# Who played the mandolin on the 1991 REM song ‘Losing My Religion’?

- URL: https://talkfuse.com/story/who-played-the-mandolin-on-the-1991-rem-song-losing-my-religion/
- Published: 2026-11-01T21:00:00+00:00
- Updated: 2026-11-01T21:19:11+00:00
- Original publisher: Far Out
- Original article: https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/who-played-mandolin-1991-rem-classic-losing-my-religion/
- Topics: Entertainment, Music

## Key points

- Peter Buck played the mandolin.
- The part was recorded live, without overdubs.
- Stipe’s vocal was recorded in one take.

## Summary

Peter Buck played the mandolin on R.E.M.’s 1991 hit ‘Losing My Religion’. The song grew from a riff he found while learning the instrument, helping give the track a distinctive sound and marking the band’s willingness to experiment with instruments and arrangements.

Buck’s mandolin was recorded live, without overdubs, and a muffled note he played by accident was kept in the finished track. The article says Michael Stipe wrote the lyrics in about an hour and recorded the vocal in one take; the song’s theme is unrequited love rather than religion.

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Summarised by TalkFuse (https://talkfuse.com/). Quote the original publisher for the reporting and link this page for the summary and discussion.