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Wikipedia article"'New Test Leper'" is a song by R.E.M., included on their tenth studio album, 'New Adventures in Hi-Fi', which was released in 1996. It wasn't released as a single; its only non-album issue was on a 1996 Germany-only-released Warner Bros. Records promotional CD.[http://eil.com/products/rem-new-test-leper.html New Test Leper GER Promo CD Single by REM at eil.com] The song was also included in the greatest hits compilation 'Part Lies, Part Heart, Part Truth, Part Garbage 19822011', released in 2011 soon after the group disbanded. The song was played live throughout the 'Up' tour in 1998 and 1999. In 2003, it was played live for two concerts, was played once in 2005, once in 2007, and one final time in 2008. RecordingThe song was recorded at Bad Animals Studio in Seattle, Washington, in March 1996, four months after R.E.M. completed their 1995 world tour in support of their previous album, 'Monster'. On the track, Bill Berry plays drums and shaker; Peter Buck plays guitar; Mike Mills, bass and organ; and Michael Stipe provides the vocals, which were penned during moments of downtime at the studio. The following month, on April 19, the band recorded an acoustic version of the song at the same location. That version was released as a B-side to the "Bittersweet Me" single. The video of the performance, directed by Lance Bangs, was used as the video to the album version of the song in the Bonus Videos section on the band's 'In View' DVD, released in 2003. Songwriting and lyricsThe first line of the song contains the lyrics "I can't say that I love Jesus", attracting some controversy. Peter Buck clarified the matter to 'Q' magazine's Tom Doyle in 1996: "It's written from the perspective of a character that Michael saw on TV on a talk show. But are people going to think Michael's talking about himself not liking Jesus? I don't think that people will take us that seriously. It's not like we're tearing up a picture of the Pope on television." He was referring to Sinad O'Connor's 1992 'Saturday Night Live' incident. " According to Darryl White's [http://www.remtimeline.com/ R.E.M. Timeline], "New Test Leper" received its first live airing on May 31, 1997, at the Variety Playhouse in Atlanta during the final show of The Magnificent 7 vs. The United States' tour. The "Magnificent 7" was composed of Peter Buck, Mark Eitzel, Justin Harwood, Dan Pearson, Barrett Martin, Scott McCaughey and Skerik Walton, with other people performing occasionally. Buck's R.E.M. bandmates were present, and the guitarist left Eitzel to perform the last encore to go backstage and talk with the trio. Berry, however, had already departed and was on his way home. Bill phoned me after the show to tell me hed loved it, explained Buck. But he had to leave halfway through because he was scared hed be asked to play. It had taken him two hours to drive there; he stayed for forty minutes, and then drove home so he wouldnt be asked to play one R.E.M. song."Black, p. 231 The remaining threesome put together a short set and took to the stage. During R.E.M.'s performance on VH1 'Storytellers' in 1998, Stipe explained the background of the song he described as his "crowning achievement": how he initially (and, thankfully for him, erroneously) thought he'd stolen the song's "biggest line" - 'What a sad parade' - from his friend Vic Chesnutt; how he wanted to write a follow-up to the only other song he knew that contained the word 'Jesus' in the first line - namely Patti Smith's re-working of Van Morrison's "Gloria" ("Jesus died for somebody's sins but not mine"); how he "wanted to write a song that was in the 6/8 polka kind of thing, but wanted the vocal to be contrapuntal; and how he quoted his favorite movie in the second verse ("I am not an animal," from 'The Elephant Man', a movie that Stipe says also inspired R.E.M.'s "Carnival of Sorts (Box Cars)", amongst others). References*Black, Johnny (2004). 'Reveal: The Story of R.E.M.' London: Backbeat Books. . Category:R.E.M. songs Category:1996 songs Category:Songs written by Bill Berry Category:Songs written by Peter Buck Category:Songs written by Mike Mills Category:Songs written by Michael Stipe Category:Song recordings produced by Scott Litt Category:Song recordings produced by Michael Stipe Category:Song recordings produced by Mike Mills Category:Song recordings produced by Bill Berry Category:Song recordings produced by Peter Buck Category:Music videos directed by Lance Bangs | |
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