but I am not responsible for any erratic driving that might ensue.)
This comment speaks to why REM is so timeless. You were 40 and there were 12 year olds loving the same music. Different reasons to be sure but they have universal appeal almost. Your story is lovely
@@danielhodson6411 Thanks for appreciating my comment and good luck getting your licence. I took my driving test for the first time in the UK when I was 17 yrs old, failed and promptly sulked for nearly ten years! It then took me another four attempts to pass. I don't think I failed any other important exams in my life and the problems I had passing my driving test never really mattered.
The 80s, 90s, early 2000s seem to have been an artificially good time for those of us in the West - "The End of History" - except the chickens are now coming home to roost for the "golden billion". And yes, I love this song - and REM
That’s a very challenging decision. I struggle with it all the time because so many of the songs are brilliant. Find the river is utterly extraordinary but so is this. I just don’t know. I’m too indecisive.
I remember the first time I ever heard this song. It was 2008 and I was 18, I was very late to the game. I remember it came on randomly through a Pandora shuffle. I was lying in bed. It was so beautiful I cried. After that, I became an R.E.M fan. While I never knew of them before, this song has incredible nostalgic vibes for me. I'm 32 now, and it takes me back to a better time in my life. I miss those days. Beautiful song.
As my father (God rest his soul) used to say to me, "there's no such thing as 'great' taste, you either have taste or you don't." I struggled with that sentiment for a while in my early days but I think I get it now, and clearly your dad did/does too. It's not about being better than anyone, but about some things just being objectively brilliant, and some of us being more in tune to that than others.
I was 16 when this came out, im 47 now, i loved it then, but now the words have so much more meaning..as i listen to it now and im filled with nostalgia from when i was 16 and had my whole life ahead of me
My grandma passed away last month after her battle with cancer. This song will forever hold a special place in my heart. Not only was this played at her funeral, but it was also the last song she heard before she passed❤️
Bless your grandma. Great song to send her off. Such a lovely idea that that was the last one she heard. I'd be ecstatic if that was true for me. RIP your grandma.
Walking to college listening to this on my portable CD player. Desperately trying to not let it jump by walking slowly. She had blonde hair and I loved her, I drunk snakebite and black. I smoked hash and had my grandparents still. A time long gone but still frozen in time everytime I hear this song. I'm 50 next year and I'm happy....
My dad had automatic for the people on cassette in the car for about 7 years. If i died and could take one album with me its this one. I was 10 when it came out. Still feels like me whenever i put it on. Thanks REM
David Forster my sister had the green album with stand. She'd always leave an old ghetto blaster in our blue bathroom one day i turned it on drive was playing on the radio I bought the automatic for the people album
I would definitely take this and "Murmur." (And be glad I was dead, and could get away with not paying the electric bill. Or the mortgage. Or the phone bill.)
There is no better testimony for the greatness of the music made by REM than what you find in the comments below. Their music moves people and stirs memories of their listeners. It is music like this that will be timeless and remains relevant today.
I cry everytime I hear this...the piano is just beautiful. ...reminds me of a friend , now passed, when we swam together at night under millions of stars....' this one laughing quietly '...😊😭
A Painting of a song. I think I've never heard something that is so powerful and beautiful at the same time. A timeless masterpiece. Thank you, R.E.M. :)
My good buddy Matthew and I would play this all night as we studied for our first year law school exams. We both did very well in school but he could not kick a heroin addiction. He died 10 years ago and I truly have not really dealt with it even as of today. I named my first son after him, Matthew, that is a beautiful name from the Bible and a great reminder of a super sharp South Beach attorney that got caught up in the crazy early 90s.
Head injuries have robbed of so many memories.. I cant remember what was happening in my life at the time this came out and I discovered this song. But everytime I listen to it all the emotions flood back.. Proving music is pretty magical
It's true. I feel like no one has ever managed a truly great R.E.M. cover and I think the reason is because Stipe's voice is so unique and central to the feel of R.E.M. songs.
When he says ‘September’s Coming Soon’, it hits me like a freight train every time. We all know that feeling at the end of August, especially in New England. It’s the end of summer, time for back to school or work, the loss of innocent and carefree days on the water. Eventually, the friends that you go nightswimming with move on or move away. Rarely heard from or seen again. I was a college kid jumping in quarries at night with my friends when this song came out, so it has special meaning to me. I went back to a quarry today (Aug 25) for the first time since ‘94 and had this song in my head.
I remember hearing this song for the first time on MTV when I was 12 in 1992. I had never heard of REM before but I asked for 'Automatic for the People' for Christmas on CD. I must have had it on repeat for months. This song just randomly popped into my head, and I love it even more 30 years later!
Same age as you, but did need a bit longer, cause I had to buy tha album for myself in 1994. Nevertheless same feeling about the song as you. Brother in mind
I'm the same age. They played Shiny Happy People at the school disco, so that's why I liked them, but Automatic For the People just blew me away. This is still one of my favourite songs after all these years.
@@16rocketqueen Surprisingly, this was one song I wasn't a fan of. Maybe because I heard it so much on the radio at the time. However, years later it's now one of my favourite songs from R.E.M. What a band!
I remember walking around my neighborhood late at night listening to REM - with a WALKMAN 😉 before I was Old enough to drive, just to get out of my house. 〰〰〰 ( Stone Mountain, Georgia ) 〰〰〰
This song brings back sweet memories from my youth days. The 90's were the best years of my life, they were like a "fairytale". Now life has became so cold and cruel 🥺
"These things they go away, replaced by everyday." This line hits me whenever I listen to this song. I get this longing for youth when things seemed simpler. The innocence and hopeful optimism that possibilities were endless; so many things being experienced for the first time. I was 13 years old when this album came out and listened to it quite a bit on my brother's cassette tape. I loved every song. But now being 45, the themes on this album, especially "Nightswimming" and "Find The River," resonate with me now more than ever.
