Begin the Begin is 3 minutes and 27 seconds of the best of R.E.M. They have songs that are its equal. They have no tracks that are better.
R.E.M. apparently believed this. The song opened many of their concerts, and was what they chose when they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
I love the instrumentation of the song, but the lyrics are spectacular. They seem a bit nonsensical but it really is like watching someone paint a scene, and you don’t know what it is going to be until it is there in its entirety. An insurgency is always happening, you just have to look. What you do about it is the important thing. Life’s rich demand creates supply in the hand off the power, the only vote that matters.