Released on September 27, 1994, R.E.M.’s ninth studio album, Monster, was dedicated to River. Michael Stipe has stated that many of the songs are sung from the viewpoint of another character. The album cover, which features the blurry image of a bear’s head, is also the same color orange from the single for Find the River.
So, we have the last departed time (yellow) coming together with the destination time (red) to make orange, i.e., River’s water fall at the Viper Room. R.E.M. is colored blue (prophecy, the water) and the word “Monster” is red signifying that the word found in R.E.M’s music and videos is the drug (the monster) that killed River. It was the light from the golden gods driving this whole thing, a concept exemplified in R.E.M.’s video for the third single off that album, Strange Currencies. Shot on October 30, 1994 (the first year anniversary of River’s death), the cast had a total of 23 people.
The video begins with a spotlight passing over a fire hydrant next to stacks of newspapers. The spotlight symbolizes the golden gods, the newspapers symbolize the news (prophecy), and the fire hydrant symbolizes being passed through the fire.
A young boy is shown inside of a television with a baseball bat. This symbolizes River’s role in Stand by Me and the Ray Brower/Chris Chambers prophecy. The baseball bat symbolizes the game being played, like hitting the baseball to the other team, it represents being stoned and/or throwing rocks (the golden gods) at each other. The boy’s arms are hidden or tied behind his back signifying River’s disposition.
A car is shown with Michael Stipe in the backseat and a picture of Samantha Mathis on the front windshield.
Her picture is streaked with water signifying, not only prophecy, but also fornication. Mathis represents the dying god and the threefold cord. One streak of water is curved and the other straight symbolizing the fruition of the word. Like the serpent rising up from the base of the spine, the photo represents the fulfillment of the prophecy in River’s DNA.
Michael Stipe is seen on a payphone as a car with a spotlight slowly drives by. This represents Stipe as the messenger for the golden/dying god. Like the concepts laid out in The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite, the telephone symbolizes communication with the golden gods.
A young black mother is shown holding a crying child. The child’s shadow is displayed on the back wall. Stars can also be seen decorating the wallpaper. This scene brings us back to the song Belong. “Her world collapsed early Sunday morning. She took the child held tight, opened the window, a breath, this song, how long, and knew, knew, belong.” The mother folded the newspaper and got up from the kitchen table.
The crying child represents the word written on the mother’s heart.
A young black boy is shown holding up a dead bird – River’s prophecy.
If we forget about race for a minute, the color of their skin symbolizes the shadow of prophecy as well as the golden gods themselves. The young boy, then, represents prophecy from the “children,” the golden gods, and the spirit world.
The car is shown again with raindrops covering the windshield as R.E.M. performs their song. Hanging from the rearview mirror, we see a circular object with a hole towards the bottom resembling a planchette or Ouija pointer – the prophecy in R.E.M.’s music.
Like the blurry image of the bear on the album cover, their images are blurred from the raindrops symbolizing the concept of seeing through a glass, darkly. Upon reflection, everything leading up to River’s death makes perfect sense, but at the time, well, who really knew?
The top of a convertible rolls back symbolizing the opening of the book of DNA.
The silhouettes of four men are seen standing against a metal building. One holds an open umbrella while another is closed. The open umbrella represents being connected to a dying god. Like P’s image of “Michael Stipe” with the fleshy umbrella-like shape covering the thorax (the region including the respiratory and circulatory systems), the open umbrella represents being covered or protected by the dying/golden god.
Michael Stipe appears in the backseat of the car with the silhouette of a butterfly on the windshield. The butterfly represents the dying/golden god responsible for the prophecy found in R.E.M.’s music and videos. Stipe is in the backseat signifying that he is being driven by the dying/golden god. Notice, also, that the butterfly is placed at his lips.
The car is chasing a young man (River) who runs past hubcaps hanging on the wall. The metal hubcaps represent prophecy in the blood, like the mercury of the philosophers, they symbolize the alchemical process that turned the DeLorean into a time machine.
