The Essence of the Artist:
Losing My Religion with REM and Tori Amos

I think it is interesting to consider that the essence of the artist performing a song can cause a world of difference between versions of a song. Take for example the different versions of “Losing My Religion,” originally performed by REM. More so than any overall variations in the actual structure Tori Amos manages to convey a completely different message by simply being the artist she is. This sort of presence that artistic perspective impacts upon a song can even be expanded to include the different version of the song REM has produced. There is a world of difference between the simply musical version of the song, and the music video that was later made. The presence of REM as artists is entirely altered by adding another dimension to their song bringing it into a more vital and corporeal existence. It is also interesting to note the vast effect changing the focus of one image or providing a very slight change in viewpoint can have on the message of a song. I hope to show you the power an artist’s identity has over the perception of their work, especially in this song’s case, by establishing a good working image of how the individual artists (REM and Tori Amos) have their own particular styles and the ways these styles are evident in their respective versions of “Losing My Religion.” By providing these “artist outlines” I will try to make clear how the images and perspectives in the different versions of the song alter the overall composition of the work itself on a fundamental level.

The song Losing My Religion was originally written and performed by REM. It is a song about an obsession. An obsession based in loved and steeped with self loathing deprecation. The lyrics express this theme quite well. The images REM present in their song are very evocative of something holy, as is appropriate considering the title. However it is not the holy of God that REM refers to in the song, but a personal idol or object of worship that the singer has based some important aspect of his life around. When Stipe sings “That’s me in the corner/ That’s me in the spotlight / Losing my religion” the first three lines of the chorus, he is saying something very important about the essence of the song. He’s both in the corner and in the spotlight, losing his religion; meaning he is losing the object of his obsession in his private life (the corner) and being shown what a false idol his obsession is in public (the spotlight being a place where everyone can see him - public). His ideal, the image he has conjured of how the object of his obsession should behave is slowly being exposed to him as lies. But instead of realizing the essence of his problem being in the way he has built up this person, and the inability he has to admit to himself that the individual is no more worthy of his “worship” than anyone else, The lyrics depict a man (or woman) who is slowly becoming disenfranchised with the person he loves, and is doing everything in his (her) power to make The vocal styling of Michael Stipe, the lead singer of REM, are very much in synch with the music of the song itself. He sings at a constant beat and with a constant rhythm to his words. REM’s version of the song is further supported by the music video they made with the song.

Tori Amos brings certain aspects to “Losing My Religion” that are wholly related to her own style of music. She is well known for her breathy songs charged with personal significance and emotion. Her stance as a proponent of anti-domestic violence, rape, incest, and pro-women’s rights has always been a heavy influence on her music. Amos takes the theme from REM’s song and completely reworks the entire scheme. She makes the audience see things from the point a completly new point of view. Where REM told the story of someone obsessing over another person’s failure to live up to unreasonable expectations Amos makes the audience see the pain of someone hurt by another person. The line “Losing my religion” in the song now represents the lost innocence of the singer. Purity is normally associated with religion, spiritual innocence is a large part of many faiths. This innocence and purity has gone in the face of the pain of whom ever hurt the “narrator” of the song.

Amos makes the audience visualize the story line of the song since she has no accompanying video. Instead Amos sings at a more emotionally charged state, using her voice more to convey her message than images like REM. Stipe of Rem is a very talented singer, but throughout the song he sings at mostly the same level and with the same basic tone. Amos purposely sings off pace and at varying volumes. She does this to draw attention to the essence of the song. Certain areas are more emphasized that others. She starts the song off with such an emphasis. She starts the song off with the word me repeated multiple times with different inflection, so that the audience immediatly identifies the song as being more about the singer than the person that she sings about.

The video REM made begins with the of Stipe sitting facing a bright window, but somewhat off in the corner of a bare room. This seems to signify the state of mind that the “singer” of the song is in. They are looking out at someone from a plain and desolate place, and where they are looking is so bright and wonderful compared to the rest of their lives that they latch onto it. This image sends the message that the person who is the narrator of the lyrics if so desperate for anything better than what they have now that they will latch onto anything that seem to brighten up their life. But as the camera moves in to get a better look at this bright window the audience sees that the bright landscape if actually the victim of a heavy downpour of rain. While the camera is moving in the other band members are seen staring up at the ceiling and running in a circle, as if watching something rotate and trying to follow it with their eyes and motions. This could mean any number of things in this song, but to the audience it is most important as another look at the thought processes of the person who is singing the song. If the audience accepts the room as the inside of the narrator, then the circular motion must be representative of the thought processes in this tormented soul. The narrator is thinking in circles, with no escape, trying to rationalize something but making no forward progress. Ignoring the lyrics for a moment the next few images as purely physical statements have quite a lot to say about the discomfort of the narrator. The next series of images are of Stipe receiving a brief and aborted shoulder rub, Stipe hopping around in the corner of the room, various poses of Stipe sitting with a distinct air of inconvenience, and of Stipe dancing in a short almost spastic fashion. These all seem to convey to the audience the further agony of the narrator’s mind (whom Stipe represents). They are all images of comfort left unfound, or desperate attempts at relief to someone who is clearly suffering. One of the most repeated images in the video is that of Stipe crouching huddled in on himself, or sitting holding his head or clutching his body. This is one of the most common universal signs of internal suffering and turmoil in human culture. It is very easy for the audience to identify with Stipe when they see him hunkered in upon himself, because everyone know what it is to have a problem or issue weigh heavily upon themselves. With the visual back up to the images evoked by the song’s lyrics it is very easy to interpret beyond the surface of the lyrics. However it also adds another dimension to the song. What was before pure text never fully absorbed by the audience in more than one dimension (orally) is now a text with scenery perceivable in the audio and visual ranges. Much like hearing ballet music is different from seeing a ballet, so it hearing the song and seeing the music video.

