Songwriter: Michael Stipe Mike Mills (R.E.M.) Peter Buck

Producer: R.E.M. Jacknife Lee

Sinking fast to winch me to my feet
No time to argue with belief
I'm not alone, a thousand others dropping
Faster than me
What put me here?
Nothing to hold on to
Nowhere to brake

Where is the rip chord, the trapdoor, the key?
Where is the cartoon escape-hatch for me?
No time to question the choices I made
I've got to fall in another direction

The last thing I remember was climbing up the stairs
I threw the window open in challenge and despair
I don't know what I needed
I needed time
I needed to escape
I saw the future turn
Upside-down and hesitate

Where is the rip chord, the trapdoor, the key?
Where is the cartoon escape-hatch for me?
No time to question the choices I made
I've got to fall in another direction
Accelerate

The vista I see now is changing
Uncertainty is suffocating
Our hope has never felt so great and
I lay right down
A pounded pulse
Make it go
Make it slow down
Go

Where is the rip chord, the trapdoor, the key?
Where is the cartoon escape-hatch for me?
No time to question the choices I made
I've got to fall in another direction

The city burning, it's like it's ready to explode
Accelerate to make it slow
Make it go
Accelerate to make it slow
Make it go
I'm incomplete
I'm incomplete
I'm incomplete

R.E.M.

R.E.M. were an American rock band from Athens, Georgia, formed in 1980 by singer Michael Stipe, guitarist Peter Buck, bassist Mike Mills, and drummer Bill Berry.

Berry quit the band in April 1997, as they were getting together to record demos for the album Up. He was not replaced on a permanent basis, but the band used an assortment of drummers in his place.