REM has some of the most heartfelt and emotional music of all time. If you listen to songs like this one, Losing My Religion, and Everybody hurts, it's impossible to not feel anything. This music really touches you.
A young man who was a very good man took his life with Everybody Hurts on repeat and man I kills me every time I hear it... 20 years later and only 35 years old now... he was 15
Their finest song from their finest album and my favourite Michael Stipe vocal. The piano is superb, especially the way it complements his voice. I just adore this track.
It actually hurts my senses listening to this - so much personal memories, so much resonant sentiments, so much - just the sound of the piano takes me back to other places - "September's coming soon" - it truly does deserve a quiet night. A masterpiece of beautiful poetry xx
This song o the memories,my brother passed away 18/6/15 we both loved this song! Only in recent week can I listen to this without breaking down! I love you Steven and miss you so damn much. R.I.P😘💕💕💕💕
Irish Dragon I lost my only brother on December 10th, 2018. He was healthy as could be; no one saw it coming. He and I were so close for the entire 52 years of his life. This was one of his favorite songs and listening to it now hurts more than I could have imagined. Such much nostalgia.
@@michellekeefe2419 I feel you pain Michelle, My brother and I we too were really close also he was just two years older than I, Steven was 27 when he passed. It does get better Michelle its true time is a good healer. I bet you're brother is up there looking down on you everyday and smiling ever so proud of his sister. lifes just not fair sometimes. Be strong sweetheart remember all those beautiful good memories you have of you're brother. God less you dear.
It's such a beautiful song. Brings back sweet and loving memories of how those who beloved me have been with me throughout my life. My heart always goes tender when this song plays in my head.
An utterly beautifully crafted, written and performed song. I haven't heard it in nearly 30 years. For some reason it popped into my head and I had to hear it. The video is perfect too. I'm 51 and it took me waay back, almost bringing tears to my eyes.
I'm listening to this in 2020 and am almost in tears because I feel that nowadays nobody is making music so beautiful, real and full of raw emotions. I guess I miss the 90's and am refusing to adapt to the now norm of synthetic, commercial music.
Krista Lemberga People of every age have thought this. But just as there was beautiful music then, there is beautiful music now. You just have to look for it.
I am 54 and remember this song like it was yesterday and I was a student nurse. The memories of being young and free and breaking into a Moscow swimming pool at night in 1991. We were drinking of course but the memory is forever and I relive it when I hear this, time and again whether I like it or not
This song is like the finest, most beautiful poetry half sung, half spoken in a most moving way to equally moving, thought provoking and emotion stirring music. Those strings and that Oboe when they start!!!
This has been one of my very favorite songs since the first time I heard it. It is absolutely gorgeous. The violins just wash over me. I swear I could listen to it over and over for hours and never get tired of it. In 1993 I moved to Athens Ga because my husband was a professor there. I worked at a homeless shelter that was a couple of blocks from Michael Stipe's house, so I always drove by there hoping to see him taking the trash out of picking up the paper. Alas, I never spotted him.
This song always makes me nostalgic for the days when I'd play in a band and we'd all hang out and just talk after the gigs, or driving at night with a friend out in the country and just talking about whatever was on our minds. Nowadays, I'm a railroad engineer, and I think of this song while running a train at night, but most of all, sitting on the large patio at the Starr Pass resort in Tucson during Spacefest, just being with my closest friends and artists. There's something just so magical about the night. Perhaps the darkness lets one feel that they can let their guard down and just be themselves.
This is song is impossible to describe with words...there are no adjectives fitting enough. One of the most beautiful tunes I have heard, it just gets better and better.
'Everybody hurts' is without question one of the greatest songs of all time, and yet it wasn't even the best song on the album. This was. That's how good REM were at the top of their game.
This song is so beautiful and speaks volumes. I can't help but think of all the great memories I have of being a kid every time I hear it. One of the greatest bands ever.
I was 26 when this song was released and it took me back to being 16 and the springs of northern Florida. First time I think I really experienced nostalgia and seemed like life was happening to fast. 57 now and I'm beginning to look forward to finding the river.
Went night swimming, years ago. Found this song that summer too, and played it nonstop for my innocence and sentimentality. Two decades later, we reminisced fondly about that night, the woman and I, the heartache of our breakup long gone. It was a beautiful memory in my life, made generational thanks to this gem of a ballad.
I admired her throughout high school, but the courage never came to me. I only watched her shine amongst others, and pined for her under the moon. Six years later, I returned to my hometown for a summer job. She was there. The light in her eyes was “replaced by every day” and the uncertainty of serious mental health issues. Photographs kept turning in my memory, and I recalled her understated persona, culture, and athletic glow. This time, I summoned the courage. Our time together put some of her misfortunes in reverse, and I could not describe my feelings when her fair smile returned. But “these things, they go away”, and I knew that come September, life was going to call us elsewhere. My mind and heart turned endlessly between our quiet laughter and tender moments-how can this work?? Late one evening, she took me swimming at a park that meant very different things to each of us. I floundered by the shore- “you, I thought you knew me”! She, the varsity swimmer, took fluid laps across the lake and back. She I marvelled at in the moonlight. I gathered her heartbeat into my arms; it was so strong, even, and sure-“you, I thought I knew you”!? It became clear that I could not know her, and knew not how to handle her fragility with the right strength, nor her strength with the right fragility. Quite some time after that summer, I heard “Nightswimming” for my first time. Especially when the song comes to two moons, “side by side in orbit, around the fairest sun”, I remember that time together. Ever so brightly.
