Peak
78
Weeks
5
Score
223
Chart Year
1983
Scores & Rankings
Chart Performance
Peak Position78
Peak DateAug 13, 1983
Weeks at Peak1
Weeks Charted5
Weeks in Top 400
Weeks in Top 100
Weeks at #20
Weeks at #10
Scoring
Summary Calc23
Weekly Calc200
Total Score223
Rankings
Year Ranking#377
Decade Ranking#3,613
Billboard Year#373
Top 5000#24,767
Details
Music Video
At the request of MTV, the 1983 single was accompanied by a music video, directed by Arthur Pierson. The video took place in the garden of artist Howard Finster, who went on to paint the album cover for the band's second album, Reckoning.
Notes
Radio Free Europe is a radio network run by the United States government that broadcasts to Europe and the Middle East. The mission of the broadcasts is to promote democracy and freedom, but R.E.M. makes the point that this can easily cross the line into propaganda. This song was R.E.M.'s first single, released in 1981 before they signed to a major label. A better-produced version was included on Murmur, the band's first full-length album, in 1983. >> There was a good reason for Michael Stipe's infamously indecipherable lyrics on this song: he hadn't finished them by the time they recorded it. In a 1988 NME interview, Stipe described the lyrical content as "complete babbling." R.E.M. lead singer Michael Stipe said in a 1983 interview with Alternative America: "We were all so scared of what the other one would say, that everyone nodded their head in agreement to anything to come up. The earlier songs were incredibly fundamental, real simple, songs that you could write in five minutes. Most of them didn't have any words. I just got up and howled and hollered a lot. That's true. I've got to write words for 'Radio Free Europe,' because we're going to re-record that for the album. It still doesn't have a second or third verse. I think there are actually lyrics to every song on the EP." >> "This song was pivotal to the continuation of our career," drummer Bill Berry explained in Part Lies, Part Heart, Part Truth, Part Garbage 1982-2011. "Most fans may not realize that for two years before Murmur was released, we barely made financial ends meet by playing tiny clubs around the southeast. Our gasoline budget prevented us from venturing further. Put simply, our existence was impoverished. College radio and major city club scenes embraced this song and expanded our audience to the extent that we moved from small clubs to medium-sized venues and the additional revenue made it possible to logically pursue this wild musical endeavor. I dare not contemplate what our fate would have been had this song not appeared when it did." Stipe noted being apparently unaware of his own genius: "The guys always said I do something harmonically here that made them all go 'whoa,' because it was so advanced ... or something, in the 'straight off the boat' part. I wonder if I tricked them by accident? I still have no idea what it is they're talking about." The video for this song, directed by Arthur Pierson, was shot in the famed Paradise Gardens, a folk art sculpture garden crafted by artist Howard Finster in Pennville, Georgia. Finster, a Baptist minister, also painted the album art for R.E.M.'s second album, Reckoning.
Beside yourself if radio's gonna stay Reason, it could polish up the gray Put that, put that, put that up your wall That this isn't country at all Ray beam station, beside yourself Keep me out of country and the word Deal the porch is leading us absurd Push that, push that, push that to the hull That this isn't nothing at all Straight off the boat Where to go? Calling on in transit Calling on in transit Radio Free Europe Radio Beside defying media too fast Instead of pushin' palaces to fall Put that, put that, put that before all That this isn't fortunate at all Ray beam station, beside yourself Calling on in transit Calling on in transit Radio Free Europe Radio Decide yourself Calling on a boat Media's too fast Keep me out of country and the word Disappointers into us, absurd Straight off the boat Where to go? Calling on in transit Calling on in transit Radio Free Europe Radio Free Europe Calling on in transit Calling on in transit Radio Free Europe Radio Free Europe
Chart History (5 weeks)
| Week | Chart Date | Position | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jul 23, 1983 | 90 | 36 |
| 2 | Jul 30, 1983 | 85 | 41 |
| 3 | Aug 6, 1983 | 80 | 46 |
| 4 | Aug 13, 1983 | 78 | 48 |
| 5 | Aug 20, 1983 | 97 | 29 |