This song is a fucking masterpiece. I'm 51. For me it evokes heavy nostalgia, and actually chokes me up. It's so well crafted and written. Everything has changed so much since the early 90's when this was recorded, and I'm certain much of it is not for the better. I was there, and can vouch for the fact they were really good times.

@badboys1769

2 жыл бұрын

I'm 41 and 90s was when automatic came out,he was gay there was racism back then and it was a different time back then,its so good for that time

@StuartwasDrinkell

5 ай бұрын

There's still good music out there... we're just more knee deep in mass produced crap... but honest beautiful music like this is still there if you sort through the trash you'll find something that glitters... the 90s was a golden time though for sure.

@StuartwasDrinkell

5 ай бұрын

​@@badboys1769all that shit never mattered back then... we just wanted great entertainment, and artists like Stipe bridged those old bs divides... as did hendrix, bowie, prince, marley, mercury, all of them who stand the test of time... you didn't care about their personal shit, you just wanted to witness magic, which is what good music is... music of all the arts, transports you to other worldy heights... escapism from the mundane everyday at it's most glorious best! In order to love paintings and sculpture you admire when viewing in the present but you really need to paint or sculpt to become obsessed... but music and poetry burnish themselves indelibly on the memory all one needs to do is hear it. "Without music, life would be a mistake!" - Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

Makes me cry...every-time..it reminds me of the freedom of youth in summer, the sweetness before the damage

@originalfallinggirl

5 жыл бұрын

terri fay oh yes. This is my 17 yo anthem.

@karlward623

4 жыл бұрын

terri fay wow great words

@marcodonati572

4 жыл бұрын

You fully realize the importance of something, only after losing it. Youth is the best time in life.

@pepsi4991

3 жыл бұрын

Me too.

@disenfranchisedproletariat4832

3 жыл бұрын

Honestly, I always loved this song but struggled with the meaning. Maybe I’m an idiot. Your description galvanised it and I’m thankful. Cheers....

I had never heard this song until I took my son to Sea World in Ohio. A Shamu show. My boy fell asleep on top of me. Never loved being a dad more. Precious memory.

@claudiabannister6414

2 жыл бұрын

🐳💜🐳💜🐳💜🐳

@tomdutcher2131

2 жыл бұрын

Good one on you mate 👍

Is this the greatest song by R.E.M? I think yes

@godofwater1234

3 жыл бұрын

I used to listen to Automatic of the People on my portable CD player as a kid. I would always skip all songs and just play Man on the Moon over and over. But then one day this song just clicked for me. Just so beautiful and honest. Nothing fancy

@darrenleighton3971

3 жыл бұрын

@@godofwater1234 it's the second best song after Find the River

@iamme8530

3 жыл бұрын

💯 yes

@leonheathourakov1732

2 жыл бұрын

@@darrenleighton3971 fr

@dennisschmieder7684

2 жыл бұрын

Probably, IMO. Definitely in the conversation.

As I listened to this song, i called my husband and asked him back into my life. I’ll never forget. I was in NYC by the south street seaport on gold st. He came running over from st marks. We re-exchanged wedding bands on the Brooklyn Bridge. We lasted 4 years. I will always love him. Always ❤️ thanks REM. You are the soundtrack to my life 🙏💖🙏💖1995

@jarvetband

2 жыл бұрын

That's beautiful.

@chelseacard5506

6 ай бұрын

Wow 🫶

I lost my mom recently and the pain runs deep. This song is the soundtrack of my grief process. Puffy eyes and runny nose. Love you guys.

@cliffhanger1466

10 ай бұрын

I lost her years ago but it's still here. Stay strong for you're mom she's watching.

I cannot find the words to express how much I love this song. Thank you REM

@TangoEliott

9 жыл бұрын

Dear Cakes, I do not like to presume but want to tell you that your name is very touching and brings me to the classic MacArthur's Park. Your words are beautiful and spot on. When I think of the image of the "tight bright forever drum" and now think of you laughing along with the earth I will smile as well and perpetually thank you for this poetic response and insight.

@TangoEliott

9 жыл бұрын

***** I do not know how anyone cannot hear the first few notes and not be hypnotized and transfixed to their radios or other devices. This song melts my heart and touches parts of my youth that are long ago but forever fresh in my being.

@TangoEliott

9 жыл бұрын

***** Thanks Cakes. I look forward to reading many more of your posts.

@TangoEliott

9 жыл бұрын

***** I already do!

@TangoEliott

9 жыл бұрын

***** LOL

"September's Coming soon..." it gets me every time.

