R.E.M. Releases Song for the Election: 'World Leader Pretend' Burns Trump Hard
On Monday, a previously unheard live recording of the band R.E.M.'s song "World Leader Pretend" was released as part of the anti-Trump "30 Days, 30 Songs" campaign. The campaign is led by author Dave Eggers and features musicians including Aimee Mann, Franz Ferdinand and Death Cab for Cutie.
Notably, lyrics of the song are prescient and fitting for this year's GOP candidate's promises: "This is my mistake/Let me make it good/I raised the wall/And I will be the one to knock it down."
While fans may be disappointed not to see the now-retired R.E.M. reunite against Donald Trump with a brand-new song, the live version remains one of the higher-profile releases on day 9 of the 30 days leading up to the election—one song each day for 30 days.
R.E.M. certainly has a reason to have beef with the racist, xenophobic, misogynist candidate, as a growing list of women speaks out alleging that Trump sexually assaulted them in the past. When Donald Trump used R.E.M.'s song "It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)," R.E.M. frontman Michael Stipe objected publicly to an ironicly titled pump-up song: "Go f*ck yourselves, the lot of you—you sad, attention-grabbing, power-hungry little men [presumably Trump and former GOP candidate Ted Cruz]," he said in an email the Daily Beast obtained. "Do not use our music or my voice for your moronic charade of a campaign."
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