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R.E.M. "The Great Beyond"

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Jump to: Heads Plot & Quotes Misc

Album: Man On The Moon
Künstler: R.E.M.
Titel: The Great Beyond

Heads

Regisseur: Liz Friedlander

Plot & Quotes

Genre: ?

Misc

Intro: No
Label: Warner Bros.
Official Homepage: www.wbr.com/rem
Outro: No
Sound Mix: Stereo
Special: No
Technische Spezifikationen: colour - format unknown

Clipland ID: 945596550

Lyrics

I've watched the stars fall silent from your eyes
All the sights that I have seen
I can't believe that I believed I wished that you could see
There's a new planet in the solar system
There is nothing up my sleeve

I'm pushing an elephant up the stairs
I'm tossing up punchlines that were never there
Over my shoulder, a piano falls
Crashing to the ground

In all this talk of time, talk is fine
But I don't want to stay around
Why can't we pantomime,
...

Related

Links

• R.E.M. "The Great Beyond" [clipland.com] (this page)

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User Comments

Sunday 07/07/02

A delightful video that freshens up the usually-moribund _songs-from-movies_ subgenre. The plot: the band is stuck in a boring TV appearance, only working up enthusiasm when they're on. But they realize that they are literally trapped in the TV world (when Michael touches the lens of the camera, the sets tuned into their performance move) and make a break for it by figuring out how to break the _fourth wall_.

The basic concept is witty enough, but it's even more fun in the context of the song and film. This song is a companion piece to _Man on the Moon_, the tune that famously evoked the late performance artist Andy Kaufman. It had become so identified with Andy that when a movie was being planned about his life, _Man on the Moon_ was chosen as the film's title - and R.E.M. was asked to score the film, including this new song.

The resultant video sweetly parallels Andy's own desire to break down barriers in performance, and even tweaks the conventions of movie-derived videos by integrating the film clips in amusing ways (they are the commercial breaks during the show; at one point the band throws darts at a movie screen showing the clips!). It's a very sunny clip that has a nice warm feeling about it - and the song's great too.