‘'I Know the End’‘ is the metalinguistic closing track of Phoebe’s sophomore album Punisher.
The apocalyptical folk ballad track reclaims the singer-songwriter narrative abilities and describes a desolated vision of the world in step with references to the American culture and its recent happenings...
[Verse 1]
Somewhere in Germany, but I can't place it
Man, I hate this part of Texas
Close my eyes, fantasize
Three clicks and I'm home
When I get back, I'll lay around
Then I'll get up and lay back down
Romanticize a quiet life
There's no place like my room
[Chorus]
But you had to go, I know, I know, I know
Like a wave that crashed and melted on the shore
Not even the burnouts are out here anymore
And you had to go, I know, I know, I know
[Verse 2]
Out in the park, we watch the sunset
Talkin' on a rusty swing set
After a while, you went quiet
And I got mean
I'm always pushin' you away from me
But you come back with gravity
And when I call, you come home
A bird in your teeth
[Chorus]
So, I gotta go, I know, I know, I know
When the sirens sound, you'll hide under the floor
But I'm not gonna go down with my hometown in a tornado
I'm gonna chase it, I know, I know, I know
I gotta go now, I know, I know, I know
[Verse 3]
Drivin' out into the sun
Let the ultraviolet cover me up
Went looking for a creation myth
Ended up with a pair of cracked lips
Windows down, scream along
To some America First rap-country song
A slaughterhouse, an outlet mall
Slot machines, fear of God
Windows down, heater on
Big bolt of lightning hanging low
Over the coast, everyone's convinced
It's a government drone or an alien spaceship
Either way, we're not alone
I'll find a new place to be from
A haunted house with a picket fence
To float around and ghost my friends
No, I'm not afraid to disappear
The billboard said "The End Is Near"
I turned around, there was nothing there
Yeah, I guess the end is here
[Outro]
The end is here
The end is here
The end is here
The end is
I Know the End was written by Phoebe Bridgers & Marshall Vore & Conor Oberst & Christian Lee Hutson.
I Know the End was produced by The Trilemma & Phoebe Bridgers & Ethan Gruska & Tony Berg.
Phoebe Bridgers released I Know the End on Thu Jun 18 2020.
From an interview/breakdown of each song on Punisher with Stereogum, Bridgers said:
So, Marshall and I started it around the same time we started “I See You.” The lyrics were totally different, it was kind of just about depression. Then as I went on tour and my depression changed to be tour-related...
This is a bunch of things I had on my to-do list: I wanted to scream; I wanted to have a metal song; I wanted to write about driving up the coast to Northern California, which I’ve done a lot in my life. It’s like a super specific feeling. This is such a stoned thought, but it feels kind of like pur...
I think it was a concept-first, where I was, like, “I want this record to end in screaming.” And then, there was this song that I had started writing with my ex-boyfriend, who plays drums with me, we’re extremely co-dependent, I feel like our relationship was very seminal to my whole adult life, I w...