Released: September 9, 1996

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

Producer: Scott Litt R.E.M.

[Verse 1]
Nothing could bring me closer
Nothing could bring me near
Where is the road I follow
To leave it? Leave
It's under, under, under my feet
The sea spread out there before me
Where do I go when the land touches sea?
There is my trust in what I believe

[Chorus]
That's what keeps me, that's what keeps me
That's what keeps me down
To leave it, leave it
Leave it all behind

[Verse 2]
Shifting the dream
Nothing could bring me further from my old friend time
Shifting the dream, it's charging the scene
I know where I marked the signs
I suffer the dreams of a world gone mad
I like it like that, and I know it
I know it well, ugly and sweet
I temper madness with an even extreme
That's what keeps me, that's what keeps me
That's what keeps me down
I say that I'm a bantam lightweight
I say that I'm a phantom airplane that never left the ground

[Chorus]
That's what keeps me, that's what keeps me
That's what keeps me down
To leave, leave it
Leave it all behind

[Verse 3]
Lift me, lift me
I attain my dream
I lost myself, I lost the
Heartache calling me
I lost myself in sorrow
I lost myself in pain
I lost myself in gravity
Memory, leave, leave, leave

[Chorus]
That's what keeps me, that's what keeps me
That's what keeps me down
To leave it, leave it
Leave it all behind
That's what keeps me, that's what keeps me
That's what keeps me down
To leave it, leave it
Leave it all behind

[Verse 4]
My hands, my eyes are still
I'll walk into the sea
Shoot myself in a different place
And leave it
I've longed for this to take me
I've longed for my release
I've waited for the calling
To leave, leave

[Outro]
Leave, leave
Leaving
Leaving, leaving

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.