Like the seven wheels or seven chakras associated with the kundalini experience, the hubcaps represent the seven spirits (or the seven alchemical steps) that turned River’s body into a ticking time bomb.
The car gets closer. An arrow behind the car points in both directions symbolizing the palindrome and the fruition of the word.
The four men are shown again with the letter “B” displayed on the metal building. Their shadows tower over them as light reflects off one man’s glasses. Again, we have the fruition of the word, the light from the golden gods reflected back, the prophecy that will soon be.
Like Michael J. Fox in the beginning scene from Back to the Future, a young man in a backwards cap hangs on to the back of the car. This, perhaps, represents John Frusciante and P that night at the Viper Room.
The four men are shown again with a closed umbrella. The man with glasses looks to have glowing eyes as the prophecy comes to be.
The young man in the backwards cap loses his grip on the car.
As stated by Michael Stipe himself, the lyrics appear to be from the point of view of another character, namely, the dying god.
I don't know why you're mean to me, when I call on the telephone, and I don't know what you mean to me, but I want to turn you on, turn you up, figure you out, I want to take you on
The car drives by a coyote ripping through trash on the side of the street.
These words, "You will be mine." These words, "You will be mine." all the time.
A platform shoe is placed next to the tire of the car symbolizing River’s fall.
The fool might be my middle name, But I'd be foolish not to say, I'm going to make whatever it takes, bring you up, call you down, sign your name, secret love, make it rhyme, take you in, and make you mine.
With the spotlight on them, a young man and woman kneel down on the sidewalk. This can be viewed as River and the dying god outside of the Viper Room. The young man’s hands are clasped together while the head of a blonde “woman” appears in the background. Here, we have River’s rebirth as a golden/dying god.
These words, "You will be mine." These words, "You will be mine." all the time. oh
The mysterious “woman” with short blonde hair and grey clothing stands with her hands in her pockets, not unlike the young man’s clasped hands. This signifies River’s transformation with the “woman’s” elbows signifying wings. Her hairstyle is similar to Mathis’ at the time of River’s death. Mathis, throughout the video, represents the mark (the word in the flesh), the dying god and the threefold cord, and so we have the fruition of the word symbolized by the blonde “woman.”
Tires from an eighteen wheeler are stacked up next to her. Like the white eighteen-wheeler featured on the CD single for Drive, the tires symbolize River’s stoning outside of the Viper Room, an internal stoning as his DNA translated the subliminal messaging.
I tripped and fell, and did I fall. What I want to feel, I want to feel it now
Mathis walks through a door marked with the number 23. This not only represents River’s last night at the Viper Room, but also his rebirth as a golden god.
You know with love come strange currencies, and here is my appeal:
Once outside, Mathis looks around just in time to see the car drive past through a flooded street – River’s fall outside of the Viper Room.
I need a chance, a second chance, a third chance, a fourth chance, a word, a signal, a nod, a little breath, just to fool myself, to catch myself, to make it real, real
The members of R.E.M. are shown inside the car with the picture of Mathis on the windshield. She was the dying/golden god, the word, and the light driving the car.
These words, "You will be mine." These words, "You will be mine." all the time. oh
These words, "You will be mine." These words, they haunt me, hunt me down, catch in my throat, make me pray, say, love's confined, on Earth
Throughout the years after River’s death, Michael Stipe continued writing songs about him and for him. 1996’s, E-Bow the Letter, is perhaps the most well-known song written about River with many fans pointing out his name surreptitiously appearing on the CD single.
The title of the song refers to the EBow which is an electromagnetic field-generating device that induces vibration in an electric guitar string. We can think of the electromagnetic spectrum as the realm of the golden gods, the o-zone, or the ocean.
