Cuyahoga

I have no idea why it's taken me so long to cover this song. Always have loved it, a gorgeous strummed bass guitar riff and some interesting bass parts in the bridge and chorus too. The verse features a really delicate guitar part panned far left (so often played incorrectly live by Peter Buck himself in future performances) and some lovely jangly, layered guitars in the chorus.

I deliberately left out the piano and synth parts from Lifes Rich Pageant through my appreciation for the stripped down Athens demo version.

I visited Ohio in 2008 and bored everyone with my uncharacteristic knowledge of the Cuyahoga river and its pollution problems. Boring people with R.E.M. based trivia is becoming something I'm doing more and more these days…

Vocally, I've always loved this song as I believe it stands as the perfect mid point between the undecipherable mumbler in Fables and the emerging extrovert and political spokesman of Document.