Sara Quin (Tegan & Sara) On "Sweetness Follows"
"When I was in grade six, my then boyfriend had an older brother who introduced him to the world of Monty Python, Adidas high tops and R.E.M. By association, well before I had ever thought to throw away my New Kids On The Block tapes and Double Dragon video games, I was 'in the know.' Automatic For The People was a Christmas gift from my mom when I was in the seventh grade. My friends and I would hang off my step dads workout equipment in the basement of my house, blasting this album. 'Sweetness Follows' is so pretty, with such a strange anticlimactic chorus, which I still love and admire about it. It's interesting to me, with only the perspective of a small career in my lenses, to imagine what R.E.M. was thinking and experiencing after they put this album out. I always wonder if artists knew they were making something classic, something that would influence a geeky 12-year-old to dance in the basement in the suburbs."

Sara Quin

Mike Mills On "Sweetness Follows"
"That's a beautiful song with a lovely cello on it, I think Knox Chandler played that part. We play it occasionally. There are a lot of songs that we really enjoy, but you don't want to play them every night. That's the advantage of having a big back catalog, because we like to change the setlist every night and it's good to have a lot of songs that you can put into rotation."

"Sweetness Follows" lyrics
Readying to bury your father and
your mother,
What did you think when you lost
another?
I used to wonder why did you
bother,
Distanced from one, blind to the
other?

Listen here my sister and my
brother
What would you care if you lost
the other?
I always wonder why did we
bother,
Distanced from one, deaf to the
other.

Oh, o, but sweetness follows

It's these little things, they can
pull you under.
Live your life filled with joy and
wonder.
I always knew this altogether
thunder
was lost in our little lives.

Oh, oh, but sweetness follows.
Oh, oh, but sweetness follows.

It's these little things, they can
pull you under.
Live your life filled with joy and
thunder.
Yeah, yeah we were altogether
lost in our little lives.

Oh. Oh. Ah.

Oh, oh, but sweetness follows.
Oh, oh, but sweetness follows.

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19 Comments

I truly admire Sara Quin. Sara and Kaki did a great job, the song is beautiful.

Posted by: Susan Harkins at 10/03/07 2:52 PM | Reply
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That is awesome.

I love Sara-- her collaborations with Kaki just keep getting better and better.

Posted by: kim at 10/03/07 2:57 PM | Reply
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love sara keep rocking girl!

Posted by: Curtis at 10/03/07 3:02 PM | Reply
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who needs Tegan anymore?? ahahah joking.("Kaki and Sara" doesn't sound so bad tough).

Posted by: Lisa at 10/03/07 3:24 PM | Reply
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I love Sarah... but she should stick with Tegan and Sarah, she COMPLETELY ruined this beautiful song, one of my favorites.

Posted by: Jill at 10/03/07 3:47 PM | Reply
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As a huge Tegan and Sara fan and a long time REM fan I really appreciate this. Thanks Sara

Posted by: Jack at 10/03/07 4:48 PM | Reply
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This song sounds great! Of course I Knew it would...when 2 great musicians like Sara & Kaki get together...its bound to be a beautiful thing!! Great Job Ladies :)

Posted by: Karyn B at 10/03/07 5:05 PM | Reply
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You successfully took over the atmosphere of the original song and not forgetting your own sound. what a duet, rem tegan and sara'ily! (well, without tegan)
joy and happy!
g

Posted by: gota at 10/03/07 6:13 PM | Reply
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i miss tegan :(
but great work sara and kaki.
its heaps good.

Posted by: cara at 10/03/07 6:23 PM | Reply
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i'm completely addicted to tegan & sara.....and sara did an AMAZING job on this song (with the help of kaki king, of course)...

i love it.

Posted by: cheyla at 10/03/07 6:50 PM | Reply
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i also miss tegan.
hahaha. :D but yes, GREAT JOB!

Posted by: crystal at 10/03/07 8:53 PM | Reply
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I'm going to be stoned for this, but I've never heard the original. This is great, though. :)

Posted by: Jamie at 10/04/07 5:36 PM | Reply
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I would strongly support a solo album from Sara Quin.

Posted by: ic at 10/04/07 5:51 PM | Reply
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hey me too. miss tegan. But thumbs up to sara and kaki!

Posted by: cheryl at 10/04/07 11:22 PM | Reply
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No conozco a sara realmente, pero estoy seguro q la version original es mucho mejor! lo siento por ella, pero creo q la arruinaron, por suerte voy a seguir escuchando el album original...
(I don´t know sara, but i´m sure that the original version is much better than this! i´m sorry, but i think she ruin the song, luckly i´ll keep listening the original album...)

Posted by: Gabriela(argentina) at 10/08/07 12:57 PM | Reply
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Posted by: Gabriela(argentina) at 10/08/07 12:58 PM | Reply
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This song was probably my favourite on the original Automatic, and is probably the best on Drive XV. Like someone already mentioned, it balances the spirit of the original with Sarah's own style. Magnificent.

Posted by: Swift at 10/14/07 10:55 AM | Reply
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agree with swift and the other poster - easily the best effort on drive XV. thanks!

Posted by: sasefina at 10/15/07 11:09 AM | Reply
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Does this album exist for sale on a cd? Or at the very least, are there any higher quality downloads available? Flac, maybe...

Posted by: Tom at 06/06/08 11:37 AM | Reply
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