1986 Top Ten Songs: Fall On Me (#5)

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What happened in 1986? Well, I went to work at the post office, for one thing. And this fabulous album was released. While I’m quite pleased to not be at the post office anymore (although I feel for my brothers and sisters working there), I’m also very pleased to revisit this album frequently. Here’s today’s song that’s now celebrating its 40th birthday. #5: Fall On Me - R.E.M. “It’s all part of life’s rich pageant.” So said Inspector Clouseau in A Shot in the Dark. That’s where the album title came from. The song’s theme is whatever Michael Stipe decided to say in any particular interview. The song has generally been considered to be about acid rain (“bleed the sky and tell the sky don’t fall on me”), and to a more subtle degree, nuclear war (“building towered foresight isn’t anything at all,” with Mike Mills singing “melt the statues in the park” in the background). The bridge line “If I send it to you you’ve gotta promise to keep it whole” does seem to reinforce the environmental theme. One thing Michael Stipe is great at, much like John Fogerty, is putting multiple meanings in a song. He has stated that the song is more about fighting rich man’s oppression (“buy the sky and sell the sky”) than the “face value” of environmentalism. And yes, you can easily read that into the lyrics as well (“there’s the progress: we have found a way to talk around the problem”). This was R.E.M.’s first gold record. This song did well on the “rock tracks” chart (hitting the top five), but still bombed on the Billboard singles chart. It’s still a favorite. Fall On Me Written by Bill Berry, Peter Buck, Mike Mills, and Michael Stipe Recorded by R.E.M. From Lifes Rich Pageant, 1986 Lift your arms up to to the sky: