Leaving New York
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| "Leaving New York" | ||
|---|---|---|
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| Single by R.E.M. | ||
| from the album Around the Sun | ||
| Released | 27 September 2004 (UK) | |
| Format | 2 CDs, downloadable MP3 | |
| Recorded | 2004 | |
| Genre | Rock | |
| Length | 4:49 | |
| Label | Warner Bros. W654CD1 / W654CD2 |
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| Producer(s) | R.E.M. and Pat McCarthy | |
| Chart positions | ||
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| R.E.M. singles chronology | ||
| "Animal" (2004) |
"Leaving New York" (2004) |
"Aftermath" (2005) |
"Leaving New York" was the first single from R.E.M's 2004 album Around the Sun. Although it was not as heavily promoted as earlier singles, it reached as high as #5 on the UK Singles Chart. However, the song failed to chart on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming the first lead single from an R.E.M. studio album not to chart in the U.S. since "Cant Get There From Here" from Fables of the Reconstruction in 1985.
For a while, the band would play Stipe's "It's pulling me apart. Change." album backing vocal during the chorus and bridge of live performances. Around September 2004, however, they worked up an alternative whereby the backing vocals would be shared amongst Mike Mills, Scott McCaughey and Ken Stringfellow in order to make the song flow more smoothly:
Chorus:
Stipe and Mills: "You might have laughed if I told you."
McCaughey: "It's pulling me apart."
Stipe and Mills: "You might have hidden a frown."
McCaughey: "Change."
Stipe and Mills: "You might have succeeded in changing me."
McCaughey: "It's pulling me apart."
Stipe and Mills: "I might have been turned around."
McCaughey: "Change."
Stipe and Mills: "It's easier to leave than to be left behind."
McCaughey: "It's pulling me apart."
Stipe and Mills: "Leaving was never my proud."
McCaughey: "Change."
Stipe and Mills: "Leaving New York, never easy."
McCaughey: "It's pulling me apart."
Stipe and Mills: "I saw the light fading out."
Bridge:
Stipe: "I told you, forever."
(McCaughey: "Find it in your heart.")
Stipe: "I love you, forever."
(Stringfellow: "It's pulling me apart.")
Stipe: "I told you, I love you - I love you, forever."
(Mills: "Find it in your heart.")
(Mills, McCaughey, Stringfellow: "Change.")
Stipe: "I told you, forever."
(McCaughey: "Find it in your heart.")
Stipe: "I love you, forever."
(Stringfellow: "It's pulling me apart.")
Stipe: "I told you, I love you - I love you, forever."
(Mills: "Find it in your heart.")
(Mills, McCaughey, Stringfellow: "Change.")
Contents |
[edit] Background to the song
As Michael Stipe stated in interviews, the tune is a love song to the city. Stipe regards New York as his second hometown. Once, flying out of the city and seeing it from above, Stipe was overwhelmed by its beauty and wrote the song right there on the plane. [citation needed]
The music video was shot with real friends of the band members, throwing a party, and snapshots of Stipe in different places of the city, giving the video a spontaneous and private atmosphere.
[edit] Track listing
All tracks by Peter Buck, Mike Mills, and Michael Stipe unless otherwise stated.
[edit] CD1
- "Leaving New York"
- "(Don't Go Back to) Rockville" (Berry, Buck, Mills, Stipe) (live)
[edit] CD2
- "Leaving New York"
- "You Are the Everything" (Berry, Buck, Mills, Stipe) (live)
- "These Days" (Berry, Buck, Mills, Stipe) (live)
[edit] External links
- "Leaving New York" (CD1) at MusicBrainz
- "Leaving New York" (CD2) at MusicBrainz
