This is a hauntingly beautiful song about introspection, specifically about looking back at a relationship that started bad and ended so poorly, that the narrator wants to go back to the very beginning and tell himself to not even travel down that road. I believe that the relationship started poorly because of the lines:
"Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet"
So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other:
"I had all and then most of you"
Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart
"Some and now none of you"
Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship.
This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
That's great, it starts with an earthquake
Birds and snakes, and aeroplanes
And Lenny Bruce is not afraid
Eye of a hurricane, listen to yourself churn
World serves its own needs
Don't mis-serve your own needs
Speed it up a notch, speed, grunt, no, strength
The ladder starts to clatter
With a fear of height, down, height
Wire in a fire, represent the seven games
And a government for hire and a combat site
Left her, 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
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
Six o'clock, T.V. hour, don't get caught in foreign tower
Slash and burn, return, listen to yourself churn
Lock him in uniform, book burning, bloodletting
Every motive escalate, automotive incinerate
Light a candle, light a motive, step down, step down
Watch your heel crush, crush, uh oh
This means no fear, cavalier, renegade and steering clear
A tournament, a tournament, a tournament of lies
Offer me solutions, offer me alternatives and I decline
It's the end of the world as we know it (I had some time alone)
It's the end of the world as we know it (I had some time alone)
It's the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine (time I had some time alone)
I feel fine (I feel fine)
It's the end of the world as we know it (time I had some time alone)
It's the end of the world as we know it (time I had some time alone)
It's the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine (time I had some time alone)
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, jellybean, boom
You symbiotic, patriotic, slam but neck, right, right
It's the end of the world as we know it (time I had some time alone)
It's the end of the world as we know it (time I had some time alone)
It's the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine (time I had some time alone)
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 (time I had some time alone)
It's the end of the world as we know it (time I had some time alone)
It's the end of the world as we know it (time I had some time alone)
It's the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine (time I had some time alone)
It's the end of the world as we know it (time I had some time alone)
It's the end of the world as we know it (time I had some time alone)
It's the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine (time I had some time alone)
Birds and snakes, and aeroplanes
And Lenny Bruce is not afraid
Eye of a hurricane, listen to yourself churn
World serves its own needs
Don't mis-serve your own needs
Speed it up a notch, speed, grunt, no, strength
The ladder starts to clatter
With a fear of height, down, height
Wire in a fire, represent the seven games
And a government for hire and a combat site
Left her, 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
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
Six o'clock, T.V. hour, don't get caught in foreign tower
Slash and burn, return, listen to yourself churn
Lock him in uniform, book burning, bloodletting
Every motive escalate, automotive incinerate
Light a candle, light a motive, step down, step down
Watch your heel crush, crush, uh oh
This means no fear, cavalier, renegade and steering clear
A tournament, a tournament, a tournament of lies
Offer me solutions, offer me alternatives and I decline
It's the end of the world as we know it (I had some time alone)
It's the end of the world as we know it (I had some time alone)
It's the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine (time I had some time alone)
I feel fine (I feel fine)
It's the end of the world as we know it (time I had some time alone)
It's the end of the world as we know it (time I had some time alone)
It's the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine (time I had some time alone)
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, jellybean, boom
You symbiotic, patriotic, slam but neck, right, right
It's the end of the world as we know it (time I had some time alone)
It's the end of the world as we know it (time I had some time alone)
It's the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine (time I had some time alone)
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 (time I had some time alone)
It's the end of the world as we know it (time I had some time alone)
It's the end of the world as we know it (time I had some time alone)
It's the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine (time I had some time alone)
It's the end of the world as we know it (time I had some time alone)
It's the end of the world as we know it (time I had some time alone)
It's the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine (time I had some time alone)
Add your thoughts
Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.
Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!
More Featured Meanings
The Night We Met
Lord Huron
Lord Huron
Mental Istid
Ebba Grön
Ebba Grön
This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
When We Were Young
Blink-182
Blink-182
This is a sequel to 2001's "Reckless Abandon", and features the band looking back on their clumsy youth fondly.
