Night Swimming

R.E.M. – Nightswimming, From Automatic for the People, October 1992

Nightswimming deserves a quiet night
The photograph on the dashboard, taken years ago
Turned around backwards so the windshield shows
Every streetlight reveals the picture in reverse
Still, it’s so much clearer
I forgot my shirt at the water’s edge
The moon is low tonight

Nightswimming deserves a quiet night
I’m not sure all these people understand
It’s not like years ago
The fear of getting caught
Of recklessness and water
They cannot see me naked
These things, they go away
Replaced by everyday

Nightswimming, remembering that night
September’s coming soon
I’m pining for the moon
And what if there were two
Side by side in orbit
Around the fairest sun?
That bright, tight forever drum
Could not describe nightswimming

You, I thought I knew you
You, I cannot judge
You, I thought you knew me
This one laughing quietly
Underneath my breath
Nightswimming

The photograph reflects
Every streetlight a reminder
Nightswimming deserves a quiet night
Deserves a quiet night

This song is a nostalgic look back by Stipe to a childhood spent on the secluded shores of lakes and ponds. For many American teens, these secluded shores serve as one of the few places of freedom and autonomy in their lives, which accounts for the strong and fond memories that Stipe has of this place. In this rare place free from the influence of authority figures and structure, the teens become their true selves in a Romantic/Transcendentalist sense. As such, the memories of the place are fond, but the feelings are unattainable as life’s realities and responsibilities make it impossible to ever be that same Romantic “true self” again.

First Try Sessions – Nightswimming (REM Cover)

水際ポップ八 night swimming

カバー曲を SecondHandSong って言うひともいるようですが、その言い方がキライです。美空ひばりがカバーした笠置シヅ子の「セコハン娘」って曲だと、私の着物も、ドレスも、ハンドバッグも、ハイヒールも、恋人も、みんな姉さんのお古ばかり、大事なお父さんだって二人目のお父さん、だから私はセコハン娘なのだって感じの歌詞なんだそうだが。セコハンは英語の second hand の略称で、「中古」「中古品」、一度使用した品物。既に誰かによって使われたことのあるもの。新橋の酒場では再婚女性までふくむみたい。Japanese Breakfast が、Yoko Ono「Nobody Sees Me Like You Do」をカバーしたときもそうだったけど。中古感がまったくない。ドリームポップユニットの Pure Bathing Culture が、R.E.M. の「Nightswimming」ををカバーしてました。こちらも中古、セコハンってかんじがまったくさっぱりぜんぜんしない。ふざけんな！程度にない。臨時寝台特別急行感もない。「この曲はみんなが大好き」いがいの答えはありません。そもそもカバー曲をセコハンと呼ぶことが嫌です。歌い継がれていくとか、そんなふうな感じがいいです。

Piney Gir – Nightswimming (REM Cover)

Pure Bathing Culture – Nightswimming (R.E.M. Cover)

hi friends! we’re super excited to share our cover of nightswimming by R.E.M. for Bandcamp friday! we had such an incredible time recording this magical song this past week. we’ve been going through a lot lately in our personal and artistic lives…processing a lot about the past and working towards finding our way to building what lies ahead. it was a really joyous experience exploring this song together at home in the studio. many thanks to chris colbert for the beautiful master. we hope you’ll find a moment to listen and that you enjoy it. we are so grateful for your support and to be totally honest with you we could really use some support right now! we’re still struggling to reset and be able to release music and begin touring again and that’s something that means more than anything to us. but there’s been a lot to figure out recently. in the meantime thank you all so much for being with us on this journey and for listening to our music. sending love and light to everyone! xoxox d&s

Okay Kaya – Nightswimming (REM Cover)

Jagjaguwar · Okay Kaya – Nightswimming

Azure Ray – Nightswimming (REM Cover)

You Say Party We Say Die – Nightswimming (REM Cover)

Helena Noguerra – Je me laisse tomber 

フロムエクアドル

Joaquin Cornejo meets Markandeya – Mountain High

フロムニューヨーク
Photay with Carlos Niño – C U R R E N T (feat. Mikaela Davis)

Flowing water is an essential element of Earthly existence, a living force, a process of nature, a path-making which combines infinite sources mixing imperceptibly into a singular energy. It’s also a potent metaphor. A childlike wonder at flowing water’s presence and power, all the impressions it makes and creative neurons that it fires, happens to be a personality trait shared by Evan Shornstein (aka Photay) and Carlos Niño. The two producers/musical connectors may have grown up and reside a continent and daily realities apart — Photay in the forest serenity of New York’s Hudson Valley, Niño on Los Angeles’s ocean-adjacent west side — yet this magnetic power of fluidity, its sound, its meaning, what it can teach us about art and circulation, mesmerizes them both.