Romance

The first time I heard this song was on a 1982 bootleg of their Merlins, Madison show in April of that year. I instantly fell in love with the song thinking the "easy come, easy go" part was hit single material and it baffled me that the song was never included on an album. But, as time has gone on I've realised my first impressions were a bit over-the-top. There's not been another live or recorded version since that has matched it (with the possible exception of the recently leaked Murmur demos). I strongly dislike the Eponymous version, which completely zaps the song of everything I once loved about it. I consider it massively over-produced.

So my aim was to stay more true to the Murmur demo version. I actually found this song really difficult to work out on guitar and then play. The riff is easy enough although would sound so much better on a Rickenbacker, but the verse involves some awkward chord shapes that are hard to reach and it's only very recently that I figured out what is going on in the middle 8.

Working on this song has made me realise it's quite sparse, there's really not that much to it. So this, coupled with the obscure lyrics (which Stipe himself couldn't sing with a straight face at the 2007 Dublin shows!), might explain why the band abandoned it. I do think, in the hands of a more mainstream band and with more accessible lyrics, this could have been a minor 80's hit!