Quick Take #2: REM - "It Happened Today" (2011)

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Quick Takes is an occasional column in which w choose any song that we’re currently listening to – old or new, pop or rock, jazz or folk or blues, or anything else under the sun that can be spun. One of us writes up a short paragraph on some of our general thoughts about the track, and our partner takes one paragraph to respond. The rest is up to you, dear reader.

For this entry, we consider the 2011 track “It Happened Today” by REM.

Aaron: When REM broke up last autumn, a lot of critics were quick to point out how their final album as a group, Collapse into Now, contained hints that the breakup was coming. Seems to be a spot-on observation, but the album is more about the band’s breakup. It seems to me, in a lot of ways, to be an album about REM . . . about being REM about being in REM and about what REM the band has been. This might seem like a vanity project if it were done so damned well. The album is littered with lyrics about singing songs and rhyming (as if Michael Stipe has ever cared about rhyming). There are lines about showing the kids what to do, songs about looking to the past, and songs about finally finding freedom in the present and comfort with oneself. There are songs with seemingly nonsensical lyrics, hearkening back to the early days of the band, songs with political themes, songs wherein Stipe takes on a persona and tells a story. And there are musical references to the first few albums, to Green and Out of Time era folk, to the rock of Monster, and to the more adventurous soundscapes of New Adventures . . . and Up. And, of course, there are those great Mike Mills harmonies, finally. In short, it’s a phenomenal album – certainly their best since New Adventures, and maybe since Automatic for the People. I hope it’s getting the listens it deserves.

For this entry, I’d just like to say a few songs about “It Happened Today.” I’m not sure it’s the best song on the album. There are songs with “deeper” lyrics, more interesting production, and probably more thoughtful melodies. But this song just works for me. First of all, there are only two short verses, and they almost come across as jokes. I’ll just quote the first one: “This is not a parable. / This is a terrible . . . / this is a terrible thing. / Yes I will rhyme that after / after all I’ve done today / I have earned my wings. / It happened today.” The next verse isn’t much different. The song never says what the “it” that happened today is, but it’s something joyous enough that the singer feels he’s earned his wings and earned his voice. There’s a lot packed into those two little verses about singing, about liberation, and also about being silly. I’ve managed to get it in my head that the song is about Stipe’s decision to quit the band and the massive sense of release and freedom that comes with it – that’s probably WAY off. But whatever it is that “happened today,” it’s major enough that Stipe, Mills, and Eddie Vedder spend the final two and a half minutes of the song singing wordlessly in what only sounds like a celebration. As slight as it is, the song does what REM often does so well – compact a shit-ton of emotion and potential meaning into a song that at first seems like nothing but slight whimsy.

What do you think, Lew? All my romanticizing aside . . . anything to like about this song?

Lew: There's a lot to like about this song, in my opinion, and I'm glad I listened to it. As you correctly pointed out in your email to preface this entry, although not in the entry itself, I have had a somewhat challenging relationship with REM over the years. Somewhat later in life, I can acknowledge that some of the issues that I’ve had with them were based in not-so-solid aesthetic reasoning. I wasn’t into Michael Stipe’s vocal tone, I didn't get Peter Buck’s approach to guitar and the songs weren’t presented dramatically enough. More to the point, I think I wasn’t able to process simple, effective songwriting as well as I could have during my late teens and 20s. However, that’s exactly what “It Happened Today is” – simple, effective songwriting. The verse chord progression is one of those tried and true things that’s been used a thousand times and continues to be something that songwriters turn to. It creates a great foundation for vocal melody in the sense that it sounds familiar without necessarily reminding you of a particular song. I’d say Stipe uses it well – the melody makes you want to like it and the lyrics are appropriately obscure. I like the idea of describing his feelings about the events of the day, but avoiding any specifics – it’s a great understated approach to a song about something that's apparently very big. I’m not as crazy about the chorus – I like that it’s removed from the vibe of the verse but the “hip hip hooray,” as sincere as it might be, just sounds like one of those Stipe things that I can’t get my head around. That’s a fairly minor criticism though, and I can concede that it might be my issue. I think your term “celebration” is an apt description for the end of the song – when the drum part picks up behind the vocals just after two minutes in, there is a great sense that the whole thing opens up, which is actually kind of liberating. I’ll take this as a sign that Collapse Into Now deserves further investigation.