Released: October 4, 2004
Songwriter: Michael Stipe Mike Mills (R.E.M.) Peter Buck
Producer: Pat McCarthy R.E.M.
[Verse 1]
You see there's this cat burglar who can't see in the dark
He lays his bets on eight more lives and walks into a bar
Slips on the eight ball, falls on his knife, says
"I don't know what I've done, but it doesn't feel right"
Some things don't hold up over the course of a lifetime
When's the first time you heard that one, 1954?
Get to the punch line, fall to the floor
[Chorus]
Give me a minute and I'll tell you the setup for the worst joke ever
I never
I'll tell you my version of the greatest life story
Don't bore me
[Verse 2]
Now I am floating, I feel released
The moorings have been dropped, the weights unleashed
Everything is crystalline, simple and free
The crime of good men who can't wrestle with change
Or are too afraid to face this life's misjudged unknowns
You're not hurting anybody else's chances but you're disfiguring your own
[Chorus]
Give me a minute and I'll tell you the setup for the worst joke ever
I never
I'll tell you my version of the greatest life story
Don't bore me
[Outro]
You see there's this feeling that I've heard this one before
You see there's this cat burglar who can't see in the dark
He lays his bets on eight more lives and walks into a bar
Slips on the eight ball, falls on his knife, says
"I don't know what I've done, but it doesn't feel right"
Some things don't hold up over the course of a lifetime
When's the first time you heard that one, 1954?
Get to the punch line, fall to the floor
[Chorus]
Give me a minute and I'll tell you the setup for the worst joke ever
I never
I'll tell you my version of the greatest life story
Don't bore me
[Verse 2]
Now I am floating, I feel released
The moorings have been dropped, the weights unleashed
Everything is crystalline, simple and free
The crime of good men who can't wrestle with change
Or are too afraid to face this life's misjudged unknowns
You're not hurting anybody else's chances but you're disfiguring your own
[Chorus]
Give me a minute and I'll tell you the setup for the worst joke ever
I never
I'll tell you my version of the greatest life story
Don't bore me
[Outro]
You see there's this feeling that I've heard this one before
- Around the Sun (2004)
- Losing My Religion
- It’s the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)
- Man on the Moon
- Everybody Hurts
- Orange Crush
- The One I Love
- Nightswimming
- The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite
- Shiny Happy People
- What’s the Frequency, Kenneth?
- Drive
- Imitation of Life
- Stand
- Find the River
- Radio Free Europe
- (Don’t Go Back to) Rockville
- E-Bow the Letter
- Country Feedback
- The Great Beyond
- Let Me In
- Fall on Me
- Try Not to Breathe
- So. Central Rain (I’m Sorry)
- Ignoreland