"Leaving New York" was the first single from R.E.M's 2004 album Around the Sun. Although it was not as heavily promoted as earlier singles, it reached as high as #5 on the UK Singles Chart. However, the song failed to chart on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming the first lead single from an R.E.M. studio album not to chart in the U.S. since "Cant Get There From Here" from Fables of the Reconstruction in 1985.
For a while, the band would play Michael Stipe's "It's pulling me apart. Change." album backing vocal during the chorus and bridge of live performances. Around September 2004, however, they worked up an alternative whereby the backing vocals would be shared amongst Mike Mills, Scott McCaughey and Ken Stringfellow in order to make the song flow more smoothly.
The song is included on R.E.M. Live.
