The One I Love

Strange how a song with a limited number of words, that seem relatively simple, can in fact be extremely complicated.

I am one of the many who thought the song was about deep, sincere love that had to be abandoned. However, We have to believe Stipe when he says that he intended it to be ironic. It becomes even more interesting to interpret it this way.

On a physical level it becomes about promiscuity. Moving from one lover to another to satisfy hormonal urges.

On a spiritual level it is about filling our lonely, aimless emptiness with pumped up, artificial passion.

"The one I love" turns out to be no one that special, a mere "prop" ie someone used as a simple support for our physical, emotional needs. And this person is discarded or "left behind" without too many qualms. The words "another prop" in the fourth verse indicates that there is a series of lovers.

The word "fire" and the way it sung by Stipe is very intriguing. Has there ever been a refrain that is so short, so intense'? It is after all a one syllable, four-letter word. But what does it mean?

Fire can of course refer to arousal, ardor, a passionate craving or yearning usually of a sexual, erotic nature. In slang usage it can also mean something or someone that is very attractive. So either meaning fits well.

Stipe sings it with extreme forcefulness, extending it into two syllables, with his voice breaking in the middle of the long, drawn out voicing which gives it extra intensity or perhaps a sense of dismay, pain and anguish.

The phrase "she's comin' down on her own, now" is cryptic and ambiguous. It is unexplained and seems out of place. In drug jargon it means sobering up after using a drug. In a sexual context to "come down on somebody" means to engage in oral sex. However doing it on your own is a major challenge to anybody's imagination. It could also mean that the woman is getting over the infatuation, the initial passion without the need for explanations or long discussions. Whatever the explanation, it is a very strange aside (or come down!) after Stipe's intense cry of "fire".

Maybe it's worth adding that Stipe regretted writing a song about using other people so selfishly and said he was glad that people didn't properly understand it.