"Imitation of Life" is a song by R.E.M., the first single released from the band's 12th album, Reveal in 2001. The song peaked at number 83 on the Billboard Hot 100 (but reached number 22 on the US Modern Rock list). It was the lowest chart of a lead single from an R.E.M. album in the United States since "Fall on Me" from Lifes Rich Pageant in 1986. The song did reach #6 on the UK Singles Charts, making it the eighth top 10 for the band in Britain. The song also became R.E.M.'s first number-one single in Japan. The song was nominated for a 2002 Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals but lost to U2's "Stuck in a Moment You Can't Get Out Of". The song appeared in an episode of Smallville.

According to the liner notes on In Time: The Best of R.E.M. 1988–2003, this song's title came from Douglas Sirk's 1959 film of the same name.

The song was placed on R.E.M.'s Warner Bros. Records "best of" album In Time: The Best of R.E.M. 1988–2003 in 2003. In the liner notes, Peter Buck states that after the release of the song he realized that the song follows roughly the same chord progression as "Driver 8" from 1985's Fables of the Reconstruction.

For R.E.M.'s 2003 tour in support of In Time, the band developed a new bridge for live performances of the song. Prior to that point, the bridge consisted of full instrumentation, with Stipe's "no-one can see you cry" vocal bringing them into the chorus. The new bridge included the same lyric but echoed between Stipe and Scott McCaughey three times throughout the 20-second midsection.

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