The Time is Ripe to Rhyme with Stipe Quiz

Answer: That this isn't country at all

"Radio Free Europe" from 1983's "Murmur."

It was their first hit song, albeit to a fairly underground audience, although it was also exposed on such mainstream shows as "American Bandstand." Murmur later won Rolling Stone magazine's album of the year honor for 1983 - not bad for their first full-length record.

Answer: I beg you not beg to rhyme (blow your horn)

"Finest Worksong" from 1987's "Document."

Among the more popular interpretations of the song is that it's about rearranging one's priorities.

Answer: Oceans fall and mountains drift

"Feeling Gravity's Pull" from "Fables of the Reconstruction" from 1985.

Answer: Serve your conscience overseas

"Orange Crush" from 1988's "Green," certainly the most singable and catchy ditty ever written about Agent Orange.

"Green" contained several political and environmental songs, and was released on November 8, 1988, deliberately coinciding with that year's US presidential election.

Answer: They said it couldn't be arranged

"Gardening at Night" from the "Chronic Town" EP, a five-song collection from 1982 that was their first release.

Answer: Mountains sit in a line, Leonard Bernstein

"Document's" epic "It's the End of the World as We Know It (and I Feel Fine)," which closed most REM shows since the early 1990s, until they stopped playing it on their 2005 European tour.

The song, a stream-of-consciousness avalanche of words delivered with machine-gun speed, has lyrics that are, at times, extremely difficult to understand. A controversy exists among R.E.M. fans concerning the above lyrics (concerning MANY lyrics actually). An alternative wording - "The other night I tripped a nice continental drift divide, Mount St. Edelite, Leonard Bernstein" - is in wide circulation as well.

Michael Stipe himself is said to have hand-corrected printed lyrics, replacing the "Mount St. Edelite" words with the ones used here. However, Stipe in concert throws his lyric sheets to fans, and both versions keep turning up. And in their 1991 appearance on "MTV Unplugged," singing a slower version of the song, he can clearly be both heard AND seen singing "The other night I dreamt of knives, continental drift divide, Mount St. Edelite, Leonard Bernstein" - yet another permutation!

However it's done, no one disputes that he rhymes "continental drift divide" with "Leonard Bernstein" though!

Answer: Point to the yellow, red and green

"Maps & Legends" from "Fables of the Reconstruction."

The song was dedicated to Howard Finster, a Baptist minister and artist who was a friend of the band. He painted the cover of their "Reckoning" album - and of the Talking Heads' "Little Creatures" - and his garden was used as the setting for the video of "Radio Free Europe."

Answer: Miles Standish proud, congratulate me

"Begin the Begin" from "Lifes Rich Pageant" from 1986.

Supposedly the "birdie in the hand for life's rich demand" refers to "giving the finger" to materialism.

Answer: The city on the river there is a girl without a dream

"So. Central Rain" from 1984's "Reckoning."

The band performed it in 1983 on their first-ever television appearance (David Letterman), referring to it as a song "too new to be named" - they'd just written it.

Answer: Erased the parts he didn't like

"Cuyahoga" from "Lifes Rich Pageant." Listen to it sometime and then go canoeing or white water rafting. It's a perfect song to have in your head while paddling.

Answer: Field to weed is stricken thin

"Driver 8" from "Fables of the Reconstruction." The song is a metaphor for any overworked person who never takes a break; Stipe used the railroad imagery because all the band members had grown up within hearing distance of railroads, and because of the importance of trains in the history of the United States.

Answer: Cannot wear that on your sleeve, it's all wrong, it's all wrong

"Reckoning's" "Pretty Persuasion."

Typical of the band's early songs, it rocks, but it's nearly impossible to understand the words!

Stipe used similar lyrics - "We're sick of being jerked around, wear that on your sleeve" - in their song "Bad Day," which he first wrote in the 1980s and was released in 2003.

Answer: Isn't anything at all (melt the statues in the park)

The beautiful "Fall On Me" from "Lifes Rich Pageant," highlighted by Mike Mills' beautiful harmonies accompanying Michael Stipe's lead vocal.

Answer: You'll wind up in some factory that's full time filth and nowhere left to go

"(Don't Go Back To) Rockville" from "Reckoning."

Bassist/keyboardist Mike Mills wrote much of this song, inspired by a woman named Ingrid Schorr, a fellow University of Georgia student with whom he was infatuated. As a spring semester wound down one year, Mills was depressed that the object of his affection was going to return to her hometown of Rockville, MD for the summer.

With its country feel and lyrics like "you'll wind up in some factory that's full time filth," it's a funny song, especially considering that Rockville, MD is an affluent suburb of Washington DC populated largely by upper middle class executives, with virtually no factories within its borders.

Answer: Your head is there to move you around

"Stand" from "Green."

Much like 1991's "Shiny Happy People," the band greatly disliked the song. It originated with what guitarist Peter Buck thought was a "stupid" guitar riff, to which Stipe added what he thought were "stupid" lyrics. Much to their dismay, it became a big hit for them.