Did R.E.M. the 90's band foretell the future?

ok, bear with me on this one but its been bothering me for a while so here it goes, i typed in the lyrics with my summation above it in bold, tell me what you think..am i crazy or is there something there?

Tsunami,Bird flu,911?
That?s great, it starts with an earthquake,
birds and snakes, an aeroplane
Lenny Bruce is not afraid.

HURRICANE KATRINA DISASTER?
Eye of a hurricane,
listen to yourself churn -
world serves its own needs, don?t misserve your own needs.

Feed it up a knock,
speed, grunt no, strength no. Ladder structure clatter with fear of height,
down height.

IRAQ/IRAN POSSIBLE NUCLEAR OUTCOME?
Wire in a fire, represent the seven games in a government for
hire and a combat site.
Left her, wasn?t coming in a hurry with the furies
breathing down your neck.
Team by team reporters baffled, trump, tethered
crop.

9-11?
Look at that low plane! Fine then. Uh oh, overflow, population,
common group, but it?ll do.

Save yourself, serve yourself. World serves its
own needs, listen to your heart bleed.
Tell me with the rapture and the
reverent in the right - right. You vitriolic, patriotic, slam, fight, bright light, feeling pretty psyched.

NEWS REPORTERS RELAYING THE WAR ON TV,TERRORIST ATTACK HOTELS?
Six o'clock - TV hour. Don?t get caught in foreign tower. Slash and burn, return, listen to yourself churn.

BRINGING BACK THE DRAFT? CAR BOMBS?
Lock him in uniform and book burning,
blood letting. Every motive escalate. Automotive incinerate. Light a candle, light a motive. Step down, step down.
Watch a heel crush, crush. Uh oh,
this means no fear - cavalier. Renegade and steer clear!

GEORGE BUSH?
A tournament,
a tournament, a tournament of lies.
Offer me solutions, offer me alternatives and I decline.

ROCKY MOUNTAINS/CALIFORNIA TERRORIST ATTACK PENDING?
The other night I tripped a nice continental drift divide. Mountains sit in a line.
Leonard Bernstein. Leonid Breshnev, Lenny Bruce and Lester Bangs.
Birthday party, cheesecake, jelly bean, boom! You symbiotic, patriotic,
slam, but neck, right? Right.

just the chorus..nothing in it really
It's the end of the world as we know it.
It's the end of the world as we know it.
It's the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine...fine...

(It's time I had some time alone) this is what darknight is doing?

well? leave a comment ..even if it is not a positive one.

Dont forget

If you believe they put a man on the moon -- man on the moon
If you believe there's nothing up their sleeve
Then nothing is cool

I think you might be reaching a little bit but i do see some similarities. Michael Stipe doesnt exactly seen to be the type of guy who can tell the future. I think its more likely he was writing about what was going on at the time, possibly the Gulf War, and just added some extra flavor by putting in cryptic messages.

darkheartrising, you little cutie. Don't you know yet that only Leonard Cohen can predict the future through song?

This was written just at the end of the Cold War, and released in 1992. It expresses the coming trouble that'll follow in the wake of the fall of the great, evil, despised anti-America. With no "known" evil left to confront, will the unknown evil sneak in.

Regarding the fate of the Middle East, he looked 10 years into -- and saw -- The Future.

Google Video Link

Lyric:

Give me back my broken night,
my mirrored room, my secret life,
It's lonely here, there's no one left to torture.
Give me absolute control over every living soul
and lie beside, baby, that's an order!

Give me crack and careless sex
and take the only tree that's left and stuff it up the hole in your culture.
Give me back the Berlin Wall. Give me Stalin and Saint Paul.
I've seen the Future, Brother, it is murder.

Things are gonna slide in all direction
wont be nothin' you can measure anymore.
The blizzard of the world has crossed the threshhold
and it's overturned the order of the soul.

When they said "repent", I wonder what they meant....

You don't know me from the wind. You never will, you never did.
I'm the little Jew who wrote the Bible.
I've seen the nations rise and fall, I've heard their stories, heard them all
but love's the only engine of survival.

