A INSUSTENTÁVEL MELANCOLIA

Ainda não digeri devidamente o novo "Around the Sun", mas cada vez mais me parece que os R. E. M. desviaram a sua mira do rock de guitarras urgente e enérgico que fez o seu nome para uma espécie de tradução sonora do que é ser, hoje, um ser humano médio num mundo onde os pontos de referência estão cada vez mais difusos. Esse existencialismo burguês e urbano mas nem por isso menos válido estava inteirinho no fim-de-Verão de "Reveal" e reencontra-se agora nas melopeias maioritariamente elegíacas de "Around the Sun" que, para já para já, me parece sofrer de uma excessiva uniformidade de tom que não favorece canções individuais. Mas, quanto mais vejo o belíssimo teledisco e ouço a canção, mais me convenço que "Leaving New York" é uma jóiazinha melódica de infinita nostalgia, que traduz na perfeição o que é dizer adeus ao amor que se foi embora, perguntarmo-nos os infinitos "e se?..." que ficaram por dizer e fazer. (E não, Pedro, não lembra nada Phil Collins. Nem de longe.)

it's quiet now
and what it brings
is everything

comes calling back
a brilliant night
I'm still awake

I looked ahead, I'm sure I saw you there

you don't need me to tell you now
that nothing can compare

you might have laughed if I told you
you might have hidden a frown.
you might have succeeded in changing me
I might have been turned around.
it's easier to leave than to be left behind
leaving was never my proud.
leaving New York, never easy.
I saw the light fading out

now life is sweet
and what it brings
I try to take

but loneliness
it wears me out
it lies in wait

and all not lost still in my eye
the shadow of necklace across your thigh.
I might've lived my life in a dream but I swear it.
this is real.
memory fuses and shatters like glass.
mercurial future. forget the past
it's you
it's what I feel

you might have laughed if I told you
you might have hidden a frown.
you might have succeeded in changing me
I might have been turned around.
it's easier to leave than to be left behind
leaving was never my proud.
leaving New York, never easy.
I saw the light fading out

you find it in your heart.
it's pulling me apart.
you find it in your heart.
change

I told you, forever
I love you forever.
I told you I love you
I love you forever
you never, you never
you told me forever...

you might have laughed if I told you

you might have hidden a frown.
you might have succeeded in changing me
I might have been turned around.
it's easier to leave than to be left behind
leaving was never my proud
leaving New York, never easy.
I saw the light fading out.

- Michael Stipe para R. E. M., "Leaving New York", in "Around the Sun" (Warner Bros., 2004)