You Say Party! We Say Die! On "Nightswimming"
"We chose to cover 'Nightswimming' because it is a beautiful song full of nostalgia, heartfelt remembering, and longing. I have always been drawn to water and found that the most peaceful moments I have ever experienced ... the closest I have ever felt to god and nature ... has been when I am floating on my back in water, at night, looking up to an eyeful of stars. It is such a romantic memory for me. I feel a connection in the lyrics, a kinship to my own personal experience with night swimming."
- Becky Ninkovic

"Everyone expects YSPWSD to be an exclamation point factory ala Le Tigre/YYY's understudy in freshman political science. You'd suppose we'd take 'Man On The Moon' and give it the 190 bpm post-whatever treatment. Rather Becky and I decided to pick 'Nightswimming' based on it's delicacy and grace that comes so easy from just Michael Stipe's voice and a piano. We both connected with the song instantly and enjoy it's ability to convey a feeling of nostalgia for the youth we enjoyed in rain-soaked Vancouver. R.E.M. is a band that sits more in one's peripheral and doesn't always demand the attention it deserves. They just do what they do and blindside you with brilliance time and time again."
-Stephen O'Shea

You Say Party! We Say Die!

Mike Mills On "Nightswimming"
"Great song. Michael had some ideas floating around. Normally his ideas come after the music, and in this case he had some ideas he wanted to put down. He'd been looking for the right musical situation, and I came in with that music one day and he loved it and we worked it out in, I think, one day."

Check out The Wrens' cover of "Nightswimming" here.

"Nightswimming" lyrics
Nightswimming deserves a quiet
night.
The photograph on the
dashboard, taken years ago,
turned around backwards so the
windshield shows.
Every streetlight reveals the
picture in reverse.
Still, it's so much clearer.
I forgot my shirt at the water's
edge.
The moon is low tonight.

Nightswimming deserves a quiet
night.
I'm not sure all these people
understand.
It's not like years ago,
The fear of getting caught,
of recklessness and water.
They cannot see me naked.
These things, they go away,
replaced by everyday.

Nightswimming, remembering
that night.
September's coming soon.
I'm pining for the moon.
And what if there were two
Side by side in orbit
Around the fairest sun?
That bright, tight forever drum
could not describe
nightswimming.

You, I thought I knew you.
You I cannot judge.
You, I thought you knew me,
this one laughing quietly
underneath my breath.
Nightswimming.

The photograph reflects,
every streetlight a reminder.
Nightswimming deserves a quiet
night, deserves a quiet night.

Tags: You Say Party! We Say Die!

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6 Comments

not what i expected from a band with this name, but i really like it

Posted by: hoo at 10/10/07 4:23 PM | Reply
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Marry me, Becky.
DwD

Posted by: Dw Dunphy at 10/10/07 5:28 PM | Reply
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That was really lovely. Thanks, stereogum!

Posted by: Jules at 10/10/07 5:46 PM | Reply
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This is maybe my favorite of the REM covers. It changes it up a little bit while staying very true to the original.

Posted by: brooks at 10/10/07 7:13 PM | Reply
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A++++ Pleasure to do business with!!!!!

Posted by: jms at 10/10/07 7:15 PM | Reply
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WOW - I had to pull over to the side of the road to listen when this came on the radio at 99X Atlanta GA USA. I'm a R.E.M. fan but this cover affected me much more strongly than the original. I think its because the R.E.M. version is musically superior that the strength of the lyrics can easily be overlooked. You know, you can just kind of hum along shucking and jiving. This version is so spare that the beauty and compelling nostalgia of the poetry is impossible to avoid

Posted by: Ken at 10/27/07 12:15 PM | Reply
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