Lesson plan

Driver 8

"Driver 8" is the second single from American musical group R.E.M.'s third album, Fables of the Reconstruction, released in September 1985. The song peaked at number 22 on the U.S. Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart. The song refers to the Southern Crescent, a passenger train that was operated by the Southern Railroad until 1979, and continues today (with fewer stops) as the Amtrak Crescent. The music video shows Chessie System trains running around Clifton Forge, Virginia. Guitarist Peter Buck admitted in the liner notes for the band's 2003 compilation album In Time: The Best of R.E.M. 1988–2003 that the verse chords for the song "Imitation of Life" were unintentionally taken from the verse chords of "Driver 8." In a Rolling Stone interview in 2009, Stipe said about his vocals: "It's like breathing – I don't think about it when I sing it. I was listening to these live tapes and thought it was a beautiful song with incredible imagery. I listen to our old albums and think, 'OK, this is where that went wrong, this is a way to improve that.' And 'Wow, that's really good. You're not the hoax you think you are.'" A harmonica was played in a mimicking fashion to sound like a train whistle.

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Article summary

"Driver 8" is the second single from American musical group R.E.M.'s third album, Fables of the Reconstruction, released in September 1985. The song peaked at number 22 on the U.S. Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart. The song refers to the Southern Crescent, a passenger train that was operated by the Southern Railroad until 1979, and continues today (with fewer stops) as the Amtrak Crescent. The music video shows Chessie System trains running around Clifton Forge, Virginia. Guitarist Peter Buck admitted in the liner notes for the band's 2003 compilation album In Time: The Best of R.E.M. 1988–2003 that the verse chords for the song "Imitation of Life" were unintentionally taken from the verse chords of "Driver 8." In a Rolling Stone interview in 2009, Stipe said about his vocals: "It's like breathing – I don't think about it when I sing it. I was listening to these live tapes and thought it was a beautiful song with incredible imagery. I listen to our old albums and think, 'OK, this is where that went wrong, this is a way to improve that.' And 'Wow, that's really good. You're not the hoax you think you are.'" A harmonica was played in a mimicking fashion to sound like a train whistle.

Key claims

  1. release date: 1985 — source: Wikipedia · confidence 0.95
  2. release date: 2010-07-06 — source: Wikipedia · confidence 0.95
  3. release date: 2009 — source: Wikipedia · confidence 0.95
  4. release date: 2021 — source: Wikipedia · confidence 0.95
  5. release date: 2024 — source: Wikipedia · confidence 0.95

Discussion questions

  1. Summarise the article in your own words. Which single claim would you verify first, and why?
  2. The record states that the release date is "1985". What evidence would count against this claim?
  3. The record states that the release date is "2010-07-06". What evidence would count against this claim?
  4. The record states that the release date is "2009". What evidence would count against this claim?
  5. The record states that the release date is "2021". What evidence would count against this claim?
  6. The record states that the release date is "2024". What evidence would count against this claim?
  7. Which claim in this article is most likely to be revised as the sources update? How would you check its current status?
  8. If two sources disagreed about one of these facts, what would you need in order to trust one over the other?

Bibliography

  1. Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1339475347

Key claims and bibliography are generated from the same tracked claims and sources as the article page.