June Moon Top Ten: Man on the Moon (#8)

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Yes, at last! A break from the country music! Howdy from Lexington, where I’m visiting another Chuy’s that almost becoming a semi-regular place for me (like the one in Birmingham, I go to that one 3-4 times a year). You probably knew this song was coming on the moon list, and here it is! #8: Man on the Moon - R.E.M. This is the song that probably prompted the “cultural reference song wars” of the 90s (like “One Week” by Barenaked Ladies and “Drops of Jupiter [Tell Me]” by Train). Of course, there was the earlier how-many-cultural-references-can-we-stick-in-a-song song from R.E.M., “It’s the End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine).” Then along came “We Didn’t Start the Fire,” and the next thing you know, the top 40 started sounding like civics class! This is one of those songs that you don’t really understand. Are they seriously questioning all those conspiracy theories (the references to people Andy Kaufman and Elvis Presley as two people who were alleged to have faked their own deaths), or is it a joke about the people who DO doubt “we put a man on the moon.” Given the line about Darwin (“Mr. Charles Darwin had the gall to ask”), I’m thinking the latter. But the great thing about R.E.M. is that you don’t really know. And that’s fine! Fun fact: the repetitive “yeah yeah yeah yeah,” sort of mumbled, was a nod to Kurt Cobain. Man on the Moon Written by Michael Stipe, Bill Berry, and Peter Buck (credited to Berry/Buck/Mills/Stipe) Recorded by R.E.M. From Automatic for the People, 1992 Let’s play Risk, yeah yeah yeah yeah: