REM: Losing My Religion Meaning
Song Released: 1991
Losing My Religion Lyrics
It's bigger than you
And you are not me
The lengths that I will go to
The distance in your eyes
Oh no, I've said too much
I set it up
That's me in the corner
That's me in the spotlight
Losing my religion
Trying to...
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I saw an interview with the lead singer. He said that this is his "stalker song" he deliberately made it hard to interpret because he was inspired by every breath you take by the police always being missinterpreted as a love song.
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Here’s my interpretation of what it is about, and an explanation of what it is about for me. The song for me is about the efforts of conveying your love to someone, trying to get them to understand how much you love them, without saying it straight out because of the fear of losing them all together.
“life is bigger, it’s bigger than you” is a statement, logically true. It shouldn’t be the end of the world that she doesn’t love you.
“and you are not me” is the sad truth, she’s not on the same page, you are not a part of each other.
“the lenghts that I will go to” shows the power of the love, that you will go to the end of the world for her. “the distance in your eyes” is her lack of interest in you, she’s not there with you with the same emotions. “i set it up” means that you’re trying to create situations where the truth will come out, where you will get what you want.
“that’s me in the corner, that’s me in the spotlight”, you are everywhere, in the background and right in front of her. “losing my religion”, losing your faith that she loves you, losing your faith in love all together. Losing your belief that soulmates would be together no matter what.
“trying to keep up with you, and I don’t know if I can do it”, trying to stop her from walking away from you, trying to keep moving on together, not sure that it’s working.
“oh no i’ve said too much, I haven’t said enough”, the fear that you hinted too strongly, that it has become too obvious that you love her. Wanting to tell her more, to let it all out, thinking that maybe she didn’t get your hints, that they weren’t obvious enough.
“i thought that I heard you laughing, I thought that I heard you sing”, you thought you were going in the right direction, you thought she was there with you. “i think I thought I saw you try”, you thought she was hinting back, but you are so unsure.
“every whisper, of every waking hour, i’m choosing my confessions”, every second of your time you’re thinking about what to reveal and what not to, planning what to say to her. “trying to keep an eye on you”, trying to see how she reacts, what she feels and thinks about what you’re saying. “like a hurt lost and blinded fool”, you’re hurt that she doesn’t respond to your hints, you’re lost in what to do, you feel blind because you thought that you saw that she felt something for you and you feel like a fool because you allowed yourself to think that she would love you back.
“consider this, consider this, the hint of the century”, you give her the most obvious hint of your love that you can think of. “the slip that brought me to my knees failed”, you gave her the hint of a lifetime, so huge it was basically a slip and the emotional impact it had on you to tell her brought you to your knees, beat you down. But still she did not respond to you.
“what if all these fantasies come flailing around”, express the fear you have that your fantasies about you two together will never become a reality. “now i’ve said too much”, there it was, you want to be with her and you just let yourself think it. There’s no way back, you can’t take that thought back.
“that was just a dream”, all your hinting was for nothing, it turns out she doesn’t love you back and you had just created what you wanted to be there, but what was not really.
I couldn't have said it better myself. This is an awesome interpretation and definitely one that I can relate to. -
Sorry, bud, but both Kurt Cobain and river phoenix where still alive in 1991, when this song was recorded.
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This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
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The song is about the fear of telling someone that you worship what you feel about them for fear of losing them altogether.
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'''Losing My Religion' is actually a southern term that means "I don't think I still have faith in this turning out the way I want it to."
The song is about letting someone know you have a crush on them and the emotions that go along with that. "Oh no I've said too much, I haven't said enough" is a reference to the point when you have indirectly let someone how you feel about them -- but then you rethink it and you don't know if they caught "the hint of the century"
"Losing my religion" is about worrying that the other person is not going to be interested in you.
"What if all these fantasies, Come flailing around" -- is the fear that your day dreams about this person will never become a reality''
This explanation is spot on. -
This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
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Though it is a very general song that applies for a number of situations for me the perfect description is that it is a breakup song, a love song, a very sad one indeed. The singer is addressing the other one, the now "ex". The religion is the now dying relationship, he used to almost worship her but now he is so dissapointed on discovering that what he believed of the relation and of her it was not true (whatever that can be), the relation was only I dream (e.g. "I think I thought I saw you try"). It was a mistake ("hadn't said enough") and now he can tell (now he maybe says too much).
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This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
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This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
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This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
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This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
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Um, the term 'Losing My Religion' is a southern term that means to lose your temper.
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Until recently, I didn't have a clue what this song was going on about. I think that this song has to do with an obsession/crush on a girl. The "religion" means how important it is for him to keep it secret. He's dropping hints to let her know how he feels but isnt sure if he's "said too much". I'm really interested in REM interpretations but its bloody deep stuff!
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This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
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