@gordonm.7387

8 жыл бұрын

It's a great line. Summer ends, enjoy the winter.

@free322001

7 жыл бұрын

I'm pining for the Moon...

@fredericlesauter9687

7 жыл бұрын

Sam McGovern en effet tout le monde ne comprend pas...

@jeremysmith54565

6 жыл бұрын

Love winter personally haha don't think I'd ever fit for Seasonal Affective (or whatever that is spelt) Disorder (SAD) lol, amazing song truly! It's what some would or will say is about skinny dipping at night, after they'd play at a club called Athens, but he said that most of its made up and is when they'd hire someone to watch them over the night but for the fear or being sued was changed from Night watchman or something to Nightswimming I dunno, but either way it's an amazing song!

@rbibbe34

5 жыл бұрын

Gordon M. Enjoy the summer. Fall/ winter coming. Summer is the best, we only get so much of that beauty :)

This might just be the best song ever written. Stipe has such a unique voice.

Stipey is a person you naturally feel like protecting, just to preserve all that's good in humanity

I don't cry easily. I never cry at funerals or weddings or any sort of "tearjerker" event. Even a saddest book or movie makes me feel...well, sad, but not that sad to drive me to tears. However, when Michael sings "I'm not sure all these people understand it's not like years ago" and/or "September's coming soon", there is a tear in my eye every time.

@Anthony-uf3oz

3 жыл бұрын

What a powerful comment ! Thank you,my brother !

@carl_hansson

Ай бұрын

For me the most sad line is "These things, they go away. Replaced by everyday."

One of the greatest songs ever written. At their most beautiful. Thanks so much Mike and Michael for sharing your gift.

Favorite line: "These things they go away, replaced by every day". So appropriate as important things to you in youth fade as you grow older.

Summers as a young adult and swimming at night in the lake with special people. One guy in particular. Oh sweet youth. This song is PERFECT. I'm in love with both Mikes.

@paulamiles9559

Жыл бұрын

Me too.❤

This is one of my favorite all time songs.

My all time favorite REM song. Mike Mills’ piano playing on this one is absolutely beautiful 💜💜💜🎹

❤❤❤ Thank you R.E.M. for writing this absolute perfection of a song. I have no words for how much I love it and how it touches my soul. I mean, I do, but it would be a whole essay, so suffice it to say I _love_ it. Thank you. And God, Michael's voice is gorgeous.

March, 2020 and still listening this!

@ebutzek1

4 жыл бұрын

WRod0335 right there with ya

@bethgodsey1354

4 жыл бұрын

April 2020 and still listening to this beautiful song.

@mpm517

4 жыл бұрын

@@bethgodsey1354 July 2020 still listening ✌ September's coming soon

@Eatwithureyes

3 жыл бұрын

5/14/21 still this song kills it.

One of the best songs ever written.

@patrickmckeirnan

8 күн бұрын

Here here

I Still love this song so much, the combination of his Voice and the piano and violins etc. Somethimes I cry.. it makes me emotional, so beautiful...

THis might be the best song written ...ever

@gordonm.7387

8 жыл бұрын

Better than Stand By Me by Ben E. King? Or Smoke gets in Your Eyes? or...um... We Aere the Champions by Queen? or...? Nightswimming. It's great. Haunting tune. Music is the answer to the mystery of life.

@eldaman6652

8 жыл бұрын

You mean the same guy that ripped off the 60s 70s 90s and stole from Joe Satriani?

@buckleygeneration

7 жыл бұрын

3333USA He said the same of Bittersweet Symphony. His views aren't very consistent.

@silkywellman315

6 жыл бұрын

bobby bousche' thank you...I agree soooooo much

Genius. When I am gone, and my children hear this, I hope they will think of me.

@pilarmedina2312

7 жыл бұрын

this comment made me cry

@wendishelton516

7 жыл бұрын

Syl Selya me too

@Twistedhippy

5 жыл бұрын

❤️

@silviobonelli1419

3 жыл бұрын

I am sure they will!

@sylselya7517

3 жыл бұрын

I saw them in the early 1980s at the old Ripley Music Hall in Philadelphia. Who would have thought almost 40 years later, I am still listening.

Automatic For The People is such a beautiful album. Dark, dreary, depressing in places but beautiful. No bands like R.E.M. out there today.

I'm pretty sure this my favourite song. My dad had the album when it came out and I listened to it over and over again... this song still gives me chills . I learned the piano part a few years ago, despite being simple it's actually suprisingly challenging to keep repeating the motif without screwing up lol

My favourite REM song...and the best song ever written about skinny dipping.