Your servant here, he has been told to say it clear, to say it cold:
"It's over, it ain't goin' any further."
And now the wheels of Heaven's stopped
you'll feel the devil's riding crop
Get ready for the Future,
it is murder.

There'll be the breaking of the ancient Western code
Your private life will suddenly explode
and there'll be phantoms, there'll be fires on the road
and a white man dancin'
You'll see a woman hanging upside-down
Her features covered by her fallen gown
And all your lousy little poets comin' 'round trying to sound like Charlie Manson

Give me back the Berlin Wall
Give me Stalin and Saint Paul
Give me Christ or give me Hiroshima.
Destroy another fetus now, we don't like children, anyhow
I've seen the Future, baby
it is murder.

When they said "repent", I wonder what they meant....?

Originally posted by Tuning Spork
darkheartrising, you little cutie. Don't you know yet that only Leonard Cohen can predict the future through song?

This was written just at the end of the Cold War, and released in 1992. It expresses the coming trouble that'll follow in the wake of the fall of the great, evil, despised anti-America. With no "known" evil left to confront, will the unknown evil sneak in.

Regarding the fate of the Middle East, he looked 10 years into -- and saw -- The Future.

Mr. T. Spork,
First off, thank you for the compliment.
Second, I fail to see any future predictions in that song as clearly stated by my example of the R.E.M. song.
I'm sure Mr. Cohen can almost rhyme now and then but predicting the future? now that is a stretch.
perhaps you could have added present examples next to the lyrics as moi did.

thank you for your post.

thats wayy too cute... ... but please not to dy-downe ur enthusiasm but can you do another song next.... ummmmm.... Intergalactic - Beastie boys.

but the real trick of the trade to learn is to translate that that mumbojumbo that you have in ur head and not analyze others', in rhyme form...

SORRY.... *yawn*

but ... *yawn* I just can't finish reading or writing...

$%^&*$"Hey I think there's a new SnoopDogg song on the RadIo...YEEEEEEE!!!!!!!HAAAAAAAWWWWW!!!!! c'mon y'all gather 'round. Crack a beer to the homeboys, nevermind it's just a remix of Gin & Juice... but I can relate "

could you ...please rephrase your question/comment/suggestion?
i'm lost

*Edit: Please don't quote the entire preceding post*

[edit on 4-8-2007 by dbates]

...^^^ just filler... nvrmind... my post was a sham... it was all a hoax...
thanks for your time though

I echo the compliment ... in a short time I have seen many faces, they are all very pleasant to behold

I can see where you are coming from; some of it does seem prophetic a touch. I like the way you think, you would be fun to talk and debate with ... they did mention planes, but they were hijacked in the past and always a tool of war in the last century.

some of it is a sign of the times it was released ... I think they were relating to our increased violence after the fall of the great communist countries. It seemed to keep us at bay, since then (and starting with the world wars) we have been sticking our nose into world affairs ... not with love and peace, but with strong words and weapons ... and a hint of hypocritical nature to our demands. When lobbyists run your electorate, values and morals take the back seat. Nobody likes a bully, let alone a corrupt one.

I would like to see your examination of Billy Joel - We didn't start the fire ... though I guess that one is very straight-foward to begin with

Either way, it's just plain eerie. I had never thought about the lyrics to that song that way before, then again I'm usually just trying to pretend I know half of the lyrics when it's playing.

Originally posted by FreeThinkerIdealist
I echo the compliment ... in a short time I have seen many faces, they are all very pleasant to behold

I would like to see your examination of Billy Joel - We didn't start the fire ... though I guess that one is very straight-foward to begin with

Thank you for the compliment and for posting.
Billy Joey happens to be one of my all time favorites..I think its because my mom listened to him while cleaning house when i was in diapers crawling about the living room lol.
i haven't really researched song lyrics for hidden messages but this R.E.M. song just stuck in my mind.

Originally posted by darkheartrising
I'm sure Mr. Cohen can almost rhyme now and then but predicting the future? now that is a stretch.
perhaps you could have added present examples next to the lyrics as moi did.

Why, you little...!!!

Okay. Okay.

