Orange Crush

by

R.E.M.

Album: Green     Released: 1988

UK Chart: 28

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Songfacts:  You can leave comments about the song at the bottom of the page.

Orange Crush was an orange flavored soft drink. In this case, though, it was meant to refer to Agent Orange, a chemical used by the US to defoliate the Vietnamese jungle during the Vietnam War. US military personnel exposed to it developed cancer years later and some of their children had birth defects.

The song does not refer to any single Vietnam-related experience for lead singer Michael Stipe, but simply that he lived in that era of American history.

Stipe's father served in Vietnam in the helicopter corps.

Stipe sometimes introduced this in concert by singing the US Army jingle, "Be all that you can be, in the Army."

The drill sergeant heard in the background during the middle is just an imitation by Stipe. In the traditional Michael Stipe way, the words he says during the imitation are complete nonsense.

This was not the first R.E.M. song to deal with the Vietnam War. That distinction goes to "Body Count," an early unreleased song that they played live many times.

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Comments:

it was the basist who said, "ive played this song over 300 times and still don't know what the f--k it is about" not stipe, from what people said the heroin reference seems pretty strong, but stipe said the song was about an american football player going to war..so its probably about war, i think he won't tell us specifically what orange crush is because its making us think about the meaning and analyze it..and if thats what he wanted to do or not.. he did a good job. also for the people thinking its herion, "spine" was a nickname given by the troops for the combination of drugs LSD and emphetimine used to test on soldiers to increase their preformance on the battlefield, so make your own conclusions...i did a project in analyzing the lyrics and thats just a little info on one line, i tryed looking at it from all sides but it usually always goes back to war...and if it wasn't intended to be, it is an anti-war song regardless because nine out of ten people believe very strongly it is about agent orange....meaning or not its still a pretty good song.
- hailey , charlottetown, PE

Referring to what Samantha said, my interpretation of the song was it being about acid. As when he says I got my spine, where I personally felt a strong connection to while I was experiencing acid, and my Orange crush which was a popular strand of acid in the 60's i think.
- Marshall , Cary, NC

HAHA! Of course it's about Orange crush the drink! It's the best!
- helltourist , myspace.com/helltourist, American Samoa

Agent Orange is a chemical defoliant (a chemical used to kill plants) used to destroy plant-based ground cover. It's also extremely toxic (many soldiers who were exposed to Agent Orange later developed cancer). Just to clear up any remaining unanswered questions.
- Cory , Buffalo, NY

ok, so a friend of mine swears this song is about heroin. "i got my spine" meaning needle and "i got my orange crush" meaning heroin. however, if you have the album in the book he says" i must of preformed this song a thousand times and i still dont know what its about"
- samantha , gladstone, Australia

This song was featured on the video game Rock Band.
- Austin , Smallsville,New England, --

Jack from Beaverton, OR. It is obvious that this song is about the Vietnam War, so even if you had met Stipes why would he say this is about suicide?
- Max , Newburyport, MA

This song is about the lead singers struggles with suicide; he told me.
- Jack , Beaverton, OR

REM (stipe) states having no idea what the song was about...that it just came out and they recorded it. There is no mention of Agent Orange / Vietnam.
- jay , charleston, SC

i thought this was about orange crush a cool type of weed
- Jason , Boston, MA

One of Mills greatest bass lines. A few songs have a driving beat, but none that are as out in front and in your face as this one.
- Mike , Philadelphia, PA

R. E. M. recently created a new political song, Final Straw. By the way, Is Agent Orange some sort of plant killer?
- Matthew , Milford, MA

Defoilation means to kill all vegetation in an area...the US military used Agent Orange in the Vietnam war to eliminate the jungles that Viet Cong were hiding in
- Nick , Arlington Heights, IL

My brother Michael actually thought that this song was about Orange Crush! Ha ha ha! Wait until I tell him about this!!!!!
- Matthew , Milford, MA

Uh, what exactly is "defoilation"?
- Matthew , Milford, MA

On a show stipe claims that people misunderstand what it's about and it has nothing to do with his dad.
- peter , fort worth, TX

The song is a look back at the pointlessness of Vietnam and how Agent Orange killed so many of the innocent. It's 1 of several REM political hits, along w/ Stand, End Of The World, and Bad Day.
- EPP , Pittsburgh, PA

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