Top 20 Favorite R.E.M. Songs: Losing My Religion (#18)

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It's time for another song by that great band R.E.M. For today's song, I've picked something that's going to remind you that R.E.M. was a southern band. Not "southern rock," but from the geographical southeastern U.S. Here's today's classic song. #18: Losing My Religion "We talk real funny down here," Randy Newman said in the song "Rednecks." Truth be told, every region of the U.S. has its own "language" of sorts. We have a lot of colloquialisms in this part of the country, many of which have sneaked into other parts of the country (the way you might hear someone in the southwest use New England's expression "wicked hahd"). If you don't know what I mean, well, bless your heart! (BTW, "bless your heart" means two diametrically opposite things....but that's for another discussion.) Being a deeply religious part of the country, the South is often referred to as "the Bible belt." You might hear someone tell someone to "get religion." And, like "bless your heart," that can mean two things: it can be genuine concern for a person's soul and salvation, or it can be a warning. In contrast, when someone loses their religion it's also one of two things: they've stopped going to church (never mind what they might actually believe, because in the South all you have to do is go to church); or, in the case of this song, they're not acting in a polite manner. Michael Stipe said (quoted at Picky Wedia) that this song has a lot of "Every Breath You Take" "classic obsession pop song" to it. It does sound like someone who's completely over the edge when it comes to love: "oh, no, I've said too much! I haven't said enough!" Oh, the other thing that proves these guys are from the south? The mandolin. When was the last time you heard a rock song with a mandolin on it?? Losing My Religion Written by Michael Stipe and Peter Buck (credited to Berry/Buck/Mills/Stipe) From Out of Time, 1991 That's me in the spotlight: