Song of the Week: The One I Love. The song begins with a simple but energetic drum intro by Bill that launches into Peter’s electric riff that to me, makes the whole song. The riff is fairly simple but it’s perfect to me by how catchy it is, and how well it sets up a mood. The riff begins with a couple plucks of the low E string to accent the Em chord in the verse, before it goes to a more melodic part on the B and big E strings. It’s a simple riff because a lot of the notes are just open strings but yet it’s able to create a dark and yet catchy melody that fits perfectly for the rest of the instrumentation and lyrics. And when you get to the verse, you get those wonderful patent pending Peter arpeggios.
Now it’s important to note that this song’s structure is interesting as I know everyone is aware. You have an intro, and then a fair short verse, a pre chorus, a chorus (that only contains backing vocals and Michael yelling “fire!”) and then it just repeats other than a short solo. The lyrics in every verse, pre chorus and chorus, are all almost the same minus a small change in the last pre chorus. I think it’s the simplicity of the structure and lyrics though that makes this song so powerful.
When you hear the verse “this one goes out to the one I love, this one goes out to the one I’ve left behind” you might think this is a love song. Mainly because he sings “the one I love” which is not past tense even though he’s had to leave them behind for some reason. But when we get to the pre chorus, things don’t seem so lovey dovey anymore. “A simple prop to occupy my time” seems like he’s using something to keep himself busy and I think he’s using people to “occupy” his time.
Michael is usually one to leave his songs open to interpretation, but in a interview with Rolling Stone he did say that the song is “incredible violent” and that “It's very clear that it's about using people over and over again". Which makes sense because in the last pre chorus he changes “a simple prop” to “another prop” which I think shows that using people has become a habit or ritual for him. The “prop” is a person and where he actually truly loves them or not is up for debate. What I do know is that I love Mike’s bass playing in the chorus. It’s a fantastic bass melody but it’s not mixed too high in the song where it takes away from the melody or guitar playing.
I’m curious what you guys think “fire!” in the chorus is suppose to represent. Because other than Mike’s backing vocals of “She's coming down on her own now / Coming down on her own" it’s only Michael yelling fire. Either way it’s catchy as hell and I love how it shows off Michael’s vocal abilities. Sure, he sounds great when he’s using his lower register and being reserved, but when his really goes for the high and louder register, it honestly gives me goosebumps.
I also don’t want to forget about Peter’s little solo in the middle of the song. Much like Peter’s playing, it’s not flashy or in your face, but it fits the song so well. It’s one of my favorite parts of the song because how great that melody is. We also can’t forget about Bill’s drumming because not only does it drive the song, but his fills are top notch and help give the song its energy. The song had a music video made for it and as some of you might remember, the director of photography for it was Alton Brown who later went on to host the show Good Eats on the Food Network channel. It was a video that saw heavy rotation on MTV and helped with the popularity of the song.
The song was also a live staple for the band and was definitely a crowd favorite. I especially love the live versions just because you can hear Mike’s backing vocals more clearly in the live version. I didn’t even know he had backing vocals on the song for the longest time because it’s mixed so quietly on the studio version. But live you can really hear them and just like all of Mike’s backing vocals, it includes a great melody and is the glue to Michael’s vocals. From: https://www.reddit.com/r/rem/comments/s5eqfy/song_of_the_week_the_one_i_love/
