Losing My Religion

Song Meaning of Losing My Religion by REM

The song's primary riff and chorus were composed on a mandolin by R.E.M. guitarist Peter Buck while he was watching television. Buck was trying to learn how to play the instrument he had just purchased, recording the music as he went.

Buck said that "when I listened back to it the next day, there was a bunch of stuff that was really just me learning how to play mandolin, and then there's what became 'Losing My Religion', and then a whole bunch more of me learning to play the mandolin."

Buck also stated "when I listened back to it the next day, there was a bunch of stuff that was really just me learning how to play mandolin, and then there's what became 'Losing My Religion', and then a whole bunch more of me learning to play the mandolin."

Lead singer, Michael Stipe has constantly said the song's lyrics are not about religion. The phrase "losing my religion" is an expression from the southern part of the USA that means "losing one's temper or civility" or "feeling frustrated and desperate."

Stipe said to the The New York Times, the song was about romantic expression. He told Q Magazine that "Losing My Religion" is about "someone who pines for someone else. It's unrequited love, what have you."

Losing My Religion lyrics by REM

Oh life, it's 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, fool

Oh no, I've said too much

I set it up

Consider this

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

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

But that was just a dream

Try, cry, why try

That was just a dream

Just a dream

Just a dream, dream