I used to go night swimming in my parents swimming pool at night when they where out and I would listen to this song , and I loved this band and songs esp this one 👍🤎
This song magically transports to memorable times...moments in the album of my memories...even as remote as when innocence reigned, and it was not evil, just mischiefs...😊
This song transports me back to the 80's. My high school friends and I sneaking out during a sleepover and driving with the windows down and too many of us in the car on a beautiful August night. Listening to our favorite music and feeling like we were really getting away with something. It's impossible to recapture the feeling of being that young and care free. "These things they go away, replaced by everyday".
"Automatic for the People" is one of the best albums in the history of music.
I agree Is a masterpiece.
The album of my entire life ❤️🥰
Am I the only person who thinks Up is REM's best album? A true masterpiece imo and a superior record to AFTP.
@@AK-wc9rl I like Document the most
this album reignited my love of music, in my opinion one of the great works
How I love this song and lyrics. At 61 years of age now,it came on my radio at work today,quite literally stopped me in my tracks. I found a quiet corner to listen and take it in. I can't tell you how it brought memories flooding back,so emotional. Oh well, it's what great music does for the soul.
Yes.
Same age, same effect on me. Was a little hard to breathe for a few minutes. This song transcends generations, as all great music does.
This brought tears.
Good for you, love that...do it often👍🤟
I always find this song hits me really hard. Just now I burst into tears while listening to it.
I was 22 years old when this came out , now I’m almost 50 . There are few things that can transport you to another time and place , this song is my time machine .
David Wags has time flown by?
IsItJoshua? Faster than I could ever imagine . If your a young man all I can tell you is , hold on and enjoy the ride , I sure did .
David Wags im 26 David, but feel about 50 lol. But, it’s just figuring out what I want to ‘do’ still. I want to do music, but don’t have the balls. I’m GOOD. I’m a good writer, but everything is so conveniently easily this day and age, it’s putting me off putting the hard work into anything. I think that’s like for a lot of people in their 20’s now. Wouldn’t call them ‘snowflakes’. I wanted to be in the airforce. However I think society has definitely designed this this way.
@@JoshuaDillonn best of luck in whatever you choose to do. I regret.not following.my dream, too late now.
I was 30 and at the time this came out my best friend died in an accident. Every time I hear Automatic I always think of him. Especially Man on the moon as I always look up and imagine him sat up there smiling down!
I had just got my first weekend job cleaning tables in a department store restaurant. I would wake at 5 am on a Saturday, walk in the crisp air and wait for the bus. Once aboard, I hit play on my Walkman and heard this for the first time. Battling the tiredness that comes with rising at early light, my mind floated away as the world beyond the window melted into a blur. I was 16, and had a life changing crush on a girl that lived a road away from me. A few years later we became lovers, and then she broke my heart. And then many years later she introduced me to her friend, who became the love of my life, wife and mother to my son. When I think back all those years, images of places and people long gone flash by, just as the world did when I rode that bus listening to this song.
I listened to this with my Walkman, roller skating alone. I had a crush who only wanted to be friends. I imagined the time in my future when I would be night swimming with someone who loved me.
30 years later I almost drowned while night swimming with my husband and he was instantly there pulling me back up to the surface, holding me up to breathe while he swept my hair from my eyes. That wasn't what I imagined, it was actually more beautiful.
I cried a little on the subway, reading through your comment... Listening to this song in 2022!
@@vassoge6970 ah thanks, 😁, life has a funny way of playing out sometimes. Sending you best wishes
Thanks for sharing. This really is a beautiful story! 🙂 I really needed to read this at this moment, I don't know why, but I did.
Keep writing your good
reminds me of my wife Kathy. we rented a cabin in northern michigan. we swam out in their pond and made love holding onto their pontoon. She passed on 9/28/21. i never heard this song till after she died. I have a mental picture of that. Awesome memory. thanks Michael Stipe!!
💖
❤
Condolences my friend. Much love❤️🙏
I feel you man i lost my partner the love of my life after 32 year together . Norah passed 15-12-2021 Still raw We loved this song ❤
As a Muslim from the Middle East, it is through the brilliantly crafted songs of R.E.M that I first became exposed to the greatness of Western culture. R.E.M songs remind me of the happy times of my childhood when optimism ruled the day. Things have changed for the worse since then, but I will always have R.E.M hits to fall back on.
Thank you Michael Stipe for brilliant works of art! I'll be forever grateful.
Music unites people regardless of any difference. God bless
Music is the language of God. What else has the power to unite people the way music does? It heals the broken heart, soothes the tortured soul, and praises the worthy artist. Music is my religion.
🫂 I feel the same
Stick to the more elegant aspects of Islam and you will be good to go... so much of it is literal truth.
The band rem are flat earthers... just like your holy book says... check out the video for "stand"... good stuff ;-)
Beautifully expressed.
2024 and still love this at 53 years of age. Still remember the first time I heard it…..timeless.
Same here 👍💯
It was summer 2001. I was 19. A friend was a part-time park ranger at a local state park, and he would drop the chain over a back entrance so late at night, and our group of friends would sneak in and go skinny dipping in the lake. We'd lie in the grass and look at the stars and talk about life and nothing and the future, smoking some crappy w**d our friend's brother grew in his yard and drinking cheap beer...
