Here we find an early version called “Me On Keyboard” where a three-note keyboard melody adds a childish whimsy, as do Stipe’s unfinished vocals.
This is all still very sad to me, so I’ll never hear it as “jubilant,” but I came close recently when I dug into the freshly unearthed demos from Out Of Time’s 25th anniversary edition. That’s where Stipe finds the characters in “Me In Honey,” and it culminates with the guy (the father) singularly singing “What about me?” before being joined by Pierson for a repeat: “What about me?” they both ask each other, and the song ends at an impasse. He can flee and throw off his responsibilities in a way a mother simply can’t-or he can stay and offer support. “Eat For Two,” though, is more lyrically precise: It’s about pregnancy, specifically a mother who regrets the actions that led to “the kicking one inside of ” now. Stipe revealed in the 1997 book It Crawled From The South that “Me In Honey” is a companion piece to 10,000 Maniacs’ “Eat For Two”-a song with a few passing similarities to R.E.M.’s own “Losing My Religion,” the breakout hit from Out Of Time, where “Me In Honey” appears. And of course, there’s the lyrical subject matter. have ever written.” I’ve never agreed with the second part of that, though I recognize what people could construe as joy here: a major-key melody, Pierson’s soaring background wails, satisfying chord resolutions, and a heartbeat-steady 65 BPM. song historian Matthew Perpetua wrote that “the song overflows with love and goodwill, and despite its confusion, ‘Me In Honey’ is among the most jubilant pieces of music R.E.M. And it still sounds sad now, but less so, probably because every subsequent listen is an echo of that seminal one in my dad’s Dodge Avenger charging across the state. The song sounded so sad then, the way Peter Buck’s hammer-on guitar riff resigns itself to little forward momentum, only stopping long enough for Stipe and Pierson to sing a wrenching chorus (“Left me to love, what it’s doing to me”).
I remember playing “Me In Honey” as I trekked three hours across New York State’s snowy I-90 to have a conversation I dreaded because I knew it would hurt someone.
But when I listen to “Me In Honey” and hear Kate Pierson’s howling incantations mingle with Michael Stipe’s oxymoronically devastating monotone, something happens. song is “Fall On Me,” probably, or “Gardening At Night” ( this vocal mix) or “Welcome To The Occupation” or “Driver 8” or “Country Feedback” or-well, we could play this game all day.
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