Year: 2003 - Album: In Time: The Best of R.E.M. 1988-2003
Written by Bill Berry, Peter Buck, Michael Mills, Michael Stipe
G C D5 G C A | C | D5 | Nightswimming deserves a quiet night. G C D5 G C A | The photograph on the dashboard, taken years ago, C D5 turned around backwards so the windshield shows. G C D5 G C A | Every streetlight reveals the picture in reverse. C D5 Still, it's so much clearer. G C D5 G I forgot my shirt at the water's edge. C A C | D5 | The moon is low tonight. {Play Rhy. Fig. 1} G C D5 G Nightswimming deserves a quiet night. C D5 G5 I'm not sure all these people understand. C D5 G It's not like years ago, C A C D5 G5 The fear of getting caught, of recklessness and water. C D5 G They cannot see me naked. C A C D5 G These things, they go away, replaced by everyday. C G C A | Nightswimming. Remembering that night. C D5 C C D5 | September's coming soon. I'm pining for the moon. G C A C And what if there were two side by side in orbit D5 G around the fairest sun? C D5 G C A C | D5 | That bright, tight forever drum could not describe nightswimming. G C D5 G C A | You, I thought I knew you. You, I cannot judge. C D5 You, I thought you knew me. G C D5 G C This one laughing quietly underneath my breath. A C | D5 | Nightswimming. {Play Rhy. Fig. 1} G C The photograph reflects, D5 G C every streetlight a reminder. A C D5 G | C D5 Nightswimming deserves a quiet night, G C A C | D5 | deserves a quiet night.