That September, planes crashed into buildings and ended my youth forever. I enlisted in the military. When I hear this song, I remember the last summer of my youth, skinnydipping when I was young and beautiful and unflawed and wild and untamed, and that line... "September's coming soon"... still gives me chills.
This is the ode to my youth. To what freedom meant before 9/11, and how one moment in time changed all of us, forever. How quickly youth is gone and adulthood is upon us. How light the world was before, and how heavy it can be now. What I wouldn't give to sneak into that park and go nightswimming just one more time... free and wild, deep in the water, untethered by even gravity.... forever young and beautiful...
Totally agree with you, the world changed and not for the better , keep the faith , and go to the lake enjoy
God Bless 🫡 xx
It was early 90s... I was a stupid teenager in his holidays. Not knowing, what my life would be. A head full of bullshit. It was 3 A.M. one hot summer night, i was watching TV. On one Channel this video started... this melody started, with these pictures, these lines, these words i never heard before. I still don't know, what it did to me. I started crying like a child, it gave me kind of a feeling that my youth will be over soon and a new chapter of life will start. I still remember sooo many years later, like it was yesterday. Now, today, when I go back to this moment nearly 30 years ago, all the words in this song make more sense then ever. Thank you R.E.M. for being with me all those years on my way from a child to a father...
❤️
Nice words.
It's amazing the powerful things music can do.
@@fenixrising75 Totally agree with you, mate. 🤗
Leathered Life, I remember I also cried watching this video. I was only 16 or 17 years old those days. And at the moment, I am crying ( my tears are really falling down slowly on my face) after reading your comment.
Your beautiful comment.... It is so touching. Hug you tight, dear mate. 🤗🌷🌷🌷
@@СветланаЮдина-п4я Thanks, this is very nice to read... this song will ever be connected with my life, as much as this band will be
I could listen to this a thousand times in a row and still keep listening...
+rene cooper I listened to the last 3 songs on Automatic For The People almost every night for 2 months during my freshman year in college, so this song and I are very intimately acquainted. Nightswimming and Find The River just send my soul to a serene place.
It definitely makes you feel things a certain special way...💜
+Emmanuel Udoh same here, i did the same when the album came out. Those three songs are amazing
Happy or sad?
The same like me...
Many years ago, on October 7th, my wife and I danced to Nightswimming for our wedding song. Happy 25th Anniversary my dear.....
It’s amazing song for wedding..you made me shed some tears..happy 25th from a 54 nightswimmer...
Xx
Yay! My parents celebrated their 60th from Heaven on 7 January, 2021. Happy belated anniversary. May the next quarter century be as amazing and wonderful as was the first 25 years. Congratulations! Peace and love.
U did it tim. By darn it u did it
Many years ago you also hit for the cycle
It' s beyond me, how can anyone come up with these musical ideas. This band made art.
Stay cool stripsy and the other mike did' nt have the greatest voices in the world But what they did have was musical ingenuity all we have to look is their catalogue of work saids it all .Importantly their willingness to explore different directions in music show they are or were one of the most gifted bands of the 80's
The story behind them making this one is really something. According to Peter, he and Mike were competing with one another while auditioning some random compositions and chord changes. Michael nodded his head at Mike's instrumental, so he started it over again and Michael just let loose with his stream of consciousness lyrics. Boom. Done. Peter just stood in the corner with his arms folded and mouth hung open in amazement. Led Zeppelin’s John Paul Jones added the orchestral stuff in later.
If that is true wow.
A song about nostalgia and loving the night-time. Late summer and harvest moons. Whilst I can still remember the first time I heard it back in 1993, the feelings it invoked in me then as a 13yo kid and now as a 41yo whose life has thrown up more than a few surprises, are very different. I rediscover Nightswimming from time to time and it always makes me reflect on change, growing older, and all the people we lose (and find) along the way. There are not many 5-minute pop songs that can do that (and those that can were mostly written and recorded many years ago.)
Beautifully said man, this song is pure nostalgia. Though I'm only 17 years old, this song really makes me think of simpler times and even though I've grown over the years I'll always keep those late night summer moments close to me
Thank you for this comment Mr Edwards, I feel you’ve put into words the feelings I got from listening to this song about late summer evenings, night time sounds and harvest moons. I first heard it in a nice microbrewery bar boarding the eastern Saint Lawrence, a few days after I first kissed my current boyfriend roughly five years ago. It was the beginning of September, indeed a late summer evening. Today, I hear this song and it will forever be anchored to that moment in my life.
@@forgedtofight it's funny cause I'm 17 too and this song for me is about growing older, not the kind of growing older you do between the ages of 10 and 20 but maybe between 20 and 30, or older still, so it's not something I know much about but still I love the song. It's kinda like nostalgia for a youth I still have, but I know won't last. The line for me which encapsulates what I imagine it's like is "these things they go away, replaced by everyday".
13 years of age here too when I first heart this song, my parents bought me the album for I was not shutting up about it ^^ and still they say it was the best choice I made them make ^^
Late summer is here in Ohio on Lake Erie and I will be night swimming when all the tourists leave in a few weeks)....I hope all can enjoy some nightswimming wherever you are) Nothing better for the soul and mind)
Quite simply one of the most gorgeous, beautiful things ever to exist.
My father died quite unexpectedly that summer night. I swam unabashedly, naked, looking for spiritual comfort, any comfort. Water has always been my relief and that night, it was once more. This song has the most powerful effect on me, I can feel it washing over me once again. The joy and sadness both. Joy for being in my element, joy for this song that revealed more emotion than I could. And for finding comfort in the rewinding of it (over and over) old school style. So much angst and beauty here.
