At Odds

I was just reading a post on REM and commented that one of my favorite songs of theirs is, “World Leader Pretend”. If ever there was a soliloquy set to music, this is it.

I sit at my table and wage war on myself
It seems like it’s all, it’s all for nothing
I know the barricades
And I know the mortar in the wall breaks
I recognize the weapons, I used them well

This is my mistake
Let me make it good
I raised the wall and I will be the one to knock it down

I’ve a rich understanding of my finest defenses
I proclaim that claims are left unstated
I demand a rematch
I decree a stalemate
I divine my deeper motives
I recognize the weapons
I’ve practiced them well, I fitted them myself

It’s amazing what devices you can sympathize (empathize)
This is my mistake
Let me make it good
I raised the wall and I will be the one to knock it down

Reach out for me and hold me tight
Hold that memory
Let my machine talk to me, let my machine talk to me

This is my world and I am world leader pretend
This is my life
And this is my time
I have been given the freedom
To do as I see fit
It’s high time I’ve razed the walls that I’ve constructed

It’s amazing what devices you can sympathize (empathize)
This is my mistake
Let me make it good
I raised the wall and I will be the one to knock it down

You fill in the mortar
You fill in the harmony
You fill in the mortar
I raised the wall
And I’m the only one
I will be the one to knock it down

Songwriters: Bill Berry / Peter Buck / Michael Mills / Michael Stipe

word of the day challenge — soliloquy