Review:

on 2011-12-17 CharlesMartel Said:

Many in the UK will recognise this song more for its associations with the Samaritans than anything else. The Samaritans used it as a backing music for one of their TV advertising campaigns aimed at potentially suicidal young men in the nineties. In many ways that was an interesting choice because more than ten years later the song was also voted pretty high up a poll of songs to break up with your girlfriend/boyfriend/wife/husband whatever.

Unlike a lot of REM stuff it was not lyrically complex and it is that fact which seems to have endeared it to so many, despite its miserable reputation. This endearment is quite perplexing because I often find it a slow and ponderous song. However, as so often with a lot of REM's stuff, the somewhat cryptic video provided a rescue package for the song as a whole. I have never been able to fathom to affection many have for this song  including myself. I guess it is just one of those things.

As an interesting aside, the string arrangement used on the track was written by John Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin fame.
Rating: 7/10