Blue
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Blue” is a song about a love that is persisting in the discomfort of the person experiencing the emotion. Ed Sheeran reflects on love lost, and although he wishes his former partner find happiness, he cannot but admit his feelings are still very much there. He expresses the realization that he might never find another on this stringed instrumental by Aaron Dessner.
Amazing
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran tells a story of unsuccessfully trying to feel “Amazing.” This track is about the being weighed down by emotional stress despite valiant attempts to find some positivity in the situation. This track was written by Ed Sheeran from the perspective of his friend. From the track, we see this person fall deeper into the negative thoughts and slide further down the path of mental torment with every lyric.
This song is written about a policy debate tournament. The line "it's the end of the world as we know it" refers to the habit of high school and college debaters to claim that any course of action agree upon in the debate round will lead to nuclear war or some other catastrophe that will cause the end of the world. The "and I feel fine" reflects that everyone realizes that this is just an extra curricular activity that doesn't really matter.
The line "listen to yourself churn" is another slang word for spewing, the act of debaters reading and making their arguments as quickly as possible to keep within the time limit. The line "world serves its own needs, dummy serve your own needs" reflects the attitude of debaters, especially high school debaters who will argue anything, even slightly morally reprehensible arguments if these arguments serve their purpose.
The "team by team" line also refers to the debate teams.
The most obvious reference to a debate tournament if the line "A tournament, a tournament, a tournament of lies", cause thst's all debate tourny's really are.
Admittedly there are some non-debate references in there, but considering that Michael Stipe debated, the song makes sense when looked at in this context.
Strawberry, yours makes the most sense of all these posts, esp if Stipe was a debater as you say, wasn't aware ... guess that's in bio?
Yup, this is correct. Although I had heard that he wasn't a debater, but that he went to a tournament to watch and that this song was the result. Either way, it's about a tourney!
@strawberry81 -- yes, this is correct (mostly). as a former high school competitive policy debater on the national circuit, i can confirm. (i cannot verify that Stipe was a debater, but that's of no moment.) the lyrics follow the form -- and micro-machine-gun speed spew -- of modern policy debate in high school. "team by team" and "tournament" and "end of the world" impacts and "offer me solutions, offer me alternatives' mimic the jargon of debate, whether of old-school policy style or the postmodern kritik. and after each debate round, i felt fine
whenever I try to sing this song it takes my breath away. literally.
How do we create songs on this website
okay people, this should be pretty obvious but i'm going to point it out anyway. By saying, "it's the end of the world as we know it," the "as we know it part" is pretty important. it doesn't actually mean some guy is going to use a "laser" to blow up the earth. things are changing all the time and sometimes it can be pretty overwhelming. this song is pretty much about taking what's happening and just making the best of it. but most of the song is just kinda random...
At my summer camp, when this song is played, you grab the hands of the two people nearest you and huge human chains are formed. These chains then sprint across a huge grassy area, weaving in and among themselves.
It's pure chaos, and yet it's pure fun. That's what the song is about to me. Everything around you is disorder, and you can't help but revel in the chaos.
Every once in a while, you need to just take a step back and laugh at the world around you.
In agreement with the debate reference. All the lyrics clearly describe policy debate-where participants 'spew' arguements at top speed.
This song is about all those catastrophists who are endlessly proclaiming that the end of the world is nigh. It lists off all the possible ends of the world that people fear (corrupt government, co2 emmisions, boom burning regimes, continental drift) but he feels fine because it doesn't seem to be happening and the truth is it won't. Thats what this song is about
i think the song is about all the chaos in the world and how everyone seems to get used to it (thats why they feel fine).
like "the news" by jack johnson
i was absolutely amazed to what people seemed to think about this song. this songis so obviously about everything being fucked up and messed and everything that can go wrong is going wrong. but even though all this shit is happening the narrator dosent care. this song likely has to do with how the media is constantly empasing all these bad things happening and how your supposed to be paranoid and then after hereing the media saying all these things you just dont care.
katiebeth, I don't think that anyone apart from Manzoni should use more than three dots... ;-P
I love this song but it's really hard to sing since it goes so fast. But I don't understand why a song gets banned that is not written about 9/11. Do people actually think that by banning certain songs that we'll shield kids from eevrything else that's scary in the world?
But this song is great.