Incredible song - it never fails to move me...I miss you REM

What’s really amazing about this song is that “Find a River” the song that followed it was just as pretty

just love the fact that they have their eyes closed most of the times...as if they were imaginig the lyrics

GENIUS. hard to believe out of time 25 years ago.

@eileenstubington8592

6 жыл бұрын

John Clark it was on automatic for the people

@dlr2053

5 жыл бұрын

Ha ha you idiot !! Lol lol lol out of time !!!! Knob head

This song takes me back to my adolescence and it makes me feel wonderful.

Hauntingly beautiful lyrics...placed in the hypotonically continuing nonconformity that is R.E.M.

The greatness that is REM right here.

Thank u r e m from a Georgia girl who grew up at the same time you did,you captured it perfectly, this I my favorite song of yours,beautiful 💙😢😢

Gorgeous Michael and R.E.M. 🎶🎤🎵 Thank you very much. ❤❤️

I admired her throughout high school, but the courage never came to me. I only watched her shine amongst others, and pined for her under the moon. Six years later, I returned to my hometown for a summer job. She was there. The light in her eyes was “replaced by every day” and the uncertainty of serious mental health issues. Photographs kept turning in my memory, and I recalled her understated persona, culture, and athletic glow. This time, I summoned the courage. Our time together put some of her misfortunes in reverse, and I could not describe my feelings when her fair smile returned. But “these things, they go away”, and I knew that come September, life was going to call us elsewhere. My mind and heart turned endlessly between our quiet laughter and tender moments-how can this work?? Late one evening, she took me swimming at a park that meant very different things to each of us. I floundered by the shore- “you, I thought you knew me”! She, the varsity swimmer, took fluid laps across the lake and back. She I marvelled at in the moonlight. I gathered her heartbeat into my arms; it was so strong, even, and sure-“you, I thought I knew you”!? It became clear that I could not know her, and knew not how to handle her fragility with the right strength, nor her strength with the right fragility. Quite some time after that summer, I heard “Nightswimming” for my first time. Especially when the song comes to two moons, “side by side in orbit, around the fairest sun”, I remember that time together. Ever so brightly.

Can we just talk about how brilliant this live performance is? The vocals are amazing from Michael

This song has been in my mind for over a year now. What a gem. REM is really growing a place in my heart at this moment.

Listening to REM is pure joy. Life is complete with their music playing. The soundtrack of my life. 🥰

As a great vocalist you should be so proud of yourself......a beautiful, beautiful song

The greatest song by R.E.M. Love it so much. September coming soon....😍😍

My best description for this song is, the moment you rest your head on a pillow. Relaxing and forgetting the worries of life.

REM is the greatest band from the MtV New-Wave generation I grew up with. Classic and First-class. This song is one of the most beautiful songs in history. In an Orwellian World, it's even harder to go Night Swimming. :(

@wendishelton516

7 жыл бұрын

blueguitarblue yes

This song moves me to an heightened state of serenity.......

Out of Time is an album that everone should listen too on a tough day. REM is beyond beautiful and melodic. Here I am at 2am and catching feels again haha, in this pandemic madness. Thank you REM, you're life savers. :) 👍

@DCDPM

Жыл бұрын

Except it was on Automatic For The People.

Wasnt an REM fan until I saw them live at T in the Park.... this song brought a tear to my eye... #stunning

This is beautiful , haunting and sad , but it reminds me of a feeling when I was doing something that made me feel so alive , under the starry sky , it brings back how raw the love and emotions were. It was a moment I am so glad I got to experience in this life , whenever I recall the feelings this song evokes , I am back to that warm summer night , and it makes me smile , feel lucky and know I have felt true love in its purest form , I will always love the man I was with then ❤

ditto on one of the best songs ever. Played it on my ipod while on the beach at night in Costa Rica. Saw REM live about 5 years ago, and that is the song i still hear in my head. Stipe is one of the best song writiers ever.

I did this till I was 35...snuck into my old high school with some of my best friends...I love it

One of my favourites, ever since I picked it up on cassette.

great piano from MIKE MILLS , Such melodic musicians . Thanks for posting. John, Manchester, UK.

This song reminds me vividly of slowly losing my own innocence. Such a lovely song to act as that anthem of mine.

I just absolutely love the sound of this song, I play it over and over again. There is something about the experience of hearing it that is just hauntingly hypnotising.

