R.E.M. Lyric Annotations FAQ
R.E.M.: Green: You Are the Everything

Lyrics

 [Green]

"(say, say, the light)"
The background "Save save your life" in "You are the Everything" is (according to stipey@aol.com) from a line of Eliz Frazer of the Cocteau Twins. [Ron Henry]

"Eviscerate your memory"
To eviscerate is to disembowel, to remove the innards of. [Chris Piuma] * Stipey had referred to the way many people wrote songs which poured out their deepest emotions as "gut-spilling" and possibly "eviscerating" before (in reference to why the early lyrics were so impersonal). [Joshua Hall-Bachner]

"You're in the backseat laying down"
Stipe has said that when he wrote it he was thinking about how peaceful it was to ride in the backseat of your car with your parents, and how trusting he always was at that moment [Ethan Kaplan]

"...you're drifting off to sleep/With your teeth in your mouth"
[This] refers to falling asleep with your dentures still in. [Joshua Hall-Bachner]
 

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Lyrics from Kipp Teague's Lyric Archive.