Little America

Song available on Reckoning.

I can't see myself at thirty, I don't buy a lacquered thirty
Caught like flies, preserved for tomorrow's jewelery, again
Lighted in the amber yard, a green shellback, green shellback
Preserved for tomorrow's eyes, in tree beer tar-black brer sap,
The biggest wagon is the empty wagon is the noisiest,
The consul a horse, Jefferson I think we're lost

Who will tend the farm museums? Who will dust today's belongings?
Who will sweep the floors, hedging near the givens?
Rally round your leaders it's the mediator season
Diane is on the beach, do you realize the life she's led?
The biggest wagon is the empty wagon is the noisiest,
The consul a horse, oh man I think we're lost
The biggest wagon is the empty wagon is the noisiest,
A matter of course, Jefferson, Jeffer

Lighted in the amber yard, a green shellback, green shellback
Sky-lied, sty-tied, Nero pie-tied, in tree tar-black brer sap,
Reason has harnessed the tame, a lodging, not stockader's game
Another Greenville, another Magic Mart, Jeffer, grab your fiddle,
The biggest wagon is the empty wagon is the noisiest,
The consul a horse, Jefferson I think we're lost
The biggest wagon is the empty wagon is the noisiest,
The consul a horse, Jefferson I think we're lost


(A) perverse view of us driving around the country seeing things that are really nice and really horrible.
Peter Buck

America is a lot of things. Take wath you see on TV, mix in a guy who's turned thirty and sill doesn't have ajob, throw in some Uncle Remus stories and add a few flies trapped in amber, and you have America. And maybe even a song, too. But the point is, America isn't something you can defend or put sown - it's too big for that.
Michael Stipe 1984

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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This is one of those songs that I never got into, and yet it's a pleasant enough album closer--it reminds me of "West of the Fields" in that it seems very tossed off, and also of "It's the End of the World As We Know It" in that it wants to create a sense of chaos by cramming a lot of lyrics and references into a small space.


By doug Definitely a foreshadowing of ITEOTWAWKI. However, I think it's far better than West of Fields, and less "cast off" as you put it. I always liked it as the closer for Reckoning.


By Doug