ebm@ucbingres.ARPA (Grady Toss) (07/26/85)
After their show at UC Berkeley's Greek Theater I saw Bill Berry and Michael Stipe hanging around the Berkeley Square (where Jonathan Richman had played that night). Stipe was very patiently writing out some lyrics on a napkin for an inquiring fan. I asked him in an interview once if he did in fact use lyrics that were sent to him and he said yes. If you just write asking about some song, without offering your own interpretation, maybe he'll send you some version of the lyrics. I also remember talking to the Bongos once and they said they also make up new lyrics to songs they do live night after night. You can see them eyeing each other on stage, laughing at the words and phrases they're slipping in. ... gt