Orange Crush

Although Orange Crush is the name of a soft drink that predates the song's release by over eighty years, the song's title is actually a reference to the chemical defoliant Agent Orange used in the Vietnam War. As a guest on the late-night show Last Call with Carson Daly, Michael Stipe explained that the song was about a young football player leaving the comforts of home for the war in Vietnam. Also, Stipe opened the song during The Green World Tour by singing the famous U.S. Army recruiting slogan, "Be all you can be... in the army."