Radio Free Europe, REM’s first single on their debut album “Murmur” in 1983 was actually a re-make of the song. They had done it originally two years earlier on a single. MTV wanted a video and I.R.S. Records complied, hiring director Arthur Pierson to make it. If you can’t understand the words to the song, you’re not alone. Michael Stipe’s lyrics — both their enunciation in the band’s performance, and their meaning — require some effort to take in. But the obscure lyrics of Radio Free Europe launched REM out of obscurity.

REM “Radio Free Europe” from I.R.S. Records

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REM “Radio Free Europe” with David Letterman
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Radio Free Europe original, Hib Tone label, single lyrics