Losing My Religion (© R.E.M., 1991). 😠🕊️🙏☮️👨‍🦲👩🏻👩🏼🧑🏻 UHD 4K. Performed (2025) by RE-VO

~WATCH THIS VIDEO IN 4k Ultra HD (if you have enough RAM). Select "Settings" or select the [red] HD button.... choose 2160p.

LOSING MY RELIGION, by R.E.M. (© Peter Lawrence Buck / Michael E. Mills / William Thomas Berry / John Michael Stipe, 1991)

Performed by RE-VO (2025).

Copyright disclaimer, under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976. This is a NONPROFIT VIDEO made for study, review, or critical analysis purposes only. Personal, non-profit, educational, or personal use tilts the balance in favor of fair use.

😃 RE-VO: lead vocal, 2 supporting vocals, 4 Gibson J-45s, 2 Hondo Mandolins, 4 Gold Tone 6-string mandolins, Emulator IV + Yamaha Motif (congas), Hyperion Strings, Schecter P-bass, Michael Tobias 5-string bass, Ludwig v-drums, tambourine, maracas.

¬Audio by RE-VO © 2025.
~Video by RE-VO, October 1, 2025
~Digital Performer
~Melodyne 5 Studio (8% auto-tuning)
~Neumann TLM 103 microphone
~Urei 1176 compressor
~Lexicon reverb

~Visit RE-VO at https://altavilla.wordpress.com/

Hi, folks! Some people have asked me, “So, Mac, we know you can do, like, lots of voices…. but what does ol’ RE-VO sound like when he’s singing in ‘his own’ voice?” Perhaps today I can answer that: a lot like the voice I use to do this REM reprise. My rendition of this song is not a vocal impression of the great artist Michael Stipe… it’s an attempt to offer an original “take” on this multiple-Grammy-winning classic. I hope you enjoy this.

“Unlike early R.E.M. songs, “Losing My Religion” features lyrics you can understand. And yet, they were largely misunderstood anyway. Was it sacrilegious? A kiss off to the establishment? Were R.E.M. advocating that you reject the church and stop celebrating Christmas?

In fact, this was not the case. “Losing my religion” is actually an old southern expression for being at the end of one’s rope, and the moment when politeness gives way to anger. But if you were missing that key detail, you’d think that Stipe’s vague imagery was clearly a comment on the Judeo-Christian tradition.

Stipe, who comes from a long line of Methodist ministers and is an admirer of Buddhism, was merely giving a little known southern saying a poetic facelift, by building a wall of evocative words around it. The gravity he conjures with his hurt, reedy keen is immense. “I thought that I heard you laughing, I though that I heard you sing.” When he gets to the line “oh no, I’ve said too much,” it sounds devastating.” "

Evan Schlansky. (2021). What is the Meaning of R.E.M., “Losing My Religion.” American Songwriter, October 14, 2021.

“The song itself is about unrequited love, and ultimately it didn’t mean to describe Stipe’s personal life at the time. When writing the lyrics, he thought about an imaginary character, a person desperately in love with someone, who perhaps isn’t even aware of their existence. Our hero imagined an entire lifetime of a relationship with the subject of his admiration, while in reality, he’s hiding his true feelings.”

Chimera. (2023). The Story Behind R.E.M.’s Biggest Hit, ‘Losing My Religion’. July 30, 2023.

"It's such a weird song, we had no idea it was going to resonate the way that it did," Stipe recalled of writing 1991's "Losing My Religion…. "On memories of making the track, Stipe delved into changing the lyrics in the chorus. “I changed one lyric,” he recalled. “‘That’s me in the corner / That’s me in the kitchen’, what I was pulling from was being the shy wallflower who hangs back at the party or at the dance and doesn’t go up to the person that you’re madly in love with and say ‘I’ve kind of got a crush on you, how do you feel about me?’”

“There’s this whole relationship that’s happening only in the person’s mind and he doesn’t know whether he’s said too much or hasn’t said enough,” Stipe added. “He’s like, in the corner of the dance floor watching everyone dance and watching the love of his life on the dance floor dancing with everyone cause that’s the most exciting person. Or, he’s in the kitchen behind the refrigerator.”

Then, one word ended up changing everything. “I changed ‘kitchen’ to ‘spotlight’ and instantly of course the song became about me, which it never was,” Stipe said.

“Losing My Religion” peaked at No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 songs chart dated June 22, 1991, and spent 21 weeks total on the chart.”

Rania Aniftos. (2022). Michael Stipe Reveals the Lyric Switch on R.E.M.’s ‘Losing My Religion’ That Changed Everything. Billboard, April 26, 2022.

Are you feeling like you’re “at the end of your rope,” folks, as if the world is upside-down with greed, criminality and corruption, no decency remains, and nothing makes sense anymore?

As always, don’t be complacent, friends. Even as we enjoy distracted lives, stay mad as Hell about your/every country’s epic fails. Write letters to representatives. Protest. Be a champion of harmony, not of fear. Choose Democracy.

Peace, love, and joy to all my friends 😃💗
😃🎸🙏💗 Mac (aka RE-VO)

P.S. Happy Birthday, Lina!💗