i may be way off here but i think this song is about michaels homosexuality,nightswimming being the term he uses for "cruising".Several people have mentioned skinny dipping but take this as a metaphor for unprotected sex add that to the discovery of aids in the 80s and the line "it's not like years ago,the fear of getting caught " makes alot more sense.
People need to give Stipe more credit than just saying its about a nice warm night going skinny dipping,he's way cleverer than that.
i may be way off here but i think this song is about michaels homosexuality,nightswimming being the term he uses for "cruising".Several people have mentioned skinny dipping but take this as a metaphor for unprotected sex add that to the discovery of aids in the 80s and the line "it's not like years ago,the fear of getting caught " makes alot more sense. People need to give Stipe more credit than just saying its about a nice warm night going skinny dipping,he's way cleverer than that.