"Buy the sky and sell the sky and lift your arms up to the sky and ask the sky, and ask the sky..."

[Dennis Donovan]

There's a problem, feathers, iron
Bargain buildings, weights and pulleys
Feathers hit the ground before the weight can leave the air

Buy the sky and sell the sky and tell the sky and tell the sky

Don't fall on me (what is it up in the air for?) (it's gonna fall)
Fall on me (if it's there for long) (it's gonna fall)
Fall on me (it's over, it's over me) (it's gonna fall)

There's the progress we have found (when the rain)
A way to talk around the problem (when the children reign)
Building towered foresight (keep your conscience in the dark)
Isn't anything at all (melt the statues in the park)

Buy the sky and sell the sky and bleed the sky and tell the sky

Don't fall on me (what is it up in the air for?) (it's gonna fall)
Fall on me (if it's there for long) (it's gonna fall)
Fall on me (it's over, it's over me) (it's gonna fall)
Don't fall on me

Well, I could keep it above
But then it wouldn't be sky anymore
So if I send it to you, you've got to promise to keep it whole

Buy the sky and sell the sky and lift your arms up to the sky
And ask the sky and ask the sky

Don't fall on me (what is it up in the air for?) (it's gonna fall)
Fall on me (if it's there for long) (it's gonna fall)
Fall on me (it's over, it's over me) (it's gonna fall)
Don't fall on me (what is it up in the air for?) (it's gonna fall)
Fall on me (if it's there for long) (it's gonna fall)
Fall on me (it's over, it's over me) (it's gonna fall)
Fall on me, don't fall on me (what is it up in the air for?) (it's gonna fall)
Fall on me (if it's there for long) (it's gonna fall)
Fall on me (it's over, it's over me) (it's gonna fall)
Fall on me, don't fall on me

This song is often thought of as being about acid rain (an original incarnation of it was about acid rain) but Michael said in an interview it was more about oppression:

In an interview with David Fricke, singer Michael Stipe commented that the finished version of the song "is not about acid rain. It's a general oppression song about the fact that there are a lot of causes out there that need a song that says, 'Don't smash us.' And specifically, there are references to the Leaning Tower of Pisa and the guy dropping weights and feathers."

Whatever this song means to you, for me it will always be the the tune that was playing in my David Clarks as I flew over the Mississippi River (on the IL/IA border) on the second leg of my "long" cross-country for my Private Pilot's license. It was a moment that was so magical to me, it brings a tear to my eye to recall it today, 34 years later.