‘Storytellers’--Where They Talk About the Songs

R.E.M.’s 1991 song, “Losing My Religion,” became a hit tune with few people knowing what the song was actually about.

Singer Michael Stipe recently tried to explain the ideas behind his best-known song, as he stood before cameras taping an episode of VH1’s “Storytellers.” As it turns out, he wasn’t really losing anything, except maybe his grip on reality. Religion had nothing to do with it.

Stipe had always admired “Every Breath You Take,” the song Sting wrote for the Police. “What I liked about it was that it was an obsessive love song,” he said. “It was beautiful and creepy. So I wanted to write a song that was better.”

The phrase “losing my religion” is Southern-speak for losing faith in a person because they’ve pushed you too far, he said. Stipe had a crush on someone at the time he was writing. He thought his romantic target knew, but wasn’t sure. Insecure, he tried offering clues about his feelings, each one a little more obvious than the last.

“That’s what this song is about,” he said. “It’s about dropping a hint the size of Idaho.”

Peter Buck began playing the familiar tune on his mandolin, and Stipe began singing with a passion he probably hadn’t felt in years. His lyrics--”consider this the hint of the century”--moved sharply into focus for the few hundred people who watched in a Manhattan theater.

The explanation, on a “Storytellers” that debuts Sunday, is further evidence why the VH1 signature series is a cut above most music shows on television.

“Storytellers” offers unparalleled insight into the creative process, and the personalities of creators. It effectively breaks down the barriers that show business is determined to erect between musicians and their fans.

The idea was right in front of VH1 when it sought to create new music programming three years ago. Bill Flanagan, VH1’s editorial director, was the author of “Written in My Soul,” a book in which songwriters explained how they wrote. And the loquacious former Kink, Ray Davies, was traveling around the country with an entertaining show in which he talked about his songs.

“It’s such a simple format--a singer-songwriter sits down, tells how they wrote the songs and plays them--but it took a long time,” Flanagan said. “It went through all these permutations.”

Now it’s so popular among musicians that VH1 is called every other day by volunteers. VH1 films about a dozen a year, not wanting to dilute its franchise with too many episodes.

Popularity isn’t the only prerequisite for selection.

“They have to be able to talk very well,” Flanagan said. “It sounds silly, but there were a couple of artists we wanted to do and we found out they were too shy or didn’t have much to say about the creative process.”

Talking about her work was a switch for Bonnie Raitt, who listened for years to band members telling her to just shut up and sing. Ringo Starr was surprisingly shy, and it didn’t help when his guitarist repeatedly teased him in a little boy voice, “Tell us a story, Ringo.” His best stories came after prompting from the audience.

R.E.M. was an unlikely candidate for “Storytellers.” Stipe always seemed to enjoy wrapping his songs in an aura of mystery; he mumbled so much on R.E.M.’s first albums that few could hear the words. Only now, 18 years into their career, have they printed lyrics in a CD booklet.

No sudden urge to confess motivated R.E.M. to agree to a taping. “Everyone in our office loves the show and was excited about us doing it,” Stipe explained later.

Sometimes his songs were even more inscrutable after he talked about them. His explanation of “Parakeet” was a rambling story about a friend’s strange answering machine message, a trip to a petting zoo in Australia and his wish to be reincarnated as a koala.

Baffled audience members were left scratching their heads as he sang. “All that stuff I just described really didn’t have much to do with that song,” he said when he was through. “I just realized that while I was singing it.”

A peek into R.E.M.’s personality still emerged, if only because of Stipe’s fondness for jumping from topic to topic while he speaks:

* On pride: “I think this is one of my crowning achievements,” he said when introducing “New Test Leper,” then quickly glanced offstage. “Can I say that?”

* On fear: The song “Walk Unafraid” came from a sign the band hung on a studio wall while recording their most recent album, he said. They used it to motivate themselves in their first uncertain steps as a trio without original drummer Bill Berry, who had quit.

* On friendship: Stipe thought of the line “I found a way to make you smile” while driving in California and decided to salute colleagues Buck and Mike Mills. They had always loved the Beach Boys and Stipe had never been that fond of their music, so he wrote the song as a tribute to Brian Wilson.

As a songwriter, Stipe said he tries to “put in enough specific things to make it believable, but not enough to make it about any one thing. That’s what I like most about songs.”

The motor-mouthed Stipe posed an editing challenge for VH1. But Flanagan had no right to complain. “I tell everybody who does the show that when you think you’ve been talking too much, keep talking,” he said.

He meets with the artists to map out each show, steering them toward some of their most popular material. They discuss the songs, but even an expert like Flanagan can be surprised; he talked at great length with Natalie Merchant about what he thought her song “These Are Days” was about. She listened politely, then told him he was completely off base.

Billy Joel proved a funny subject, telling how he was stumped for an opening to his song “Scenes From an Italian Restaurant” until going out to eat one night. “Bottle of red? Bottle of white?” his waiter asked, and Joel instantly knew he had a first line.

Cameras rolled for a few hours for Elvis Costello, as he pulled out stories about how “Alison” was about a clerk near a store where he once worked. A day later, Costello called Flanagan in horror, wondering how much it would cost to buy the tape and burn it.

“Storytellers” is a success when fans are able to relate to their heroes on a human level. The stage set is usually tiny, and artists are forced to look their fans in the eye while talking.

Some of the artists on Flanagan’s wish list for future shows have built up a powerful mythology about themselves that could be threatened by such personal contact, people like Bruce Springsteen, Marilyn Manson and Robert Plant and Jimmy Page.

After some initial nervousness during his taping, Stipe said he “just went on autopilot and pretended I was talking to my friends.”

“I think Michael was surprisingly open,” Flanagan said. “One of the things I was struck by was that this was the real Michael Stipe. He’s charming; he’s funny. He’s not as aloof as people make him out to be. That’s the way he is when you go out to have dinner with him.”

And that’s just what VH1 wanted.

* “Storytellers” can be seen at 10 p.m. Sunday on VH1.