: Stipe modeled the theme after The Police’s " Every Breath You Take ," aiming to write a "classic obsession pop song" where a person overanalyzes every look and whisper from someone who might not even know they exist. The Surreal Video Story
The song’s foundation was almost a fluke. Guitarist Peter Buck wrote the signature mandolin riff while watching television and practicing on an instrument he had just purchased. When he listened back to his practice tapes, he found the haunting melody buried among his beginner's mistakes. Decoding the Lyrics R. E. M. - Losing My Religion Lyric Video
Despite its title, lead singer Michael Stipe has clarified that the song has nothing to do with a spiritual crisis. : Stipe modeled the theme after The Police’s
: "Losing my religion" is an old Southern American expression meaning to lose one's temper , reach the end of one's rope, or feel desperate and frustrated. When he listened back to his practice tapes,
: The iconic lines "That's me in the corner / That's me in the spotlight" were originally written as " That's me in the kitchen ". Stipe changed the wording to heighten the sense of vulnerability, describing a person at a party too shy to approach the object of their obsession.
: The video's narrative is heavily modeled after the Gabriel García Márquez short story " A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings ," about an angel who crashes into a town and is mistreated by the locals.