"They're going wild," the call came in
At early morning pre-dawn, then
"The followers of chaos out of control
They're numbering the monkeys
The monkeys and the monkeys,"
The followers of chaos out of control

"They're meeting at the monument,"
The call came in the monument
To liberty and honor under the honor roll
"They've gathered up the cages the cages and courageous,"
The followers of chaos out of control

The call came in to Party Central
"Meeting of the green and simple,"
Try to tell us something we don't know

"Disturbance at the Heron House"
A stampede at the monument
To liberty and honor under the honor roll
The gathering of grunts and greens
Cogs and grunts and hirelings
A meeting of a mean idea to hold
"When feeding time has come and gone
They'll lose the heart and head for home
Try to tell us something we don't know"

Everyone allowed, Everyone allowed

The most obvious song I've ever written, but not one person, not one, has worked out what in hell it's about
Michael Stipe

Quotes collected from 'R.E.M. - In Their Own Words' by Peter Hogan

Lyrics are based on fans interpretations and are not official.

All R.E.M. originals written by Bill Berry, Peter Buck, Mike Mills and Michael Stipe.

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By Tom I think in the 5th line, the lyric would be better as monkeys and marquees rather than monkeys and monkeys which is very un-REM-like to not subtly vary the word in close proximity.

By Michael Diehm