On the Lyrics to "Binky the Doormat"
I don't know if Michael Stipe writes all of R.E.M.'s lyrics, but he makes David Byrne sound like a professor of logic. Take, for example, the chorus to "Binky the Doormat" (courtesy Craig Lawson's remrock.com site:

Have you lost your place?
I wore my doormat face.
I hung my this or that.
I laid my welcome mat.

Put the verses in, and it still doesn't make any sense. This is a long-standing and continuing issue with R.E.M. lyrics; in 2001, TIME magazine described Reveal's lyrics as follows:

Stipe's lyrics remain characteristically erudite and elusive. On Imitation of Life he croons, "Charades, pop skill/ water hyacinth, named by a poet." On "Chorus and the Ring," he sings, "It's the poison that in measures brings illuminating vision/ It's the knowing with a wink that we expect in Southern women." His lyrics may appear random, but they can aim for Proustian resonance. A line on "Imitation" — "That's cinnamon that's Hollywood" — is meant to conjure memories of eating cinnamon toast in childhood and feelings of innocence lost.

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