Michael has said in an interview that this song is about a submarine driven by melody as a metaphor for how some of his song ideas come about. Throughout he references songs that he has often referred to as “vomit songs”, aka stream of conscious lyrics.
The song also touches upon a reoccurring drea...
[Verse 1]
It feels in dreams
That everything is there for you
The city breathes and pulses
Its fuel, electron blue
I knew that you could see right through it
So this is where you give in to the machine
Lift up your voice, feel gravity's pull
Drown out the siren's ring
Oh...
[Chorus]
It's all here where I keep it
It's all in the submarine
It's all a lot less frightening
Than you would have had it be
But that's the good news, my darling
It is what it's going to be
So sing, sing for the submarine
[Verse 2]
I tried to explain how it all begins
How it's all destroyed and built again
I knew that you could not believe me
But now you're here and it's different
How the light shines in your eyes
In every second a century
It's then that I realized
The world as we know it
A high-speed train
We'll pick it all up and start again
[Chorus]
It's all here where I keep it
It's all in the submarine
It's all a lot less frightening
Than you would have had it be
But that's the good news, my darling
It is what it's going to be
So sing, sing for the submarine
[Verse 3]
The city did not collapse in a shudder
The rain it never came
At least my confessions made you laugh
I know it's a little crazed
But these dreams
They seem so real to me
[Chorus]
It's all here where I keep it
It's all in the submarine
It's all a lot less frightening
Than you would have had it be
But that's the good news my darling
It is what it's going to be
So sing, sing for the submarine
[Outro]
So this is where you trust me
And this where it begins
It's all a lot less frightening
We're here in the interim
Tyrell and his mechanical owl
A moth disguised as a leaf
Don't tell me what tomorrow brings
We climb into the hidden machine and
Sing sing sing, sing sing sing
Sing, sing for the submarine
Sing for the Submarine was written by Peter Buck & Mike Mills & Michael Stipe.
Sing for the Submarine was produced by Jacknife Lee & R.E.M..
R.E.M. released Sing for the Submarine on Mon Mar 31 2008.