One of the most beautiful poignant masterpieces ever written and performed EVER. Michael is as prettiful as the piano playing.

Seems like I've been listening to REM my whole life...thanks guys.

love, moves me to tears

@Groasis74

7 жыл бұрын

Same to me...

A grown up song. Stunning.

2020! this song Is timeless. I miss theses days so much!

A spectacular performance of my favourite song... ever. Wow.

I'm not a big R.E.M fan, but this song gets me every time i hear it. Amazing.

i love this song too much i still can't believe that 2 months ago i was meeting to peter and mike in person :)

@wendishelton516

7 жыл бұрын

Lòpez Pedro wish i could

one of the best songs ever, he really capture' s loss and fear and life

His voice works in so many levels.Incredible, like the best story teller to sing to you at the perfect moment with the perfect melody.No accident.They were class.Thanks

@russellthompson9271

3 жыл бұрын

What levels?

This song is amazing! One of the most beautiful R.E.M.-songs. Epic!

This song is just fantastic, mind-blowing... gives me chills every time I heard it. Michael Stipe is definitely too human for this world. Love REM.

In 2005..I was lucky enough to buy tickets in Glasgow....To go to see R.E.M at The -Balloch Castle Country Park....It'll Remain With Me For The Rest Of My Life .... ABSOLUTELY EPIC GIG. ✌️👏👏👏. ( A huge Thankyou to The Nurse Who Worked On Ward 24 Glasgow Royal Hospital 💞❤️‍🩹...💪 ( You Know Who You Are !!...Oh The Banter Babe..I still have a wee giggle about it today 👏👏👏💞❤️‍🩹

I love R.E.M., thanks for everything, our generation should be thankful for the great music.. this brings back my youth.

Wow what an amazing performance. One of the greatest song ever written, there is not a weak line in the hole song. You can imagine every line, "Deserves a quiet night" and "I'm not sure all these people understand" among the best

Wow I can't stop listening to this song. Up there in one of my top 5 songs.

A Masterpiece One Of The Greats, So Beautiful 😊 Every photograph reflects, every street light acts as a reminder....

one of the top 3 greatest songs ever composed.

I bought Automatic For the People for a different song, probably Drive. The first time I heard Nightswimming I put it on “repeat” for the next hour. What a masterpiece!

Favourite song of all time

One of the greatest songs ever written. It makes me feel happy and sad all rolled into one, thinking of memories of days gone by.

This is such a wonderful song!

I heard this song for the first time in ages a few nights ago; and I got the chance to sing it. Since then I've been listening to it and singing along to it repeatedly. Glorious!

My all time favourite REM song....absolutely stunning performance here

This masterpiece only 500,00 views. The world can't be fine.

This song was an instant classic all those years ago, and it still sounds as good today as it did way back then. Total respect to a band that have stood the test of time. I salute you. 🙏🙏🙏👏👏👏👏

gets to make cry. so sad, so beautiful.

Might swimming is so deep and personal.Moves me to tears

I used to cry when i listened to this song. Its a very moving song.

Simply beautiful and stunning!!

When I became obsessed by Michael Stipe's voice is about the time i heard this track. 42 now and still one of my all time favourite bands and singers. ❤

Simply beautiful song , one of my all-time top 10 ....classic ❤

Feels a little akin to life in this era ❤

Possibly my all time favourite REM song although there are many contenders!

"Without music, life would be a mistake!" - Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

Just such a beautiful song, beautifully sung

I grew up on a lake and this song sums up my adolescent Summers with my first ❤ Incredible song. Thanks for the masterpiece!!

one of my all-time favourites - top 5

Im a Rocker by heart but i LOVE this BAND and SONG...............

Can not believe 3 dislikes, must be deaf peeps listening. Thanks for posting this all time great of REM the greatest.

beautiful... just beautiful.

Brilliat song,Mike Mills piano genius....!

Beatiful song!!!Thank You R.E.M.!FOREVER REM!!!!

Music today is awful this reminds me how blessed we were in d 80s and 90s

Brasil ILOVE R.E M THE BEST THE BEST

A beatutiful rendering of the song....touching.

Regardless of which way Michael swings give him to me at the Last Day of Summer and he'll be mine by the End of Autumn. ha ha Seriously , this song is a Masterpiece and REM is one of the couple of bands to move beyond the MTv craze of the 1980s and establish itself as a classic immortal band.

この声とサウンドはまるで魔法のよう。とても優しく音楽の世界に誘ってくれる。まるで身体中の痛みを取り去ってくれるよう。そんな癒しの音楽だ。