“It’s the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)”, stylized as ITEOTWAWKI(AIFF), features stream-of-consciousness lyrics that border on a rant, encompassing a wide variety of references. For example, four famous people with the initials LB are mentioned throughout the song, and the only ex...
[Verse 1]
That's great
It starts with an earthquake, birds and snakes
An aeroplane
Lenny Bruce is not afraid
Eye of a hurricane, listen to yourself churn
World serves its own needs, don't misserve your own needs
Speed it up a notch, speak, grunt, no, strength
The ladder starts to clatter with fear fight, down, height
Wire in a fire, representing seven games
And a government for hire and a combat site
Left her and wasn't coming in a hurry with the Furies
Breathing down your neck
Team by team, reporters baffled, trumped, tethered, cropped
Look at that low plane, fine, then
Uh-oh, overflow, population, common group
But it'll do, save yourself, serve yourself.
World serves its own needs, listen to your heart bleed
Tell me with the rapture and the reverent in the right, right
You vitriolic, patriotic, slam fight, bright light
Feeling pretty psyched
[Chorus]
It's the end of the world as we know it
It's the end of the world as we know it
It's the end of the world as we know it
And I feel fine
[Verse 2]
Six o'clock, TV hour, don't get caught in foreign tower
Slash and burn, return, listen to yourself churn
Lock him in uniform, book burning, blood letting
Every motive escalate, automotive incinerate
Light a candle, light a votive, step down, step down
Watch your heel crush, crushed, uh-oh, this means
No fear, cavalier renegade steer clear
A tournament, a tournament, a tournament of lies
Offer me solutions, offer me alternatives
And I decline
[Chorus]
It's the end of the world as we know it (It's time I had some time alone)
It's the end of the world as we know it (It's time I had some time alone)
It's the end of the world as we know it (It's time I had some time alone)
And I feel fine (I feel fine)
[Instrumental Break]
[Chorus]
It's the end of the world as we know it (It's time I had some time alone)
It's the end of the world as we know it (It's time I had some time alone)
It's the end of the world as we know it (It's time I had some time alone)
And I feel fine
[Verse 3]
The other night I drifted nice, continental drift divide
Mountains sit in a line, Leonard Bernstein
Leonid Brezhnev, Lenny Bruce and Lester Bangs
Birthday party, cheesecake, jelly bean, boom
You symbiotic, patriotic, slam but neck
Right? Right
[Chorus]
It's the end of the world as we know it (It's time I had some time alone)
It's the end of the world as we know it (It's time I had some time alone)
It's the end of the world as we know it (It's time I had some time alone)
And I feel fine
[Bridge]
It's the end of the world as we know it
It's the end of the world as we know it
It's the end of the world as we know it (It's time I had some time alone)
And I feel fine
[Chorus]
It's the end of the world as we know it (It's time I had some time alone)
It's the end of the world as we know it (It's time I had some time alone)
It's the end of the world as we know it (It's time I had some time alone)
And I feel fine
[Outro]
It's the end of the world as we know it (It's time I had some time alone)
It's the end of the world as we know it (It's time I had some time alone)
It's the end of the world as we know it (It's time I had some time alone)
And I feel fine
It’s the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine) was written by Mike Mills & Michael Stipe & Peter Buck & Bill Berry.
It’s the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine) was produced by R.E.M. & Scott Litt.
R.E.M. released It’s the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine) on Tue Sep 01 1987.
In a 1992 interview with GQ magazine, Michael Stipe had this to say about the song’s famously hectic lyrics:
The words come from everywhere. I’m extremely aware of everything around me, whether I am in a sleeping state, awake, dream-state or just in day to day life. There’s a part in “It’s the End...