"Orange Crush"-R.E.M.
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Lyrics:
(Follow me, don't follow me) I've got my spine, I've got my orange crush (Collar me, don't collar me) I've got my spine, I've got my orange crush (We are agents of the free) I've had my fun and now it's time to serve your conscience overseas (Over me, not over me) Coming in fast, over me (oh, oh) (Follow me, don't follow me) I've got my spine, I've got my orange crush (Collar me, don't collar me) I've got my spine, I've got my orange crush (We are agents of the free) I've had my fun and now it's time to serve your conscience overseas (Over me, not over me) Coming in fast, over me (oh, oh) High on the booze In a tent Paved with blood Nine inch howl Brave the night Chopper comin' in, you hope We would circle and we'd circle and we'd circle to stop and consider and centered on the pavement stacked up all the trucks jacked up and our wheels in slush and orange crush in pocket and all this here county, hell, any county, it's just like heaven here, and I was remembering and I was just in a different county and all then this whirlybird that I headed for I had my goggles pulled off; I knew it all, I knew every back road and every truck stop (Follow me, don't follow me) I've got my spine, I've got my orange crush (Collar me, don't collar me) I've got my spine, I've got my orange crush (We are agents of the free) I've had my fun and now it's time to serve your conscience overseas (Over me, not over me) Coming in fast, over me (oh, oh) High on the booze In a tent Paved with blood Nine inch howl Brave the night Chopper comin' in, you hope High on the booze In a tent Paved with blood Nine inch howl Brave the night Chopper comin' in, you hope (Ah, oh) |
Analysis:
Orange Crush is a song by the Georgian rock band R.E.M, about the use of Agent Orange, an herbicide used to clear jungle during the Vietnam War. The song, seemingly about soda and spines, has confusing and sometimes unintelligible lyrics. However, several lines stick out in particular-“follow me, don’t follow me/I’ve got my spine, I’ve got my orange crush”-It has a sort of conversational tone to it, especially because the bassist sings the repeated lines in parentheticals, and the front man sings the second line in these lyric pairs. This is a theme continued throughout the song. “High on the booze/In a tent/Paved with blood”-This is sung in an almost unintelligible babble, and gives the rest of the song a sort of contradictory feel ( when compared to “we are agents of the free”), because it gives the image of a disorderly (high on the booze), savage conflict (paved with blood). The chorus, in which Michael Stipe, the lead singer of the band, yells into a bullhorn pointed in the microphone, along with the spoken “We would circle…” section of the song (which is usually omitted during their live performances) is very hard to understand, and seems to suggest the truth of the Vietnam war, hidden from view of the public, was a lot uglier and disturbing than most thought about the war. Stipe suggests that even though we claimed that we were “agents of the free,” more often than not soldiers were “high on the booze, in a tent paved with blood”. This also suggests an anti-war message to the song, again highlighting the brutality of it. The song also suggests the use of Agent Orange being out of control- “Collar me, don’t collar me,” likely referring to any impediments on the use of Agent Orange. The song also has a bit of a sarcastic tone to it, as can be seen in lines like “We are agents of the free/I’ve had my fun and now its time to/serve your conscience overseas”. As Stipe sings “we are agents of the free,” it seems as though they are forcing the opinion on us by declaring a statement so matter-of-factly, yet later in the song this seems to be contradicted (“in a tent paved with blood/nine inch howl/ brave the night), sarcastically mocking our involvement in the war. Since the song is anti-war, it stands to reason that it’s against the foreign policy, especially because R.E.M seems to reference the Truman Doctrine (which was a policy to support countries threatened by outside, usually communist, forces) with the line “We are agents of the free”. However, Stipe goes on to insult this doctrine, or at least America’s enforcing of it by enacting the draft to commit troops: “I’ve had my fun and now it’s time to serve your conscience, overseas”. The ‘I’ in the line likely refers to the American Government, while the ‘your’ likely refers to the young American men sent to fight the war. Personally, I agree with the message of the song. Our use of Agent Orange has caused irreparable damage to Vietnam, and I believe that our involvement in the war became out of control and overdrawn. |