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"Life and How to Live It" is the fourth song on R.E.M.'s third album, Fables of the Reconstruction, released in 1985. Both the studio recording and a live version are featured on the retrospective collection And I Feel Fine… The Best of the I.R.S. Years 1982-1987.
Songwriter and lead vocalist Michael Stipe has explained that the song's narrative represented a departure from the stream-of-consciousness writing of previous albums. The story is based on an unknown author by the name of Brivs Mekis who resided in Athens, Georgia. Mekis lived in an apartment, but grew so tired of the same thing day after day he built a wall down the middle. Mekis lived back and forth on either side until his death. Upon his death, unsold copies of the man's self-published book were found stacked in a closet, bearing the title from which the song takes its name. Bassist Mike Mills recalled the song as a personal favorite, describing the bassline as "McCartney-esque."
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