Meaning and Origin
Though R.E.M. singer Michael Stipe once described the song as "pretty much a song about oppression," the subject of the song was initially about acid rain and its effects on the environment, hence the first line of the chorus, "Don't fall on me."
When it first appeared during live concerts in 1985, the song had a different melody which had been entirely rewritten by the time of its recording for Lifes Rich Pageant. The counter-melody in the second verse is actually the song's original tune and features the original acid rain inspired lyrics.
In an interview with David Fricke, singer Michael Stipe commented that the finished version of the song "is not about acid rain. It's a general oppression song about the fact that there are a lot of causes out there that need a song that says, 'Don't smash us.' And specifically, there are references to the Leaning Tower of Pisa and the guy dropping weights and feathers."
In audience patter prior to a performance of the song on VH1 Storytellers in 1998, Stipe again mentioned the apocryphal tale of Galileo Galilei dropping feathers and lead weights off the Leaning Tower of Pisa (to test the laws of gravity) as partial inspiration for the first verse:
“I was reading an article in Boston when I was on tour with the Golden Palominos, and Chris Stamey showed me this article about this guy that did an experiment from the Leaning Tower of Pisa, whereby he dropped a pound of feathers and a pound of iron to prove that there was... a difference in the... density? What did he prove? I don’t even know. What? They fall just as fast. Thank you very much.”
The song is something of a duet between Stipe and Mike Mills, with the two of them sharing vocals prominently during the bridge and chorus. Mills takes lead vocals for the bridge. Later in the song, the pair are joined by Bill Berry's vocals in the chorus with the words "it's gonna fall".
Stipe filmed and directed the video for this song, in which the lyrics are seen superimposed over upside-down, black and white footage of a quarry. Towards the end of the second verse, he misspelled the word 'Foresight'.
Read more about this topic: Fall On Me
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