The video is not so much an extension of the REM version of the song as another performance with different meanings. With the visual accompaniment the meanings of the song become emphasized in different ways. In the simply vocal version of the song the image of “Losing my Religion” is powerful because the audience can empathize with the pure emotion attached to the phrase. Losing faith is very easy to identify with because everyone has been let down at some point in their life. The video version of the song takes that particular image and reinforces it. The images of the fallen angel prevalent throughout the second half of the video remind the viewer how important this “religion” is to the singer of this song. The torture and suffering of the angel represents, in another dimension, the agony of the ‘narrator’ of the song. We can feel his pain in the lyrics, in his voice, but with the symbolism in the video the audience is able to identify on an even deeper level with what Stipe is saying.

The comparisons between Amos and REM as artists are easy to make. They are both alternative rock/pop artists, who became big with the less than mainstream before they became superstars. However the way they present the same song, while similar in, are remarkably different in astonishing ways. REM presents a song about suffering because of another person, and the way that other person acts and how the singer reacts is the main focus of the song. Amos, using many of the same images and much of the same text, manages to flip the meaning of the song around and make it more about the individual singing the song and less about the person who has caused them pain. The single most obvious and essential factor that runs in both versions of the song is that the singer has suffered because of another. The difference lies in the way that the artists identify and deal with the pain. In a psychologically predictable way Amos, the female artist, turns the song into something about herself internalizing her own pain. This is essentially the way women deal with problem in their lives according basic psychoanalytical theory. The all-male REM makes the song’s focus more outside of themselfs, projecting their own problems upon another person. This is the most common way men deal with problems. It is easily observable from the outside, when the audience knows what to look at and has a basic understanding of the songs and their performed contexts. While not initially very closely related beyond the surface, both versions of the song are surprisingly alike and yet perplexingly(sp?) different. They deal with the same problem, but from different standpoints and with different points of view.

The structure of the song’s lyrics itself make a profound difference in the way the audience perceives the meaning of the song as well. With REM’s version of the song, both the video and the straight music, the chorus supplements the statements in the verses of the song. The real substance of the meaning is found in the verses which is where REM focuses. In REM’s version of the song, “Losing my religion” is an image that sums up the meaning of the other lyrics. In Amos’s version of the song the focus is clearly on the chorus. Almost all of the emotional impact of her singing goes into the chorus, and the lyrics are structured to support the phrase “Losing my religion.” The central image in her song is the loss of innocence, and she expounds upon this image by using the words of REM’s other verses. She changes the focus of the song by doing this. When REM sings they talk about the other person and what the other person is doing to affect the way they feel, the focus is the action s of another because the lyrics are mostly about the other person. In Amos’s song the image is an internal one, by focusing on her own lost innocence. The lyrics she supports her image with lend the listener to examine how the other persons actions effect her internally, the focus is the effect of the other person, not the actions of the other person like in REM’s version.

In the end I think that Tori Amos takes her personality and alters REM’s art to fit into her own little world. He music is decidedly different from REM’s. They used the same lyrics, the same images, the same basic music. They shared in almost every aspect of the song, but the little personality quirks of the main performers give the different versions of the song separate personalities. The REM visual version is more striking in it’s imagery and in it’s closeness to the audience, but it is easily arguable that the audience loses something when they are not forced to think about what they are hearing and provide their own imagery. Some understanding of the song and it’s artist is gained, but some parts of the lyrics are less carefuly considered when there is no need to analyze to understand the “plot.” The artists each represent themselves in different, tiny ways throughout their works. And it is these tiny unintentional, even instinctual and uncontrollable, changes that drastically affect the end product of the song.

Thanks to my group for your imput, and how you managed to combine your opinions on my flow and content into a single valid criticism about how to make my paper better. Thanks Liz and Lorne.

Lyrics: (REM)
Life is bigger It's bigger than you And you are not me The lengths that I will go to The distance in your eyes Oh no I've said too much I set it up That's me in the corner That's me in the spotlight Losing my religion Trying to keep up with you And I don't know if I can do it Oh no I've said too much I haven't said enough I thought that I heard you laughing I thought that I heard you sing I think I thought I saw you try Every whisper Of every waking hour I'm Choosing my confessions Trying to keep an eye on you Like a hurt lost and blinded fool Oh no I've said too much I set it up Consider this The hint of the century Consider this The slip that brought me To my knees failed What if all these fantasies Come flailing around Now I've said too much I thought that I heard you laughing I thought that I heard you sing I think I thought I saw you try But that was just a dream That was just a dream

Lyrics: (Tori Amos)
Coming Soon!

Works Sited

Losing My Religion
Producer: Tarsen
Album: Out Of Time, 1991
Written and Performed by: Bill Berry, Peter Buck,
Mike Mills and Michael Stipe.

Losing My Religion
Producer: Unknown
Album: Unlisted
Re-Written & Performed by: Tori Amos

Losing My Religion (Music Video)
Producer:
Album: Out Of Time, 1991
Written and Performed by: Bill Berry, Peter Buck,
Mike Mills and Michael Stipe.