Strange Currencies

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“Strange Currencies”
“Strange Currencies” cover
Single by R.E.M.
from the album Monster
Released April 18, 1995 (1995-04-18)
Format CD single, 7" single, 12" single, Cassette
Recorded 1994
Genre Alternative rock
Length 3:32
Label Warner Bros.
Producer Scott Litt & R.E.M.
R.E.M. singles chronology
"Bang and Blame"
(1995)		 "Strange Currencies"
(1995)		 "Crush with Eyeliner"
(1995)
Monster track listing
"Star 69"
(5)		 "Strange Currencies"
(6)		 "Tongue"
(7)

"Strange Currencies" is a song by R.E.M.. It was included on the album Monster and was also released as a single in 1995. The single hit #9 in the UK singles chart and peaked at #47 in the United States.

The song almost didn't make it on the album, due to its rhythmic similarities to another R.E.M. song, "Everybody Hurts." Yet Michael Stipe's melody, the band felt, was too good to pass over, so the original rhythm was slightly reworked. Stipe has said that it's about "when somebody actually thinks that, through words, they're going to be able to convince somebody that they are their one and only."[1]

The video, directed by Mark Romanek, was shot on the first anniversary of the death of Michael Stipe's close friend River Phoenix.

Contents

[edit] Track listing

All songs written by Berry, Buck, Mills, and Stipe unless otherwise indicated.

[edit] 12" and CD Maxi-Single

  1. "Strange Currencies" – 3:52
  2. "Drive" (live)1 – 4:17
  3. "Funtime" (D. Jones/Osterberg) (live)1 – 2:16
  4. "Radio Free Europe" (live)1 – 4:43

[edit] 7", Cassette and CD Single

  1. "Strange Currencies" – 3:52
  2. "Strange Currencies" (instrumental version) – 3:52

[edit] Notes

1 Recorded at the 40 Watt Club, Athens, Georgia; November 19, 1992. The performance, a benefit for Greenpeace, was recorded on a solar-powered mobile studio.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Black, Johnny (2004). Reveal: The Story of R.E.M.. London: Backbeat Books. ISBN 0-87930-776-5. 


[edit] External links

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