Country Feedback
"Country Feedback" | |
---|---|
Song by R.E.M. | |
from the album Out of Time | |
Released | 11 March 1991 (UK) 12 March 1991 (U.S.) |
Recorded | 1990 |
Genre | Country rock[1] |
Length | 4:07 |
Label | Warner Bros. |
Songwriter(s) |
|
Producer(s) |
|
"Country Feedback" is a song by R.E.M. from their 1991 album Out of Time. The title describes the music (country rock-influenced, with feedback), rather than describing the song's lyrical content, a series of chaotic, disconnected and keening observations describing the state of mind of a protagonist contemplating the breakdown of a relationship. In 2016, Pitchfork described the track as "the rawest expression of sheer remorse the band ever captured on tape."[2]
Michael Stipe has claimed that he did not even write the whole lyric down, that he "just had a piece of paper with a few words. I sang it and I walked out." The following day, the hastily improvised take was deemed good enough and it was not re-recorded.[3] Peter Buck has gone even further to say that "it's exactly what was on his mind that day. It was real." Stipe has said at one concert that it is his favorite R.E.M. song.[4]
The song is featured on the Perfect Square DVD from 2003, and opens with lyrics from "Chorus and the Ring" followed by Stipe's own additions of "instinct, gut, feeling, feelings". This performance was also added to the two-disc special edition version of the band's 2003 greatest hits CD, In Time, although the original 1990 recording was left off the main disc. The studio recording also appears on the 2011 career-spanning compilation Part Lies, Part Heart, Part Truth, Part Garbage 1982-2011.
In addition, live versions have appeared on a fan club single and the singles for "Bang and Blame" and "At My Most Beautiful". R.E.M have performed the song as part of the Bridge School benefit concerts series with Neil Young providing additional guitar.
Personnel
R.E.M.
- Bill Berry – bass guitar, percussion, count-in
- Peter Buck – acoustic guitar, electric guitar
- Mike Mills – organ
- Michael Stipe – vocals
Additional musician
- John Keane – pedal steel guitar
References
- ^ Deiterman, Corey (February 17, 2014). "Five great rock/country crossovers". Houston Press.
- ^ Rytlewski, Evan (December 2, 2016). "Out of Time". Pitchfork. Retrieved May 15, 2022.
- ^ Black, Johnny (2004). Reveal: The Story of R.E.M.. Backbeat Books. ISBN 0-87930-776-5.
- ^ Country Feedback (live) from In Time special edition bonus disc
- v
- t
- e
- Murmur
- Reckoning
- Fables of the Reconstruction
- Lifes Rich Pageant
- Document
- Green
- Out of Time
- Automatic for the People
- Monster
- New Adventures in Hi-Fi
- Up
- Reveal
- Around the Sun
- Accelerate
- Collapse into Now
- R.E.M. Live
- Live at The Olympia
- Unplugged: The Complete 1991 and 2001 Sessions
- R.E.M. at the BBC
- Live at the Borderline 1991
- Dead Letter Office
- Eponymous
- The Best of R.E.M.
- The Automatic Box
- Singles Collected
- In the Attic
- In Time
- iTunes Originals
- And I Feel Fine
- Part Lies, Part Heart, Part Truth, Part Garbage 1982–2011
- Complete Rarities (I.R.S. · WB)
- 7IN—83–88
- Man on the Moon
- r.e.m.IX
- "Radio Free Europe"
- "Talk About the Passion"
- "So. Central Rain (I'm Sorry)"
- "(Don't Go Back To) Rockville"
- "Cant Get There from Here"
- "Driver 8"
- "Wendell Gee"
- "Fall on Me"
- "Superman"
- "The One I Love"
- "It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)"
- "Finest Worksong"
- "Orange Crush"
- "Stand"
- "Pop Song 89"
- "Get Up"
- "Losing My Religion"
- "Shiny Happy People"
- "Near Wild Heaven"
- "Radio Song"
- "Drive"
- "Man on the Moon"
- "The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite"
- "Everybody Hurts"
- "Nightswimming"
- "Find the River"
- "What's the Frequency, Kenneth?"
- "Bang and Blame"
- "Crush with Eyeliner"
- "Strange Currencies"
- "Tongue"
- "E-Bow the Letter"
- "Bittersweet Me"
- "Electrolite"
- "How the West Was Won and Where It Got Us"
- "Daysleeper"
- "Lotus"
- "At My Most Beautiful"
- "Suspicion"
- "The Great Beyond"
- "Imitation of Life"
- "All the Way to Reno (You're Gonna Be a Star)"
- "I'll Take the Rain"
- "Bad Day"
- "Animal"
- "Leaving New York"
- "Aftermath"
- "Electron Blue"
- "Wanderlust"
- "#9 Dream"
- "Supernatural Superserious"
- "Hollow Man"
- "Man-Sized Wreath"
- "Until the Day Is Done"
- "Mine Smell Like Honey"
- "Überlin"
- "Oh My Heart"
- "We All Go Back to Where We Belong"
- "Sitting Still"
- "Gardening at Night"
- "Perfect Circle"
- "Pretty Persuasion"
- "7 Chinese Bros."
- "Begin the Begin"
- "Cuyahoga"
- "Ages of You"
- "Turn You Inside-Out"
- "Texarkana"
- "Country Feedback"
- "First We Take Manhattan"
- "Ignoreland"
- "Dark Globe"
- "Star 69"
- "New Test Leper"
- "All the Right Friends"
- "Out in the Country"
- Succumbs
- Tourfilm
- Pop Screen
- This Film Is On
- Parallel
- Road Movie
- In View
- Perfect Square
- When the Light Is Mine
- R.E.M. Live
- Live from Austin, TX
- REMTV
side projects
- Discography
- List of songs
- Awards
- Tours
- 170 College Avenue
- Peter Buck
- Athens Andover
- "I Belong to You"
- Hib-Tone
- Surprise Your Pig: A Tribute to R.E.M.
- Drive XV: A Tribute to Automatic for the People
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/96/Symbol_category_class.svg/16px-Symbol_category_class.svg.png)