On the album, "Life's Rich Paegent," by R.E.M., there is a song called
"Swan, Swan Hummingbird."  I have always liked it and have seen the
lyrics, but I am not sure what it means (if anything). Can anyone tell
me what this song is supposed to be about?

Hi there,

For anyone else interested, the lyrics to "Swan Swan H" can be found
at:
http://www.courses.rochester.edu/barr/cas105-0001/assignments/swanswanh.html

Michael Stipe's lyrics have never been easy to understand, and I doubt
that any one person's opinion would suffice here, and it is possible
that even the author couldn't tell you:

"...because even if the authorial intention behind a text could be
determined, pointing out which of the manifold interpretations is the
one the author was consciously aware of at the time of writing is
rather pointless even if it was possible. Michael Stipe confessed in
1985 that `"Pilgrimage" still baffles me. At one point right after we
recorded it I heard it and it made perfect sense. I was so
exhilarated. I thought I had accomplished what I set out to do. And
then I forgot! As the person singing the song, I have no idea what
people are looking at.'"
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Acropolis/3142/rrlyrics.html

So I headed over to rec.music.rem at Google Groups and found these
thoughts on the lyrics (excuse the spelling mistakes, I've copied the
postings verbatim):

"Swan Swan H?  That is about the civil war, and the atroceties (sp) of
that part of our history.  In this boot of a concert I have, Michael
says that this next song is about a very ugly time in our history

I have always suspected there is a subtext in that song about another
little unpleasantness in US history--the Viet Nam war. After all,
since when are R.E.M. songs only about one subject?"
http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=lang_en&ie=UTF-8&newwindow=1&th=7edb4ab2db4822de&seekm=4f9agt%24aqb%40ionews.ionet.net&frame=off

According to Stipe in a boot I have from the Green tour, it has
something to do with the Civil War...

And according to _It Crawled from the South_, "the words were lifted
from a 1920s book Michael had found on post-civil war slave hymns."

Swan Swan H is about the Civil war. Johnny Reb would be the southern
soldier, used as a symbol ofr the south in general. I have a live
version where Michael Stipe says "This next song is about a part of
our American history that was very, very ugly."  Taking this with the
words themselves, it seems that it's about slavery. I'm not sure who
Johnny Reb, perhaps just a name for one of the sellers of slaves. The
clearest and most moving line IMHO is "Hey captain don't you want to
buy some bone chains and toothpicks?"

Johnny Reb is a nickname for Confederate soldiers.  "Johnny Rebel" - 
Johnny Reb.

This song is a faux-civil war ditty. Excuse me, the war of Northern 
Aggression.  "Bone chains and toothpick" are rather gruesome souvenirs
made
from casualties' bones. "Heres you would not bring back sane" They are
pretty
grody looking.  I've seen some at one of the Civil War museums here in
town (New Orleans) Johnny Reb is the pet name Union soldiers had for
the
Confederates.  This song strikes me as a lullaby mixed with a marching
song.
I can't recall all of the lyric, but I think there are other spots
that give a clear feeling of a soldier's song.  Just random noodling,
I went "West of the Fields" this morning.  It refers to west of
Elysian Fields avenue, mostly cemeteries filled with the pretty
mausoleums this town is famous for.

I believe it was the first ed of ICFTS which claimed that many of the
lines
were taken from or based on the correspondence of freed slaves after
the civil
war.  Of course, many of the references (Johnny Reb, marching beat,
the
"Captain", for ex.) are pretty obvious.
http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=lang_en&ie=UTF-8&newwindow=1&th=5b1c6b4587819aff&rnum=4

There's some more info at:

R.E.M. Lyric Annotations FAQ 
http://www.flim.com/remlafaq/lrp/swanswanh.html

Google search keywords used:

meaning of REM lyrics 
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=meaning+of+REM+lyrics&btnG=Google+Search

hummingbird group:rec.music.rem
http://groups.google.com/groups?as_q=hummingbird&num=30&as_scoring=relevance&btnG=Google+Search&as_oq=&as_epq=&as_eq=&as_ugroup=rec.music.rem&as_usubject=&as_uauthors=&as_umsgid=&lr=lang_en&as_drrb=quick&as_qdr=&as_mind=12&as_minm=5&as_miny=1981&as_maxd=14&as_maxm=12&as_maxy=2001

I hope the above thoughts of others help you understand the lyrics of
"Swan Swan H".

Best wishes,
robertskelton-ga

Thank you so much for the detailed information and the promptness in
answering!  This information helps me to picture what the song is
about when I sing along - thanks again & best wishes.  trinity