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By Bill Berry, Peter Buck, Mike Mills and Michael Stipe (lyrics). © 1992, Athens Music.
In G, more or less -- as recorded, apparently.
C D* C
1. Mott the Hoople and the game of Life... Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
C D* C
Andy Kaufman in the wrestling match... Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
C D* C
Monopoly, Twenty-one, checkers, and chess... Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
C D* C
Mr. Fred Blassie in a breakfast mess... Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
C D* C
Let's play Twister, let's play Risk... Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
C D* C
See you heaven if you make the list... Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Am G Am G
Hey, Andy did you hear about this one? Tell me, are you locked in the punch?
Am G C D
Hey, Andy are you goofing on Elvis? "Hey, baby..." Are we losing touch?
G Am C Bm G Am D
If you believed... they put a man on the moon, man on the moon...
G Am C Bm Am
If you believe... there's nothing up my sleeve, then nothing is cool...
2. Moses went walking with the staff of wood... Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Newton got beaned by the apple good... Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Egypt was troubled by the horrible asp... Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Mr. Charles Darwin had the gall to ask... Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Am G Am G
Hey, Andy did you hear about this one? Tell me, are you locked in the punch?
Am G C D
Hey, Andy are you goofing on Elvis? "Hey, baby..." Are you having fun?
G Am C Bm G Am D
If you believed... they put a man on the moon, man on the moon...
G Am C Bm Am
If you believe... there's nothing up my sleeve, then nothing is cool...
[electric guitar solo over Em D Em D Em D]
3. Here's a little agit for the never-believer... Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Here's a little ghost for the offering... Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Here's a truck stop instead of Saint Peter's... Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Mr. Andy Kaufman's gone wrestling bears... Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Am G Am G
Hey, Andy did you hear about this one? Tell me, are you locked in the punch?
Am G C D
Hey, Andy are you goofing on Elvis? "Hey, baby..." Are we losing touch?
[electric guitar solo over Em D Em D Em D] [Here, really?]
G Am C Bm G Am D
If you believed... they put a man on the moon, man on the moon...
G Am C Bm Am
If you believe... there's nothing up my sleeve, then nothing is cool...
G Am C Bm G Am D
If you believed... they put a man on the moon, man on the moon...
G Am C Bm Am
If you believe... there's nothing up my sleeve, then nothing is cool...
G Am C Bm G Am D
If you believed... they put a man on the moon, man on the moon...
G Am C Bm Am Em
If you believe... there's nothing up my sleeve, then nothing is cool...
This is my all-time favorite R.E.M. song. One dreary night in 1993 I was wandering aimlessly and alone through the streets of a small town in Japan, an hour west of Tokyo. I'd been there for nearly a week, on an engineering assignment, and I was feeling weary and very lonely. Looking for some distraction, I entered one of the last stores still open - a tiny, run-down clothing shop. The radio was blaring some U.S. pop song, probably from the nearby Tachikawa U.S. Air Force base. Presently, Man on the Moon came on, and I was transported immediately and entirely out of my funk by the enigmatic imagery, Mr. Stipe's incisive voice, and the crashing chords of the chorus. I hopped the next train back to my hotel, singing blissfully to myself reconstructed snatches of the lyrics all the way home.
LYRICS: Downloaded from OLGA (OnLine Guitar Archive) site, 23 Jan 98. They're perfect, hopefully, as the transciber says they're from the "official songbook." One curiosity: the last line of the last verse was written: "Mister Andy Kaufman's gone wrestling [wrestling bears]." Stipe simply sings "wrestling", and another voice muttrers "wrestling bears" in the background. I think I'll sing "wrestling bears".
CHORDS: Simple, but brilliant! For the D with the added 2 and 4, just slide the C chord straight up two frets. You may want to try using barre chords for the chorus, especially if you're playing an electric. The transcription I based this on indicated that the C chord in the 3rd and 4th lines of the chorus should be the barred inversion rooted at fret 3 (shown below). It does blend more smoothly into the Bm that follows it.
C D* (add2,add4) C III
O O O O X X Intro slide part, allegedly:
============= ============= ============= E--------------------
| | | | O | | | | | | | | | | | | | B------5-----7-----5-
----------- ----------- ----------- G----/5-5--/7-7--/5-5
| | O | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | D----/5----/7----/5--
----------- ----------- ----------- A--------------------
O O | | | | | | | | O | | O | | | | E--------------------
----------- ----------- -----------
| | | | | | | | O | | | | | | | | |
----------- -----------
O O | | | | | | O O O |
----------- -----------
- Transcribed by WA, 29 Jan 1998. Last edited 29 Oct 2000. Formatting last tweaked 28 May 2001.
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