The song can be considered a kind of preview to R.E.M.’s subsequent album Up as it takes on an arguably electronic element, a blaring siren that permeates almost all of the track, save a brief guitar and organ introduction.
The bleak siren, and generally mopey introduction and chord set, help to cr...
[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]
Shift into dream
Nothing could bring me further from my old friend time
This shift into dream, it's charging the scene
I know where I marked the signs
I suffer 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 dream a dream
I lost myself, I lost self
Are they 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]
I lift my hands, my eyes are still
I walk into the sea
Shift myself a different place
Then 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
Leave, leave
I'm leaving, leaving
Leave was written by Michael Stipe & Mike Mills & Peter Buck & Bill Berry.
Leave was produced by Scott Litt & R.E.M..