Every Day Is Yours To Win

This video comes courtesy of R.E.M. and Warner Bros. Records. It’s “exclusive” to this site, but by all means, put it on your own site and spread it around. It’s a lovely performance of a terrific song and people should hear it.

One of my favorite things about R.E.M. is how much of their catalog is devoted to expressions of empathy. When you think of it, it’s not all that common in pop music. “Every Day Is Yours To Win” belongs to a long line of Michael Stipe pep talk songs. “Everybody Hurts” is the most famous, but others include “Find the River,” “Why Not Smile?,” “Imitation of Life” and “Get Up.” “Every Day…” echoes themes from the band’s previous songs in this vein — there’s a world out there for you to experience and discover; your misery is valid but hold on — but its sentiment is spiked with some words that acknowledge that “winning” in life isn’t very easy, and we might not notice it when we do come out on top. The lyrics also touch on the running theme in Collapse Into Now, ie, that finding the strength to carry on after a major trauma is a form of heroism. You have to fight hard to be optimistic. Its own gentle, muted way, this song is saying that if you can manage to hold off negativity from within and without, you are a hero and you are winning.

Buy it from Amazon.