:)
So beautifully said, Becca. Thanks for sharing!
Bless your beautiful soul x
My dad passed away from cancer around the same time. I feel your pain when I hear this song.
This is beautiful
Instant chills. I’m 22 and I’m a sucker for the 90s. This band is so amazing
The 90s was such a brilliant time for great music Literally every week there was a new release of music which would be considered a classic in the decades to come REM Nirvana Radiohead Pearl Jam Stone Temple Pilots etc
BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT
Perhaps the most unusually beautiful song ever recorded.
A couple of minutes ago I was worrying about almost everything 'wrong' with my life. This song came on the radio and everything is cool for the rest of the day now. Miraculous.
Wa
wa?
Yes, deep breaths and looking out the window helps
yeah that too Gerry, but for real music lovers this song does too! But next time I will certainly try staring out of the window just like you, sounds fun. Nice one.
***** nice one man.
I could listen to this over and over again. The memories just come flooding back from a time of tranquility and peace but also transformation. Just so beautiful
Well said Jennifer so very true
This is one hell of a song, brings back Great memories of better times and friends who sadly aren't here anymore.
Still rocks even after all these years.
Achingly beautiful, in my late 40s and this brings me back to when life was full of endless possibilities…”September’s coming soon” is such a gorgeous line. One of the finest songs of that era
You hit the nail on the head…”achingly beautiful”💔❤️🩹💔❤️🩹💔❤️🩹
One of the most beautiful songs ever written ❤
Everybody hurts is on the same album, amazingly
I totally agree with you
Beautiful song.
How is it possible to compose a piece of music such as this? This totally wondrous and this most movingly beautiful work of art? Just how is it done? I am sometimes scared of playing this in company, as when I do, I know the tears will come streaming down my checks, I just cannot stop them. I am a man of 67 years of age, I am not that emotional, but this is just one piece of music that gets to my heart every time it enters my heart. There is no way to describe the feeling it gives me; it's just got something that touches me deeply. Perhaps REM did not realize the deep attachment many of us have to this, the miracle of it, the sheer miracle of total art. As long as I live, I cannot forget this piece of music, it's just heaven and a masterpiece of music. God bless REM for giving me the feeling I get from this, God bless them.
My friend, your comment is an artistic masterpiece itself. Such beautifully expressed concepts. Really touched my heart and you captured the tone of the song as well.
Cheers
@@TheFiestyhick Oh I thank you my fellow in spirit. Love from Scotland xx
This comment just proves you are an artist at heart. There are many other songs that have that effect on me, too. As one example, While My Guitar Gently Weeps by George Harrison. When he says ...
I look at the world
And I notice it's turning
While my guitar gently weeps
With every mistake
We must surely be learning
Still my guitar gently weeps
When I hear "we must surely be learning" my (his) sorrow and despair for our species and the world is so palpable I am always brought to tears. And yet, some people seem oblivious to that sentiment. But I know in my heart that I understand exactly how he felt when he wrote those words -- I only wish I could have expressed the thought so beautifully myself.
I'm 50, just listened to this with my best friend. We both were lonely young people when we first heard this alone. Now we listen together.
Your comment just moved me to tears on top of the tears this always brings me.
Bless the ability we have to share music.
Beautiful.
Like everyone else here, I'm transported. For me, it's to my adolescence, mowing lawns and cycling the streets of suburban Atlanta without a care in the world. Automatic for the People was permanently fixed in my Sony Walkman. It was the soundtrack of my summer and thus of youth itself. REM shaped my views of the world, both how it is and how it oughtta be.
I was 40 years old when "Automatic for the People" came out and captivated me. I was always intrigued by the lyrics :
"The photograph on the dashboard taken years ago,
turned around backwards so the windshield shows.
Every street light reveals a picture in reverse"
A few years later I started experimenting with a photo of old friends wedged between the windscreen
and dashboard, turned around so the people were looking forwards and upwards and went "Nightdriving". Every passing
street light revealed a transient flashing image of those dear to me.
It works and when I still occasionally do this it always reminds me of this great song and album.
(Less distracting than a mobile phone but I am not responsible for any erratic driving that might ensue.)
This comment speaks to why REM is so timeless. You were 40 and there were 12 year olds loving the same music. Different reasons to be sure but they have universal appeal almost. Your story is lovely
I have to try this when I get my licence
@@danielhodson6411 Thanks for appreciating my comment and good luck getting your licence. I took my driving test for the first time in the UK when I was 17 yrs old, failed and promptly sulked for nearly ten years! It then took me another four attempts to pass. I don't think I failed any other important exams in my life and the problems I had passing my driving test never really mattered.
@@Befuggled Thank you! I'm hoping for a first-time pass, fingers crossed!
Wow Dr Hugh Sheridan.
You are a badass REM fan.
I'm having a flashback of a time when everyhing was so pure. This song brings back memories of beautiful Summers that still live in my heart.
Yeah the world and society is getting worse and worse.
Me too.
This comment makes my heart break with its bitter truth. 😭
The 80s, 90s, early 2000s seem to have been an artificially good time for those of us in the West - "The End of History" - except the chickens are now coming home to roost for the "golden billion".
And yes, I love this song - and REM
Nightswimming's a flawless song. My Favorite from R.E.M.
👍👍💯
That’s a very challenging decision. I struggle with it all the time because so many of the songs are brilliant. Find the river is utterly extraordinary but so is this.
I just don’t know. I’m too indecisive.
