Stand

Album: Green (1988)
Charted: 48 6
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  • Stand in the place where you live
    Now face north
    Think about direction, wonder why you haven't before
    Now stand in the place where you work
    Now face west, think about the place where you live
    Wonder why you haven't before

    If you are confused, check with the sun
    Carry a compass to help you along
    Your feet are going to be on the ground
    Your head is there to move you around

    So, stand in the place where you live
    Now face north
    Think about direction, wonder why you haven't before
    Now stand in the place where you work
    Now face west, think about the place where you live
    Wonder why you haven't before

    Your feet are going to be on the ground
    Your head is there to move you around
    If wishes were trees the trees would be falling
    Listen to reason
    Season is calling

    Stand in the place where you live
    Now face north
    Think about direction, wonder why you haven't before
    Now stand in the place where you work
    Now face west, think about the place where you live
    Wonder why you haven't before

    If wishes were trees the trees would be falling
    Listen to reason
    Reason is calling
    Your feet are going to be on the ground
    Your head is there to move you around

    So stand (stand)
    Now face north
    Think about direction, wonder why you haven't before
    Now stand (stand)
    Now face west
    Think about the place where you live
    Wonder why you haven't

    Stand in the place where you live
    Now face north
    Think about direction, wonder why you haven't before
    Now stand in the place where you work
    Now face west, think about the place where you live
    Wonder why you haven't before

    Stand in the place where you are (now face north)
    Stand in the place where you are (now face west)
    Your feet are going to be on the ground (stand in the place where you are)
    Your head is there to move you around, so stand Writer/s: Bill Berry, Michael Mills, Michael Stipe, Peter Buck
    Publisher: Universal Music Publishing Group
    Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Comments: 18

  • Rover from TrinidadI had always assumed that the song was about having a sense of direction and purpose, and taking a stand on issues in your hometown and your workplace, and was an implied criticism of those who fail to do so but simply drift with the current....
  • Jacs from London Before R.E.M. made it big I was working in a club called the town and country club in north London.
    They sung this song every night even tho it didn’t make it high up the charts it was great hearing them sing
    Well guys sitting with you after your little gigs each night drinking coffee little did we know how big and great you would become
    Great bunch of people
    Well done ... and damn it I lost that demo cassette you gave me x
  • John from UsaWell whether the band feels its a dumb song or not and that it has no underlying deeper meaning for them doesn't mean that makes it so.

    The lyrics have a real meaning today for us as a whole I feel because how many people really look at where they are living or what is going on around them. Living 24/7 on some form of media always looking down or up at screen while we either inform our online followers about our breakfast routine or we being informed about theirs.

    We do this day after day, week after week. While the corporate controlled media tailors pop ads for us based on our resent web searches and online purchases. They bombard with scary climate change prediction while they continue to poison our water supplies and pollute our skies/air with with nano particulants that are slowly killing us softly with Monsanto GMO foods. Funny how a 20+ goof of song can inspire one thoughts where we live.
  • Laura from El Paso, TxWhether the song was intended to be stupid or not.........it sure is infectious. It is one of my favorite R.E.M. songs.
  • Karl from Ingatestone, United KingdomI often like this song, me and my homies go onto Youtube and i request this song,
    cheers REM
  • Debra from Lees Summit, MoStipe shouldn't have claimed this song is so stupid. Otherwise I would still be thinking it fraught with deep hidden meanings. Anyway, it's a good song.
  • Jane from Austin, TxI couldn't STAND the video. i hated those stupid dancers.
  • Eric from Bend, OrBob from Oakland: You're right, I hadn't considered this before. I think inevitably there are always some songs that have a similar melody or riff or a few notes in common when artists try to connect 2 notes or parts of a sing with some kind of transition. It's not necessarily ripping off another song (unless done intentionally). It's just coincidence.
  • Phoebe from Belchertown, MaChawsome...yea it may have been stupid, but it might be genuis.
  • Brooke from Silver Creek, Gaumm actually peter from texas is right b/c peter buck made a riff which he thought to be ... stupid so stipe tried to make equally stupid lyrics, people like you caught on b/c of it's catchy beat and self implied that it pertained to doing good deeds
  • Bob from Oakland, CaThe melody of the first line of the song is identical that of the guitar intro of Richie Valens' "La Bamba" (minus "La Bamba's three lead-in notes).
  • Joe from Chicago, Ari love the spam song :P weird al is brilliant....... this is a pretty good song even though R.E.M. claim that it's the stupidest song they have ever wrote.
  • Pat from Albuquerque, NmStacey is right; the song's not stupid.
    Its message is to get your life off autopilot, look around at the place where you live and work, and get involved in your world instead of living in isolation and cluelessness (as so many do today).
  • Stacey from Nowra, Australiai thought this song was about people who are to busy doing pointless things to stop and think "why the hell am i doing this"
  • Mandy from Smalltown, NyI wonder what radio you listen to, EPP, if you think that stupid, meaningless songs can't become big hits.

    I mean no implication that this song is either.
  • Peter from Fort Worth, Txon vh1 classic stipe says that buck would always come up with stupid riffs and he took it as a challenge to make more stupid lyrics.
  • Epp from Pittsburgh, PaStipe didnt apologize for the song. He wrote it to be stupid on purpose. The song has stupid lyrics, because the song is about stupid people. It deals with those who don't take a stand politically. It's obviously not to stupid of a song, btw, if it became such a big hit
  • Raja from Austin, TxMichael Stipe has often apologized for this song, claiming it was the most stupid song REM ever made.
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