My Gen X Playlist: Half a World Away – REM

Daily writing prompt

What activities make you lose track of time?

Oh man… I know I won’t be alone on this one. It’s easy to get sucked in a show and binge away. Too many late nights watching “just one more”. Here are a few shows that deprived me of much needed sleep:

I couldn’t help bingeing the first season of Ted Lasso. That was probably the best show I watched during the COVID lockdown. It was so good, I couldn’t stop.

Succession was like a train wreck, but I couldn’t look away.

Squid Games – there were too many childhood games that were twisted and so wrong…

Even though I’d seen many of the episodes on TV, I still binge watched The Office to pepper in a few laughs.

Luther was a British detective series with a great lead actor and storylines. I was going to watch it again, but it seemed to drop off Netflix.

Downton Abbey – not the most action packed or exciting storyline, but great characters and I couldn’t stop watching.

I know I’m missing others, but those immediately come to mind. What did you binge?

When thinking about the daily prompt and the playlist, the phrase Out of Time kept coming to mind. The only problem is that Out of Time is an album and not a song. I couldn’t shake it, so I decided to go with it and choose an REM song from that album. Half a World Away is a melancholy emotive song that I’ve always loved. Michael Stipe’s vocals have a way of digging deep and pulling the emotion out from under you. This song is beautiful. I especially enjoyed the unplugged version here.

The song “Half a World Away” by R.E.M. talks about loneliness and the feeling of being lost. The lyrics express the emotions of someone who is far away from home and has lost touch with the people they care about.

– Sonic Hits

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For a complete playlist, please click here.

For the Spotify playlist, please click here.

This could be the saddest dusk I've ever seen
Turn to a miracle, high-alive
My mind is racing, as it always will
My hands tired, my heart aches
I'm half a world away here
And I had sworn to go it alone, hold it along
And haul it along and hold it
Go it alone 'n hold it along
Hold

Oh, this lonely deeps and holy way
Half a world, half a world away
My shoes are gone, my life spent
I've had too much to drink
I didn't think, I didn't think of you
I guess that's all I needed
To go it alone and hold it along
And haul it along and hold it
Blackbirds, backwards, forwards and fall
Hold

Oh, this lonely world is wasted
Pathetic eyes, high-alive
Blind eye that turns to see
The storm it came up strong
It shook the trees and blew away our fear
I couldn't leave it here
To go it alone, hold it along
Haul it along and hold it
Go it alone hold it along
Hold

Go it alone and hold it along
Haul it along 'n hold it
Blackbirds, backwards, forwards and fall
Hold

Oh, this could be the saddest dusk I've ever seen
Turn to a miracle, high-alive
My mind is racing, as it always will
My hands tired, my heart aches
I'm half a world away to go