I remember the first time I ever heard this song. It was 2008 and I was 18, I was very late to the game. I remember it came on randomly through a Pandora shuffle. I was lying in bed. It was so beautiful I cried. After that, I became an R.E.M fan. While I never knew of them before, this song has incredible nostalgic vibes for me. I'm 32 now, and it takes me back to a better time in my life. I miss those days. Beautiful song.
Not just the best REM song but one of the best anyone has written. Beautiful and thought provoking.
I've heard and read Paul McCartney and Neil Finn say the same thing!
I agree with you.
Everybody hurts is better.
It breaks my heart!
Without a doubt. And it seems the more times I listen to it the more deeply I feel its meaning
I thank my father for having a great taste in music, always heard him listening to R.E.M. and now im here myself :)
First REM songs I heard were; The one I love....Fall on me....So
Central Rain. Was hooked
Is that you son?
Had a dying dog who use to wag his tail when I played this song...that dog turned me on to REM...I have that dead mutt to thank for liking REM...
You have learned well.
As my father (God rest his soul) used to say to me, "there's no such thing as 'great' taste, you either have taste or you don't." I struggled with that sentiment for a while in my early days but I think I get it now, and clearly your dad did/does too. It's not about being better than anyone, but about some things just being objectively brilliant, and some of us being more in tune to that than others.
I suffer from bipolar & depression, and this song, along with several REM songs, really helps me in difficult times.
Me too
Much ♥️ for you
This song will never age. REM make timeless music.
indeed
yep REESPECT.
I thought it was older than 8 years old.
Dan Goodbad It was released in the 90's bro.
Dan Goodbad it is older than 8 years old I think that's just when it was added to TH-cam
Automatic for the People is why REM is one of the greatest bands of all time.
I was 16 when this came out, im 47 now, i loved it then, but now the words have so much more meaning..as i listen to it now and im filled with nostalgia from when i was 16 and had my whole life ahead of me
My grandma passed away last month after her battle with cancer. This song will forever hold a special place in my heart. Not only was this played at her funeral, but it was also the last song she heard before she passed❤️
i am sorry for your loss❤️
Bless your grandma. Great song to send her off. Such a lovely idea that that was the last one she heard. I'd be ecstatic if that was true for me. RIP your grandma.
That is beautiful
You shared beauty with your grandma
Walking to college listening to this on my portable CD player. Desperately trying to not let it jump by walking slowly.
She had blonde hair and I loved her, I drunk snakebite and black. I smoked hash and had my grandparents still. A time long gone but still frozen in time everytime I hear this song. I'm 50 next year and I'm happy....
My dad had automatic for the people on cassette in the car for about 7 years. If i died and could take one album with me its this one. I was 10 when it came out. Still feels like me whenever i put it on. Thanks REM
David Forster my sister had the green album with stand. She'd always leave an old ghetto blaster in our blue bathroom one day i turned it on drive was playing on the radio I bought the automatic for the people album
I would definitely take this and "Murmur." (And be glad I was dead, and could get away with not paying the electric bill. Or the mortgage. Or the phone bill.)
There is no better testimony for the greatness of the music made by REM than what you find in the comments below. Their music moves people and stirs memories of their listeners. It is music like this that will be timeless and remains relevant today.
28 years and the beauty of this song still gives me chills. The John Paul Jones arrangement with strings and oboe makes the song.
The strings is actually arranged by John Paul Jones which is so cool!
31 yrs now. Crazy
I really, really like the piano in this, it's simply p.e.r.f.e.c.t
Mike Mills on the famous Layla piano at Criteria(?) Studios, Miami, FL.
I cry everytime I hear this...the piano is just beautiful. ...reminds me of a friend , now passed, when we swam together at night under millions of stars....' this one laughing quietly '...😊😭
I was reading comments and the this one laughing quietly part was synced perfectly as I read yours.
@@jhelch1 That is so lovely...maybe that happens for a reason...I hope you love this too 😉
They them special moments x
This is the same piano used on eric Clapton's layla...you can hear it
A Painting of a song. I think I've never heard something that is so powerful and beautiful at the same time. A timeless masterpiece. Thank you, R.E.M. :)
My good buddy Matthew and I would play this all night as we studied for our first year law school exams. We both did very well in school but he could not kick a heroin addiction. He died 10 years ago and I truly have not really dealt with it even as of today. I named my first son after him, Matthew, that is a beautiful name from the Bible and a great reminder of a super sharp South Beach attorney that got caught up in the crazy early 90s.
Head injuries have robbed of so many memories.. I cant remember what was happening in my life at the time this came out and I discovered this song. But everytime I listen to it all the emotions flood back.. Proving music is pretty magical
I will pray for you.
I can't get over how unique and iconic Michael Stipe's voice is.
It's true. I feel like no one has ever managed a truly great R.E.M. cover and I think the reason is because Stipe's voice is so unique and central to the feel of R.E.M. songs.
His voice makes me want to cry on their slow songs.
The Greatest.
I love those warm tones.
Reminds me a bit of oasis even tho REM were around first
After all these years it is still one of my favourites. Who's watching this in 2020?
Me im
One of my dad's favorite songs
Masterpiece
me!
Me!!!
One of the most beautiful songs ever written, and my favourite R.E.M song.
To those brief, simple moments of our youth that will live forever in our hearts.
When he says ‘September’s Coming Soon’, it hits me like a freight train every time. We all know that feeling at the end of August, especially in New England. It’s the end of summer, time for back to school or work, the loss of innocent and carefree days on the water. Eventually, the friends that you go nightswimming with move on or move away. Rarely heard from or seen again. I was a college kid jumping in quarries at night with my friends when this song came out, so it has special meaning to me. I went back to a quarry today (Aug 25) for the first time since ‘94 and had this song in my head.
