AND ONE MORE THING: For years, R.E.M.’s...

AND ONE MORE THING: For years, R.E.M.’s lyrics have been one of the greater mysteries in rock--Michael Stipe’s mumble is legendary, especially on the group’s early albums. So we were a bit surprised to see a file on the Internet containing what is purported to be the group’s complete lyrics.

It turns out that R.E.M. fans have been compiling their decipherings of lyrics on the Internet for a while. Recently, one Kipp Teague of Lynchburg, Va., took it upon himself to try to fill in holes or make corrections as best he could. Amazingly, he even got Stipe’s seal of approval--to a point.

Stipe, who has long maintained that he often makes up lyrics as he goes along and doesn’t always write them down, communicated with Teague via America Online, confirming some lyrics and correcting others, but sometimes confessed that even he wasn’t sure what the “correct” words were.*