REM: Uberlin Meaning
Song Released: 2011
Uberlin Lyrics
Hey now, make your breakfast
Hey now, comb your hair and off to work
Crash land, no illusions, no collision, no intrusion
My imagination runs away
I know, I know, I know what I am chasing
I know, I know, I...
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Agreed. It's R.E.M.'s "Nowhere Man" (The Beatles).
Life is monotonous, repetitive, boring. In all the noise of hustle and bustle, where are you going?
In dissatisfaction we drift off into flights of fancy - a better, more exciting and purposeful life.
So sad, so beautiful. -
A portmanteau word: Uber and Berlin run together. If good things were "boss" in 1950s, "groovy" in the 60s, "cool" in the 70s, "awesome" in the 80s, and "tight" in the 90s, they are "uber" now, which means higher than, over-it-all. Given the "Ubermensche" in the elitist writings of Nietzsche, however, "Uber" has the saurkraut tang of cheeky Nazi flavor.
Michael Stipe's "Uberlin" is set in Germany and has an ordinary person wake up on an ordinary day, recalling Paul McCartney's section of the Beatles' "Day in the Life": "Woke up, got out of bed, dragged a comb across my head..." Driving to work on the Autobahn, our drone would rather live in his imagination, over-it-all among the comets and stars.
German strong suits like industry and engineering throw such romantic flights of fancy into clear relief. It's up to the listener which one, between facts and fancy, is really uber. -
Mental Health ???
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