Omg I agree about that lyric
@@jenniferlewis4597 you too?
Not only the musical composition but the lyrics show how much passion the musicians had for this song.
I remember hearing this song for the first time on MTV when I was 12 in 1992. I had never heard of REM before but I asked for 'Automatic for the People' for Christmas on CD. I must have had it on repeat for months. This song just randomly popped into my head, and I love it even more 30 years later!
Same age as you, but did need a bit longer, cause I had to buy tha album for myself in 1994. Nevertheless same feeling about the song as you. Brother in mind
Same age as you but only just getting into REM now. Not having MTV sure stunted my musical growth. Ah well, life begins at 40 something..!
I'm the same age. They played Shiny Happy People at the school disco, so that's why I liked them, but Automatic For the People just blew me away. This is still one of my favourite songs after all these years.
@@16rocketqueen Surprisingly, this was one song I wasn't a fan of. Maybe because I heard it so much on the radio at the time. However, years later it's now one of my favourite songs from R.E.M. What a band!
I remember walking around my neighborhood late at night listening to REM - with a WALKMAN 😉 before I was Old enough to drive, just to get out of my house.
〰〰〰 ( Stone Mountain, Georgia ) 〰〰〰
So relatable
rem is who amd what
I did the exact same thing! It felt ....sacred. Like I was celebrating something, but I don't know exactly what. Greetings from Germany! :)
TheBloodiac Germany!
---- Awesome ✌ from Atlanta, GA
just really good music
This song makes every hair on my body stand up. Amazing how a song can do that to you.
Never before have I vented my appreciation for this band. What a brilliant noise from Georgia, USA. Appreciated by a Scottish soul.
We dig Simple Minds
Athena Georgia I believe
@@pwfortner Athens
Automatic for the People. One of the greatest albums ever released. Back in the day when albums were important.
Excellent comment sir.
This song brings back sweet memories from my youth days. The 90's were the best years of my life, they were like a "fairytale". Now life has became so cold and cruel 🥺
"These things they go away, replaced by everyday." This line hits me whenever I listen to this song. I get this longing for youth when things seemed simpler. The innocence and hopeful optimism that possibilities were endless; so many things being experienced for the first time. I was 13 years old when this album came out and listened to it quite a bit on my brother's cassette tape. I loved every song. But now being 45, the themes on this album, especially "Nightswimming" and "Find The River," resonate with me now more than ever.
Wait till you're 61! The resonance you'll feel!!
REM has some of the most heartfelt and emotional music of all time. If you listen to songs like this one, Losing My Religion, and Everybody hurts, it's impossible to not feel anything. This music really touches you.
Also (my 2 favorites)Leaving New York and At My Most Beautiful. 💚
A young man who was a very good man took his life with Everybody Hurts on repeat and man I kills me every time I hear it... 20 years later and only 35 years old now... he was 15
I’ll take the rain.
I am 55 now , always loved REM ,many good memories with my husband , still listening in 2022
"And what if there were two
Side by side in orbit around the fairest sun?"
This is poetry.
Scrolling through the comments and got to yours exactly as he sang those lyrics!!!!! Weird lol
@@jamesbullock5181oh wow, he just gave me goosebumps. The same exact thing just happened to me.
Still one of the best songs ever ..
With you that Lego Ninja.
Indeed, it's wonderful.
Lego Ninja was my favorite at 16 and still one of my tops at 38
There is no argument on my part regarding this.
Still.
One of the greatest songs ever written. My life will be different with or without the song.
I love how certain songs mean something different for everyone. It's a beautiful thing.
Quite simply the sublimest R.E.M. moment,, I never tire of Michael Stipes voice,, superb!!
Their finest song from their finest album and my favourite Michael Stipe vocal. The piano is superb, especially the way it complements his voice. I just adore this track.
It actually hurts my senses listening to this - so much personal memories, so much resonant sentiments, so much - just the sound of the piano takes me back to other places - "September's coming soon" - it truly does deserve a quiet night. A masterpiece of beautiful poetry xx
I can't listen without an intense release of emotion, memory and reminiscent thoughts. The best.
Such a beautiful, poignant, evocative track. Stipes' plaintive tone and that piano are a wonderful marriage of sounds.
mistersixpence yes and the orchestra in the very beginning...
I can't thank REM enough for their amazing and remarkable songs. Glad you guys exist. Thank you from the bottom of my heart :)
This song o the memories,my brother passed away 18/6/15 we both loved this song! Only in recent week can I listen to this without breaking down! I love you Steven and miss you so damn much. R.I.P😘💕💕💕💕
Irish Dragon
I lost my only brother on December 10th, 2018. He was healthy as could be; no one saw it coming. He and I were so close for the entire 52 years of his life. This was one of his favorite songs and listening to it now hurts more than I could have imagined. Such much nostalgia.
Irish Dragon ❤️
Michelle Keefe ❤️
@@michellekeefe2419 I feel you pain Michelle, My brother and I we too were really close also he was just two years older than I, Steven was 27 when he passed. It does get better Michelle its true time is a good healer. I bet you're brother is up there looking down on you everyday and smiling ever so proud of his sister. lifes just not fair sometimes. Be strong sweetheart remember all those beautiful good memories you have of you're brother.
God less you dear.
@@ippeldude Thank you you're a gentleman.
R.E.M. were always underrated. This will forever be a masterpiece. Best american band of all time, always will be.
It's such a beautiful song. Brings back sweet and loving memories of how those who beloved me have been with me throughout my life. My heart always goes tender when this song plays in my head.