In mechanical or electrical systems, the phenomenon known as resonance occurs when one object vibrates at the same frequency of a second object forcing that second object into motion, like string resonance on a guitar. Thus, the marriage. The golden/dying god and the victim/initiate vibrate on the same frequency, buzzing and oscillating in unison like a three-note chord (or a triad) forming a threefold cord. They are of one mind, one body, and one heart, these three as one, being of one accord.
We can also liken this to Michael Stipe and River being tied to the same god, and, therefore, being of one mind. Michael Stipe fulfilled his prophecy, thereby, forcing River into motion. This is the concept behind the butterfly effect or the ripple effect.
Stipe has also said that the song was actually a letter he wrote but never got to send to River while he was alive. Thus, E-Bow the Letter.
The song is off the 1996 album New Adventures in Hi-Fi which also features How the West Was Won, another song in which River’s death is referenced:
How the West Was Won Blood from a stone, water from wine Born under an ill-placed sign A stroke of bad luck, wrong place, wrong time This flyer is out of line (verse 1) The canary got trapped in the uranium mine A stroke of bad luck, now the bird has died A marker to mark where my tears run dry I cross it, bless it, alkaline (verse 2)
In 2004, R.E.M. released the album, Around the Sun, featuring a song titled, Worst Joke Ever, which appears to be about River’s last night at the Viper Room.
Worst Joke Ever You see there's this cat burglar who can't see in the dark. He lays his bets on 8 more lives, walks into a bar. Slips on the 8 ball, falls on his knife. Says, "I don't know what I've done, but it doesn't feel right!" Some things don't hold up over the course of a lifetime, When's the first time you heard that one, 1954? Get to the punch line, fall to the floor.
The eight ball represents not only the cocktail of drugs that River supposedly ingested that night, but also the fortune-telling magic eight ball. The character in the song falls on his knife, thus, Chris Chambers coming full circle and dying in a knife fight. We can also liken this to the pool game Eight-ball, which would be symbolic of the game being played in this occult system. Michael Stipe cleared the table and called his pocket for the eight-ball.
Off that same album, a song titled, The Outsiders, tells the story of River’s prior knowledge of his death, Stipe’s role as the Pied Piper, and a plan that went horribly wrong.
The Outsiders You took me to the restaurant where we first met You knocked a future shock crowbar upside my head I got caught with the stop of the tick-tock, tick-tock clock When you told me what you knew Lost in the moment The day that the music stopped And I do remember you Drawing patterns with a cork on the tablecloth Promising volcanic change of plot Where will this lead us - I'm scared of the storm The outsiders are gathering, a new day is born I tried to tell you I am not afraid You looked up and saw it all across my face So am I with you or am I against I don't think it's that easy - we're lost in regret Now I'm trying to remember The feeling when the music stopped When you told me what you knew Lost in the moment The day that the music stopped And I do remember you Drawing patterns with a cork on the tablecloth Promising volcanic change of plot Where does this leave us - I'm scared of the storm The outsiders are gathering, a new day is born Drawing patterns with a cork on the tablecloth Promising volcanic change of thought Where does this leave us - I'm scared of the storm The outsiders are gathering, a new day is born The outsiders are gathering, a new day is born The outsiders are gathering A man walks away when every muscle says to stay How many yesterdays - they each weigh heavy Who says what changes may come? Who says what we call home? I know you see right through me, my luminescence fades The dusk provides an antidote, I am not afraid I've been a million times in my mind This is really just a technicality, frailty, reality Uh, it's time to breathe, time to believe Let it go and run towards the sea They don't teach that, they don't know what you mean They don't understand, they don't know what you mean They don't get it, I wanna scream I wanna breathe again, I wanna dream I wanna float a quote from Martin Luther King I am not afraid I am not afraid I am not afraid I am not afraid I am not afraid I am not afraid I am not afraid
In 1997, Michael Stipe bought the rights to all of Aleka’s Attic’s material from Island Records, and in 2019, he appeared on Rain Phoenix’s album, Time Gone, on a track titled, Time is the Killer.
The Apple and the birdcage 