Overview

• Stipe posted the disputed verse as “Left of west and coming in a hurry with the Furies breathing down your neck” followed by “Team by team reporters, baffled, trumped, tethered, cropped / Look at that low playing, fine, then.”
• He began the Bluesky exchange over the weekend with a Simpsons meme captioned “I can,” boasting he can sing all the words correctly.
• The wording contradicts versions long published by popular lyric sites such as Genius and Songfacts and at least one R.E.M. fan site.
• Licensed listings supplied to Spotify via MusixMatch already reflected the phrasing Stipe confirmed.
• Stipe has acknowledged performing from internet printouts in the past, which sometimes carried errors, including during R.E.M.’s MTV Unplugged appearance.