An utterly beautifully crafted, written and performed song. I haven't heard it in nearly 30 years. For some reason it popped into my head and I had to hear it. The video is perfect too. I'm 51 and it took me waay back, almost bringing tears to my eyes.
I'm listening to this in 2020 and am almost in tears because I feel that nowadays nobody is making music so beautiful, real and full of raw emotions. I guess I miss the 90's and am refusing to adapt to the now norm of synthetic, commercial music.
Unfortunately, I have to agree and admit I feel just the same
For some beautiful contemporary music go and check out Nils Frahm and Ólafur Arnalds 🙂
Krista Lemberga People of every age have thought this. But just as there was beautiful music then, there is beautiful music now. You just have to look for it.
its why i ONLY listen to retro radio stations now
Can't stand today's music, so you are not alone! I refuse to listen to what is put out today!
I am 54 and remember this song like it was yesterday and I was a student nurse. The memories of being young and free and breaking into a Moscow swimming pool at night in 1991. We were drinking of course but the memory is forever and I relive it when I hear this, time and again whether I like it or not
This song is like the finest, most beautiful poetry half sung, half spoken in a most moving way to equally moving, thought provoking and emotion stirring music. Those strings and that Oboe when they start!!!
This has been one of my very favorite songs since the first time I heard it. It is absolutely gorgeous. The violins just wash over me. I swear I could listen to it over and over for hours and never get tired of it. In 1993 I moved to Athens Ga because my husband was a professor there. I worked at a homeless shelter that was a couple of blocks from Michael Stipe's house, so I always drove by there hoping to see him taking the trash out of picking up the paper. Alas, I never spotted him.
Love how everyone has their own indvidual stories of what this song means to them truly shows the beauty of music
I sometimes forget how perfect this is. Then it comes up again and I just dissolve into it.
One of the most beautiful songs I've ever heard. The lyrics are stunning.
This song always makes me nostalgic for the days when I'd play in a band and we'd all hang out and just talk after the gigs, or driving at night with a friend out in the country and just talking about whatever was on our minds. Nowadays, I'm a railroad engineer, and I think of this song while running a train at night, but most of all, sitting on the large patio at the Starr Pass resort in Tucson during Spacefest, just being with my closest friends and artists. There's something just so magical about the night. Perhaps the darkness lets one feel that they can let their guard down and just be themselves.
This is song is impossible to describe with words...there are no adjectives fitting enough. One of the most beautiful tunes I have heard, it just gets better and better.
Favorite REM song. Brings back so many memories. First kisses. First touches. Confusion. Fear. Ecstasy.
One of the best R.E.M. songs. Great, great song.
'Everybody hurts' is without question one of the greatest songs of all time, and yet it wasn't even the best song on the album. This was. That's how good REM were at the top of their game.
Still makes me cry... like the day i first heard this song in the 90s. A lifechanging experience, which will ever be with me. Thanks for this music
This song is so beautiful and speaks volumes. I can't help but think of all the great memories I have of being a kid every time I hear it. One of the greatest bands ever.
I was 26 when this song was released and it took me back to being 16 and the springs of northern Florida. First time I think I really experienced nostalgia and seemed like life was happening to fast. 57 now and I'm beginning to look forward to finding the river.
Don't trust people who don't like this song.
I loved this comment so much ❤
👍👍💯
Amen!
Simply put.I do believe that is entirely correct.😊
You just made my day mushallah
Went night swimming, years ago. Found this song that summer too, and played it nonstop for my innocence and sentimentality. Two decades later, we reminisced fondly about that night, the woman and I, the heartache of our breakup long gone. It was a beautiful memory in my life, made generational thanks to this gem of a ballad.
I admired her throughout high school, but the courage never came to me. I only watched her shine amongst others, and pined for her under the moon.
Six years later, I returned to my hometown for a summer job. She was there. The light in her eyes was “replaced by every day” and the uncertainty of serious mental health issues.
Photographs kept turning in my memory, and I recalled her understated persona, culture, and athletic glow. This time, I summoned the courage. Our time together put some of her misfortunes in reverse, and I could not describe my feelings when her fair smile returned.
But “these things, they go away”, and I knew that come September, life was going to call us elsewhere. My mind and heart turned endlessly between our quiet laughter and tender moments-how can this work??
Late one evening, she took me swimming at a park that meant very different things to each of us. I floundered by the shore-
“you, I thought you knew me”! She, the varsity swimmer, took fluid laps across the lake and back. She I marvelled at in the moonlight. I gathered her heartbeat into my arms; it was so strong, even, and sure-“you, I thought I knew you”!?
It became clear that I could not know her, and knew not how to handle her fragility with the right strength, nor her strength with the right fragility.
Quite some time after that summer, I heard “Nightswimming” for my first time. Especially when the song comes to two moons, “side by side in orbit, around the fairest sun”, I remember that time together. Ever so brightly.
I used to go night swimming in my parents swimming pool at night when they where out and I would listen to this song , and I loved this band and songs esp this one 👍🤎
Listening to this amazing masterpiece of music, facing the endless ocean with millions of stars above me...just perfect
To me, this is one of the top 3 songs Rem ever did!
There isn’t a single track on this album below a 9/10 rating. Unbelievable consistent quality. Very unlikely to ever be beaten.
Just Glorious.
Agree! Love REM
This is my favorite song ever, already heard thousands of times, always the same feelings, incredible...
My favorite musical artist and band. Always has been!
This song magically transports to memorable times...moments in the album of my memories...even as remote as when innocence reigned, and it was not evil, just mischiefs...😊
Just about one of the most beautiful songs ever written