"New Test Leper" | ||||
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Germany promotional release
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Song by R.E.M. | ||||
from the album New Adventures in Hi-Fi | ||||
Released | September 9, 1996 (UK) September 10, 1996 (U.S.) |
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Genre | Alternative rock | |||
Length | 5:26 | |||
Label | Warner Bros. | |||
Songwriter(s) | Bill Berry, Peter Buck, Mike Mills and Michael Stipe | |||
Producer(s) | Scott Litt, R.E.M. | |||
New Adventures in Hi-Fi track listing | ||||
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"New Test Leper" is a song by R.E.M., included on their tenth studio album, New Adventures in Hi-Fi, which was released in 1996. It wasn't released as a single; its only non-album issue was on a 1996 Germany-only-released Warner Bros. Records promotional CD. The song was also included in the greatest hits compilation Part Lies, Part Heart, Part Truth, Part Garbage 1982–2011, released in 2011 soon after the group disbanded.
The song was recorded at Bad Animals Studio in Seattle, Washington, in March 1996, four months after R.E.M. completed their 1995 world tour in support of their previous album, Monster. On the track, Bill Berry plays drums and shaker; Peter Buck plays guitar; Mike Mills, bass and organ; and Michael Stipe provides the vocals, which were penned during moments of downtime at the studio.
The following month, on April 19, the band recorded an acoustic version of the song at the same location. That version was released as a B-side to the "Bittersweet Me" single. The video of the performance, directed by Lance Bangs, was used as the video to the album version of the song in the Bonus Videos section on the band's In View DVD, released in 2003.
The first line of the song contains the lyrics "I can't say that I love Jesus", attracting some controversy. Peter Buck clarified the matter to Q magazine's Tom Doyle in 1996: "It's written from the perspective of a character that Michael saw on TV on a talk show. But are people going to think Michael's talking about himself not liking Jesus? I don't think that people will take us that seriously. It's not like we're tearing up a picture of the Pope on television." He was referring to Sinéad O'Connor's 1992 Saturday Night Live incident.