REM: Orange Crush Meaning

Song Released: 1988

Orange Crush Lyrics

Follow me, don't follow me
I've got my spine, I've got my orange crush
Collar me, don't collar me
I've got my spine, I've got my orange crush
We are agents of the free
I've had my fun and now its time to
Serve your conscience overseas (over...

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   #1 top rated interpretation:
   anonymous

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   Aug 15th 2008 !⃝

   Orange Crush is slang for Agent Orange. The song is about Vietnam War.
2. anonymous

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   Mar 18th 2019 !⃝

   Guy's driving, drunk and stoned, and gets paranoid about someone following: "Don't follow me, follow me, I've got my spine (courage, despite, or because of, the drugs), I've got my Orange Crush (to throw out the window if the following car get any closer)." No other explanation makes any sense.

   This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
3. anonymous

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   Jul 13th 2017 !⃝

   It is agent orange but I always attribute to the soda orange crush.
4. anonymous

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   Sep 18th 2011 !⃝

   I always thought it was about agent orange, the defoliant the US Army used in Vietnam. But I have heard conflicting reports. Like "orange crush" was a joint dipped in opium. And "spine" was amphetamine, possibly mixed with LSD, to make soldiers stay up for days.
   I have also thought that the words were "color me", not "collar me".
   
   Unless Stipe puts this to rest, it is possible that we will never know for sure. I am not holding my breath. The song already can be considered classic rock.
5. mcrodgers2

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   May 30th 2008 !⃝

   I know this song has something to do with war. What war is up for debate but it's a song about war. There is the speech in the background by Stipes sounds like a drill sergeant Even the beat is like a march.
   
   "I've got my spine" means I've got my courage, backbone.
   "I've got my orange crush" ??? Maybe a reference to an American icon...like Coke or Pepsi...maybe agent orange the defoliant used by the US in Vietnam. ???
   
   "I've had my fun and now its time to serve your conscience overseas". Time to join up do my duty.
6. anonymous

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   Apr 20th 2008 !⃝

   Who knows what this song is really about? it's one of those moments in truly great songwriting that everyone just goes "what the hell, this sounds good so who cares"
   
   i guess that the general meaning of this song is just trying to convince yourself that what you did was right even when your conscience was screaming "go back and fix this"
   
   and who knows what the hell "orange crush" is? maybe it's god, maybe it's the little man who lives in your head, maybe it's a symbol for nothing

   This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway

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