The most present example I could add, at this time, would be just a plain picture. A picture of a hobo vomitting in the gutter. Or a picture of a child pleading for her life while in the hands of several bullies who're more than ready to end it for her. Or a building collapsing on a hundred firemen. Or a soldier who's sworn to fight for nothing less than justice being blown apart by a bomb planted by a "soldier" who's sworn to fight for nothing more than death.

I mean, I like R.E.M. and all, but, sheesh. I jus' don't recognize the foresight or the wisdom that'd make me think that Michael Stipe could see far enough ahead to predict the future.........

EDIT: And just what the @#$% are you doing up at this hour, young lady????!!!!!



[edit on 4-8-2007 by Tuning Spork]

ok , yeah all those bad things are happening, but i still can't see the coorelation to the cohen song...hmm..sorry
*Edit: Excessive quoting*

[edit on 4-8-2007 by dbates]

**sigh** Yer killin' me.

And why do yer avatars keep getting less and less... complete?

By this time next week we'll all be looking up yer nostrils!







Sorry. I promise I'll never say that again.

Originally posted by Tuning Spork
**sigh** Yer killin' me.

And why do yer avatars keep getting less and less... complete?

By this time next week we'll all be looking up yer nostrils!







Sorry. I promise I'll never say that again.

"they" kept deleting them because "they" said they were too big, so I made this one smaller, besides it suited my mood...i'm fighting a cold.

Aww.

Strange, but I haven't had so much as a common cold in 12 years. I wonder how that happened...

BTW, I posted in BTS. I didn't want to embarrass you too much, so I went with the ATS T-Shirt Babe theme rather than a dhr theme. I nominated you, of course.

We'll see if the thread goes anywhere...

why you!!
you didnt have any pictures...

Tuning Spork, calm down and show some respect. What is with you, man? Your posts towards the OP are creepy and it's clear the topic at hand is the farthest thing from your mind. It's downright embarrassing. Pull in your spork before I have to come over and cut it off!!

I think the OP has a fair point. I think songwriters are more intuitively clued-in to the world consciousness since they're exempt from the 9-5 drudgery and have the freedom to think outside the box and express it in music. But I also believe the same power is deeply embedded within us all.

[edit on 4-8-2007 by RiotComing]

This was a good find. I have never heard if this before. I think the lyrics though read like something from Nostradamus meaning you can read pretty much anything into most of those lines. I was actually thinking about another songs lyrics the other day.

Metallica - Eye Of The Beholder Lyrics recorded in 1988.

Do you see what I see?
Truth is an offence,
You silence for your confidence

Do you hear what I hear?
Doors are slamming shut,
Limit your imagination, keep you where they must

Do you feel what I feel?
Bittering distress,
Who decides what you express?

Do you take what I take?
Endurance is the word,
Moving back instead of forward seems to me absurd

Doesn't matter what you see,
Or into it what you read,
You can do it your own way,
If it's done just how I say

Independence limited,
Freedom of choice,
A Choice is made for you my friend,
Freedom of speech,
Speech is words that they will bend,
Freedom with their exception

Do you fear what I fear?
Living properly,
Truths to you are lies to me

Do you choose what I choose?
More alternatives,
Energy derives from both the plus and negatives

Do you need what I need?
Boundaries overthrown,
Look inside, to each his own

Do you trust what I trust?
Me, myself, and I,
Penetrate the smoke screen, I see through the selfish lie

Doesn't matter what you see,
Or into it what you read,
You can do it your own way,
If it's done just how I say

Independence limited,
Freedom of choice,
A Choice is made for you my friend,
Freedom of speech,
Speech is words that they will bend,
Freedom with their exception

Do you know what I know?
Your money and your wealth,
You silence just to hear yourself

Do you want what I want?
Desire not a thing,
I hunger after independence, lengthen freedom's ring

Doesn't matter what you see,
Or into it what you read,
You can do it your own way,
If it's done just how I say

Independence limited,
Freedom of choice,
AChoice is made for you my friend,
Freedom of speech,
Speech is words that they will bend,
Freedom with their exception

Doesn't matter what you see,
Or into it what you read,
You can do it your own way,
If it's done just how I say

[edit on 4-8-2007 by zerotime]