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Come this time of year every year, My mind falls heavily on this song. So many years ago, a former lover said this song made him think of the Catskills in late summer, when the nights can be muggy or chilly, when the leaves are just starting to turn. Small creeks and low waterfalls, trickling through backyards, the occasional rope swing, begging to be used.
Michael Stipe had a different vision when he wrote the song, however: about sneaking into a hotel pool in Los Angeles and going skinny dipping. "The fear of getting caught." Either way, this gorgeous piano piece is a jewel in the album Automatic For the People.
For the love of this song in its purity, here it is, plus a few covers:
R.E.M. - Nightswimming.mp3
Coldplay - Nightswimming (with Michael Stipe).mp3
Dashboard Confessional - Nightswimming (R.E.M. cover).mp3
Gene - Nightswimming (R.E.M. cover).mp3
The Wrens - Nightswimming (R.E.M. cover).mp3
You Say Party! We Say Die! - Nightswimming (R.E.M. cover).mp3
Nightswimming (kissy sell out bmore re-edit).mp3
3 comments:
Nice post...Just heard Ian McCulloch's version of "September Song" on my iPod this a.m. at the gym, so I was had September songs on the brain. Listening to the live version as I type is giving me goosebumps.
Is the Coldplay "cover" just Chris Martin playing the piano or something???
Matt and Dan
http://www.myspace.com/themattanddanshow
Matt & Dan,
Far as I know, yes, which is why I hesitated to call it a "cover." Or, it was Coldplay's stage, and Michael Stipe came out and did them a solid. Something like that.
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